section_path: Personal life
section_name: Personal life
paragraph_text: Personal life
  
  Previous long-term girlfriends of Epstein include Eva Andersson-Dubin and publishing heiress Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein dated Andersson-Dubin for an 11-year period mostly in the 1980s and the two later remained friendly well after her marriage to Glenn Dubin. Epstein met Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell, by 1991. Epstein had Maxwell come to the United States in 1991 to recover from her grief following the death of her father. Maxwell was later implicated by several of Epstein's accusers as procuring or recruiting underage girls in addition to once being Epstein's girlfriend.
  
  Several of Epstein's household employees testified in 2009 that Maxwell had a central role in both his public and private life, referring to her as his "main girlfriend" who also handled the hiring, supervising, and firing of staff starting around 1992. In 1995, Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation in Palm Beach, Florida; the company was dissolved in 1998. In 2000, Maxwell moved into a 7,000-square-foot townhouse, less than ten blocks from Epstein's New York mansion. This townhome was purchased for $4.95 million by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime lawyer. In a 2003 Vanity Fair article, Epstein refers to Maxwell as "my best friend".
  
  Epstein was a longtime acquaintance of Prince Andrew and Tom Barrack, and attended parties with many prominent people, including Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, Katie Couric, Woody Allen, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Naomi Campbell, Stephen Hawking, and Harvey Weinstein. Contacts listed in his printed phone directory included Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, John Kerry, Richard Branson, Alec Baldwin, David Koch, and Michael Jackson. The "black book" also included Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, British prime minister Tony Blair, and Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Both Clinton and Trump claimed that they never visited Epstein's island.
  
  According to Michael Wolff, former Trump chief Strategist Steve Bannon and Epstein were introduced in December 2017. Bannon met with Epstein several times at his mansion in New York. Also according to Wolff, Bannon coached Epstein for a 60 Minutes interview which never occurred. A New York Times article reported that Bill Gates 's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein started in 2011, just a few years after Epstein's conviction, and continued for some years. In August 2021, Gates said the reason he had meetings with Epstein was because Gates hoped Epstein could provide money for philanthropic work, though nothing came of the idea. Gates added, "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there."
  
  Epstein owned a private Boeing 727 jet and traveled in it frequently, logging "600 flying hours a year... usually with guests on board". The jet was nicknamed the Lolita Express by the locals in the Virgin Islands, because of its frequent arrivals at Little Saint James with apparently underage girls. In 2003, Epstein flew to Cuba aboard his plane with Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango at the invitation of Cuban president Fidel Castro. According to Fabiola Santiago of the Miami Herald, Epstein was likely considering relocating to Cuba in order to escape U.S. law enforcement; Epstein was under investigation from U.S. law enforcement at the time.
  
  In 2009, Epstein's brother Mark claimed Trump had flown on Epstein's plane at least once. He later told The Washington Post that Trump flew "numerous times" on Epstein's airplane, although Mark was present on only one of the flights. According to Michael Corcoran, Trump flew Epstein on his own airplane at least once. In September 2002, Epstein flew Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa in this jet. Flight records obtained in 2016 show Bill Clinton flew twenty-seven times to at least a dozen international locations.
  
  Flight logs did not list any Secret Service detail for at least five flights on a 2002 trip to Asia, and Secret Service stated that there is no evidence of the former president making a trip to Epstein's private island. In 2019, a Clinton spokesperson stated that, in 2002 and 2003, Clinton took four trips on Epstein's airplane, making stops on three continents, all with his staff and Secret Service detail. At the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest, Clinton's spokeswoman Angel Ureña stated that Clinton had "not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein's ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida".
  
  In a profile of Epstein in New York magazine in 2002 Donald Trump remarked: "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life." In July 2019, Trump said "I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him", stating four times he had not been "a fan" of Epstein and that he had not spoken to him in about fifteen years. A video shot in 1992 surfaced showing the two men partying together at Mar-a-Lago. By 2007, Trump reportedly banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for unseemly pursuit of young girls. The ban allegation was included in court documents filed by attorney Bradley Edwards, although Edwards later said it was a rumor he tried to, but could not, confirm.
  
