Jeffrey Epstein built his wealth by tracking down stolen money for some of the richest people in the world, according to Ghislaine Maxwell, who spoke about his work during a July interview with the Department of Justice. The interview came as pressure mounted on President Donald Trump and the FBI to release a long-rumored Epstein client list.
Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and related crimes, told investigators that Epstein at times worked with or for African warlords in this money recovery business. She said the idea came from a girlfriend of his whose billionaire father had been robbed.
(Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“She was the daughter of a billionaire, for instance. And that billionaire, whoever his — whatever his name was — had had some money stolen, and for some reason this woman introduced Jeffrey, and Jeffrey — I think that’s how that business started. That’s what I remember,” Maxwell said.
She recalled Epstein showing her a photo of himself with African warlords. “That’s the only actual active memory I have of something nefarious — not nefarious, I don’t even know if it was nefarious, but covert, I suppose would be the word,” she said, reported the Guardian.
Epstein’s mysterious fortune, valued at close to $600 million when he died in 2020, has long puzzled the public. His career started in unlikely places: first as a cab driver, then as a teacher at Dalton, an elite Manhattan prep school, despite having no college degree.
Fired for poor performance, he got a job at Bear Stearns through the father of one of his students. That ended after a trading violation, and by 1981, he was working for himself, supposedly tracking down missing millions for the wealthy.
Maxwell said Epstein worked with high-profile names, including Johnson & Johnson heiress Libet Johnson. He handled her investments, reorganized her finances, and even managed her household contracts.
Payment didn’t always come in cash. In Johnson’s case, she signed over her multi-million dollar ski chalet in Vail to Epstein. Property records show the deed was transferred in 1998, and the chalet was later sold for $24 million after Epstein’s death.
Despite her conviction, Maxwell continues to distance herself from Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. She told the DOJ she never saw minors at his properties and insisted she did not know about efforts to recruit them. She admitted, however, that it could be true. Prosecutors had previously charged her with perjury for similar claims she made in a 2016 deposition.
Maxwell also doubled down on her claim that the notorious photo of her and Prince Andrew with then-17-year-old Virginia Giuffre is fake.
Now subpoenaed to testify before Congress, her lawyers say she’s willing to appear but would invoke the Fifth Amendment unless she is granted immunity or a pardon. She made her hopes for clemency clear during her DOJ interview, offering praise for Trump.
“As far as I’m concerned, President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me. And I just want to say that I find — I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now. And I like him, and I’ve always liked him,” Maxwell said.
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