The late criminal financier Jeffrey Epstein made more than $200 million after he made the career switch from financial services to DNA research.
Financial statements and other filings obtained by The New York Times showed the financier had no problem rebounding from various issues that plagued him — the 2008 financial crisis, losing his biggest client Les Wexner, and registering as sex offender.
Before the financial crisis, Epstein worked in financial services with his company Financial Trust. “At Financial Trust, a company with fewer than a dozen employees, investment expenses varied widely, from $1.3 million in 2000 to $16 million in 2004 to $42 million in 2005,” The Times reported, but Epstein lost more than $150 million once the financial crisis hit in 2008.
In 2012, four years after the financial crisis and Epstein’s guilty plea to one count of soliciting a minor for prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution, he founded a start-up, Southern Trust, which allegedly worked to develop a DNA data-mining service, The Times reported. Over the next five years, the company reportedly made more than $200 million in revenues.
However, the documents do not list any specific details on investors. Epstein’s fortunes have been clouded in mystery since he died by suicide in August. Two days before his death, he signed a new will that placed his wealth into a trust two days before his death. The Times outlined peculiar line items in the obtained documents that point to an association between the two companies, Financial Trust and Southern Trust.