  In 2002, a spokesman of Bill Clinton lauded Epstein as "a committed philanthropist" with "insights and generosity". At the time Epstein was on the board of Rockefeller University, a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a major donor to Harvard University. Epstein visited the White House while Clinton was president on four known occasions. In 1993, he went to a donor event at the White House with his companion Ghislaine Maxwell. Around the same time, he also met with President Clinton's aide Mark Middleton on at least three occasions at the White House. In 1995, financier Lynn Forester discussed "Jeffrey Epstein and currency stabilization" with Clinton. Epstein, according to his own accounts, was heavily involved in the foreign exchange market and traded large amounts of currency in the unregulated forex market. In 1995, Epstein also attended a small political fundraiser dinner for Bill Clinton which included fourteen other people including Ron Perelman, Don Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, and dinner organizer Paul Prosperi.
  
  From the 1990s to mid-2000s, Epstein often socialized with Donald Trump. Author Michael Wolff wrote that Trump, Epstein, and Tom Barrack were at the time like a "set of nightlife musketeers" on the social scene. In a 2017 recording, Epstein stated that he was "Donald's closest friend for ten years." Epstein and Trump socialized both in New York City and Palm Beach, where they both had houses. In April 2003, New York magazine reported Epstein hosted a dinner party in his Manhattan residence to honor Bill Clinton, who did not attend, although Trump did attend. According to The Washington Post, one person who knew Epstein and Trump during this time noted that "they were tight" and "they were each other's wingmen ". In November 2004, Epstein and Trump's friendship ran into trouble when they became embroiled in a bidding war for a $40 million mansion, Maison de L'Amitié, which was being auctioned in Palm Beach. Trump won the auction for $41 million, and successfully sold the property four years later for $95 million to the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. That month was the last time Epstein and Trump were recorded to have interacted.
  
  Previous long-term girlfriends of Epstein include Eva Andersson-Dubin and publishing heiress Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein dated Andersson-Dubin for an 11-year period mostly in the 1980s and the two later remained friendly well after her marriage to Glenn Dubin. Epstein met Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell, by 1991. Epstein had Maxwell come to the United States in 1991 to recover from her grief following the death of her father. Maxwell was later implicated by several of Epstein's accusers as procuring or recruiting underage girls in addition to once being Epstein's girlfriend.
  
  Several of Epstein's household employees testified in 2009 that Maxwell had a central role in both his public and private life, referring to her as his "main girlfriend" who also handled the hiring, supervising, and firing of staff starting around 1992. In 1995, Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation in Palm Beach, Florida; the company was dissolved in 1998. In 2000, Maxwell moved into a 7,000-square-foot townhouse, less than ten blocks from Epstein's New York mansion. This townhome was purchased for $4.95 million by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime lawyer. In a 2003 Vanity Fair article, Epstein refers to Maxwell as "my best friend".
  
  Epstein was a longtime acquaintance of Prince Andrew and Tom Barrack, and attended parties with many prominent people, including Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Mark Zuckerberg, Donald Trump, Katie Couric, Woody Allen, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Naomi Campbell, Stephen Hawking, and Harvey Weinstein. Contacts listed in his printed phone directory included Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, John Kerry, Richard Branson, Alec Baldwin, David Koch, and Michael Jackson. The "black book" also included Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, British prime minister Tony Blair, and Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Both Clinton and Trump claimed that they never visited Epstein's island.
  
  According to Michael Wolff, former Trump chief Strategist Steve Bannon and Epstein were introduced in December 2017. Bannon met with Epstein several times at his mansion in New York. Also according to Wolff, Bannon coached Epstein for a 60 Minutes interview which never occurred. A New York Times article reported that Bill Gates 's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein started in 2011, just a few years after Epstein's conviction, and continued for some years. In August 2021, Gates said the reason he had meetings with Epstein was because Gates hoped Epstein could provide money for philanthropic work, though nothing came of the idea. Gates added, "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there."
  
