I thought he got it by managing Les Wexner's money.
I'm hesitant to link to X, but this guy whose work I don't know is saying that Schumer has made a move to amend the defense authorization to force the release of the Epstein files. The claim is that he's done it in such a way that it will actually get voted on.
1: pretty much.
The public version is: maths teacher at a posh school for a couple of years, fired for being shit, then Bear Stearns as an options trader in the late 70s, fired for breaking SEC rules on stock offerings, then something extremely vague for a few years, then money management for high net worth individuals, interspersed with bits of work in fraud protection and surveillance investment.
1: I think it's probably Yes AND he managed Werner's money.
The culture of complicity is something else. Even Bill Clinton's note, which was tame, by the standards of these things, referred to Epstein's "child-like Curiosity". In context, that's creepy.
4: Matt Yglesias's posh school, the Dalton School. Donald Barr, Bill Barr's father, was Headmaster at the time.
ajay - there are some not-flattering notes from Peter Mandelsom to Epstein.
How did Mandelson get to be Ambassador to the US? How did he rehabilitate himself? I remember he was "disgraced" at some point.
I remember he was "disgraced" at some point.
Several times!
Mandelson is a nasty fuck up. Always was, but especially now. Feel he should have been vetted better, or maybe some of this showed up in vetting and the UK gvmt decided it was worth the risk. Can imagine Mandelson talking up his 'contacts' as his killer qualification, and oddly enough, he'd be half right, because he clearly does know (and can ingratiate himself with) people.
Mandelson is a nasty fuck up. Always was, but especially now. Feel he should have been vetted better, or maybe some of this showed up in vetting and the UK gvmt decided it was worth the risk. Can imagine Mandelson talking up his 'contacts' as his killer qualification, and oddly enough, he'd be half right, because he clearly does know (and can ingratiate himself with) people.
I've always aimed off a bit for Mandelson because he suffered in the 1990s from being both gay and Jewish, two attributes that Private Eye et al have never been very fond of. But maybe he was a wrong un after all?
(It's notable that in the 60s to 80s Punch, the chortling voice of the establishment, was much more welcoming to working class and Jewish writers like Alan Coren than the anti establishment gadfly Private Eye, which was solidly private school and never let an issue go past without a reference to "pooves")
To the OP and 1: Yeah, his first large chunk of money was from managing Les Wexner's money, but that doesn't actually solve the mystery very much, because it's weird for Wexner to have done that.
I've vaguely assumed that he was procuring for/blackmailing Wexner, but I don't think there's anything establishing that.
He apparently fell out with Trump over Trump exploiting their personal connection to outbid him on a Palm Beach mansion, and Trump used that mansion to launder money for a Russian oligarch, so it seems plausible to me whatever shenanigans he did with Wexner to get his initial pile, he then multiplied with money laundering and similar.
Maybe the pedophilic procurement was synergistic, showing customers he was not a fed.
Stephanie Ruthie windered if his oruvate plane and Shangri Lah Island was a way of providing discreet sex to all these super nerdy rich men, since they were able to fly in on a private plane. Bezos, for example got exposed on the internet when he had an affair.
So he got rich initially, but then he paid the bills as a pimp.
Interesting - it looks like the numbers support the possibility that he made most of his money off fees managing two billionaires' money, and then just let that money keep working for him, with other activities net losses rather than gains.
Specifically, Forbes says he earned $200m from Wexner over a period ending 2007, and then $170m from Leon Black between 2012 and 2017. On death his estate was worth $580m. $200m invested in the S&P from 2007 to 2019 would have almost doubled itself, so perhaps he actually was squandering it for the high life.
Pretty sure that before he became president, everything Trump did to make money put him in a worse situation that if he's parked it in an index fund and left it alone.
20: someone told me that he made money on Trump tower but lost money on casinos.
I heard the same as you: if he put the miney his father left him in the S and P 500, he'd have had more money. I think he made a fair amount on the Apprentice and licensing the brand, I.e. selling the (fake) idea of him as a successfull businessman.
Lately he's made a ton of money in the cryptocurrency manipulation biz.
OT: I feel like I should have noticed before now that ser and ir have the same conjugation in the preterite.
Too much conjugation
Running through my brain
Too much conjugation
And it's driving me insane
23: I don't even see conjugation.
Best regards,
Ajay (ser/ir)
25: Of course not, this is at most a PG-13 site, right?
14: also London journalists tend to both despise him and still hang on his words precisely because he was good at getting one over them when that was his job title. That said the main reason he's ambassador to the US is that he's good at sucking up to people like Trump, and, well, you see the problem.
22: That's the post becoming president part.
27: And now he's not
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-09-11/uk-withdraws-peter-mandelson-as-us-ambassador
Dsquared on the sacking:
Thanks very much for participating ladies and gentlemen, the Event of Noticing has now come to an end. Please do not continue to notice things about the British establishment, they will not be Noticed and your mobile provider may still charge you.
If anyone has access to Bloomberg, this looks great.
https://bsky.app/profile/dmehro.bsky.social/post/3lykkh55d2k2q
Apparently they got access to his yahoo e-mail and have tracked a bunch of his Amazon purchases.
Includes buying a Lexus for Alan Dershowitz (presumably not from Amazon)
Dershowitz is going to have to sue another perogie vendor.
I especially appreciated various efforts to get George W Bush to help Epstein out of jail, but also bleating about trying to find a reward flight to Creepy Island with his BA frequent flyer points in terms that make it obvious Mandelson was hoping Epstein would pay.
33: That was priceless.
I was brought up not to accept expensive gifts from men in very old-fashioned terms unless married. I'm more relaxed about that kind of thing now. But now, if someone invited me somewhere and expected me to pay for expensive hotels or I could not afford the flight, I might say so and accept help from a close friend or extended family.
Other than money to attend a funeral or wedding or even a gofund me for medical travel, i can not imagine trying to get someone to pay for my Caribbean vacation.
Bloomberg also got Eppy's Yahoo! Mail account:
""Question," Epstein wrote to Maxwell on May 23, 2008. "Which one do you prefer,,, lewd and lscivious conduct ,, or procuring minors for prostituion."
I suppose Lewd and lecivious conduct..I would prefer lewd and lescivious conduct w/a prositute if possible "
35: I am actually thinking of getting a Bsky account for the first time
Weird, I must have hallucinated it, or mistaken another account for yours
18,000 emails is a lot. I don't think I've written that many yet over my life.
40: I'm afraid your lack of initiative suggests you will never have the life of accomplishment that Epstein had. If you want, I can also explain why limitations in your character will keep you from becoming a Republican president of the United States.
"...and there is a slight flaw in my character," remarked Number Ten Hick.
(Surely Barry has read the Barry Hughart 'Master Li' books. Anyone else?)
|| Just got the weirdest text.
"Another year, another birthday without you, Dad. My memories of you are still so clear"
Am I dead? Do I have a child I don't know about? Should I reply and try to find out or am I better off not knowing? ||
40: A more appropriate comparative measure would be the number of your blog comments, both here and elsehwere.
45: How long have you had this phone number?
Pass notes on Bridge of Birds:
https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/03/15/bridge-of-birds-by-barry-hughart/
43, 49: The other two are good, though not as wonderful as the first.
47: Good question! Since I first got a cell phone which was about 20 years ago.
48: I thought everyone here already knew that I don't wear clothes.