  Epstein owned a private Boeing 727 jet and traveled in it frequently, logging "600 flying hours a year... usually with guests on board". The jet was nicknamed the Lolita Express by the locals in the Virgin Islands, because of its frequent arrivals at Little Saint James with apparently underage girls. In 2003, Epstein flew to Cuba aboard his plane with Colombian president Andrés Pastrana Arango at the invitation of Cuban president Fidel Castro. According to Fabiola Santiago of the Miami Herald, Epstein was likely considering relocating to Cuba in order to escape U.S. law enforcement; Epstein was under investigation from U.S. law enforcement at the time.
  
  In 2009, Epstein's brother Mark claimed Trump had flown on Epstein's plane at least once. He later told The Washington Post that Trump flew "numerous times" on Epstein's airplane, although Mark was present on only one of the flights. According to Michael Corcoran, Trump flew Epstein on his own airplane at least once. In September 2002, Epstein flew Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa in this jet. Flight records obtained in 2016 show Bill Clinton flew twenty-seven times to at least a dozen international locations.
  
  Flight logs did not list any Secret Service detail for at least five flights on a 2002 trip to Asia, and Secret Service stated that there is no evidence of the former president making a trip to Epstein's private island. In 2019, a Clinton spokesperson stated that, in 2002 and 2003, Clinton took four trips on Epstein's airplane, making stops on three continents, all with his staff and Secret Service detail. At the time of Epstein's 2019 arrest, Clinton's spokeswoman Angel Ureña stated that Clinton had "not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein's ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida".
  
  In a profile of Epstein in New York magazine in 2002 Donald Trump remarked: "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life." In July 2019, Trump said "I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him", stating four times he had not been "a fan" of Epstein and that he had not spoken to him in about fifteen years. A video shot in 1992 surfaced showing the two men partying together at Mar-a-Lago. By 2007, Trump reportedly banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for unseemly pursuit of young girls. The ban allegation was included in court documents filed by attorney Bradley Edwards, although Edwards later said it was a rumor he tried to, but could not, confirm.
  
  In 2002, a spokesman of Bill Clinton lauded Epstein as "a committed philanthropist" with "insights and generosity". At the time Epstein was on the board of Rockefeller University, a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a major donor to Harvard University. Epstein visited the White House while Clinton was president on four known occasions. In 1993, he went to a donor event at the White House with his companion Ghislaine Maxwell. Around the same time, he also met with President Clinton's aide Mark Middleton on at least three occasions at the White House. In 1995, financier Lynn Forester discussed "Jeffrey Epstein and currency stabilization" with Clinton. Epstein, according to his own accounts, was heavily involved in the foreign exchange market and traded large amounts of currency in the unregulated forex market. In 1995, Epstein also attended a small political fundraiser dinner for Bill Clinton which included fourteen other people including Ron Perelman, Don Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, and dinner organizer Paul Prosperi.
  
  From the 1990s to mid-2000s, Epstein often socialized with Donald Trump. Author Michael Wolff wrote that Trump, Epstein, and Tom Barrack were at the time like a "set of nightlife musketeers" on the social scene. In a 2017 recording, Epstein stated that he was "Donald's closest friend for ten years." Epstein and Trump socialized both in New York City and Palm Beach, where they both had houses. In April 2003, New York magazine reported Epstein hosted a dinner party in his Manhattan residence to honor Bill Clinton, who did not attend, although Trump did attend. According to The Washington Post, one person who knew Epstein and Trump during this time noted that "they were tight" and "they were each other's wingmen ". In November 2004, Epstein and Trump's friendship ran into trouble when they became embroiled in a bidding war for a $40 million mansion, Maison de L'Amitié, which was being auctioned in Palm Beach. Trump won the auction for $41 million, and successfully sold the property four years later for $95 million to the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. That month was the last time Epstein and Trump were recorded to have interacted.