Jeffrey Epstein’s first criminal conviction was far earlier than thought
The release of a 1981 deposition transcript reveals an earlier conviction for the late sex offender… and not for the reasons you might think.
In the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, Jeffrey Epstein was working at Bear Stearns, the New York-based investment bank and trading firm that eventually collapsed in 2008.
At this time, Epstein lived in anonymity. It would be decades before he’d become a household name for conspiracy theories and a talking point at White House press briefings.
Since Epstein’s arrest in 2019, a virtual army of journalists has worked (myself included) to piece together Epstein’s past and how he became the infamous billionaire sex offender he became.
Part of Epstein’s mystique is how little we’ve heard directly from Epstein himself over the years. Though he had appeared in newspapers for various reasons, rarely was he the direct subject of the story before the early 2000s. Two of the earliest profiles on Epstein came in 2002 and 2003, under alluring titles such as Jeffrey Epstein: International Money Man of Mystery and The Talented Mr. Epstein.
Now, more of the puzzle surrounding Epstein’s opaque past was filled in this week with the release of a 1981 deposition transcript in which Epstein was questioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of an insider-trading investigation into Bear Stearns.
Here’s what we learned.
Further clarity on Epstein’s departure from Bear
On April 1st, 1981 at the towering federal office building in lower Manhattan, Jeffrey Epstein sat for a deposition with attorneys representing the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A little more than two weeks earlier, Epstein had left his job at Bear Stearns and it happened at the same time the company was being investigated for possible insider trading related to an offer by the Seagram Company, the well-known Canadian spirits distiller, to purchase St. Joe’s Mineral Corp.
The S.E.C. was investigating whether any traders at Bear Stearns had gotten inside information about the forthcoming offer by Seagram and purchased securities based on that information. No one at Bear Stearns was ever charged, though separately three people were later indicted for insider trading related to the deal.
As part of the S.E.C.’s investigation, Epstein voluntarily sat for a deposition and was accompanied by attorney Mark Lehman, who represented both Bear Stearns as well as Epstein personally.
Throughout the deposition, Epstein repeatedly insisted he knew nothing about the St. Joe’s/Seagram deal, nor about any traders at Bear Stearns who were dealing with those stocks.
Epstein insists his departure from Bear Stearns was unrelated to the insider trading investigation. He said it was instead in response to disciplinary action taken against him by Bear’s executive committee.
Epstein claimed that he was punished for loaning money to his childhood friend, Warren Eisenstein, to purchase stock. He said he didn’t know it was improper to do so until afterward.
A memo from the executive committee that was included with the transcript showed Epstein was fined $2,500 by Bear Stearns as a result of the violation.
Epstein said in his deposition that he thought the fine “regarding the violation fee is ridiculous; I think it’s excessive.” He said this is what prompted him to resign from the company shortly thereafter.
This version of events is consistent with the 2003 Vanity Fair profile of Jeffrey Epstein by Vicky Ward, who references this deposition material though it’s unclear how she obtained the deposition decades ago.
Epstein’s attorney Mark Lehman, who also represented Bear Stearns, did not dispute or interject during any of Epstein’s comments regarding the reasons for his departure from Bear Stearns.
Epstein’s Compensation at Bear
Besides more clarity on the reasons behind Epstein’s departure from Bear Stearns, the deposition also provides some insight into how much money Epstein was making at the time.
It’s no secret that those involved in stock trading and investments make most of their money from commissions and bonuses rather than their base salary, and for Epstein, it was no different.
Epstein was not a stockbroker. He never had a broker’s license. He told the S.E.C. that he was an “account executive” who “help[ed] out with commodities and financial futures recommendations to the sales force.”
For this, Epstein said he was paid $42,000 in yearly salary. Today, that’d be worth approximately $140,000.
While that’s certainly a respectable salary, Epstein dismissed Bear Stearns’ salaries as “very low”, instead pointing to the bonuses and commissions that he would receive as “a lot of money.”
Epstein told the S.E.C. that in the year before his deposition, his total compensation from Bear Stearns was over $200,000. That’d be worth at least $665,000 in 2022.
Epstein also reveals that by this time he had two residences: One in his hometown neighborhood of Seagate, Brooklyn, and the other at 265 E 66th Street in Manhattan. He also discusses how he was regularly traveling to Palm Beach, Florida and had recently looked at purchasing an apartment there.
Epstein’s first criminal conviction?
Perhaps one of the most peculiar things to come from this deposition was Epstein’s revelation that he had previously been convicted of a crime.
Up until his conviction in Florida state court on watered-down charges of “procuring a child for prostitution” and sex trafficking in 2008, which stemmed from the initial investigation into Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors, it was believed that Epstein had a clean record.
And at least here in the U.S., he did.
During his deposition with the S.E.C., Epstein was asked whether he’d ever been convicted or indicted for a crime, to which Epstein revealed he’d been convicted of a crime in Great Britain.
His description of the crime is short, stating that he had bought an antique sword and that he got in trouble for carrying the item. Epstein said he was told he had to ship the item out of the country.
Epstein does not reveal a date for the crime or conviction, but given that this occurred before 1981 that would be more than 20 years before any other known conviction.
Of course, keeping things in perspective this conviction pales in comparison to Epstein’s later crimes. But as I said, even years after his death we’re still filling in pieces of the puzzle and adding further revelations concerning Epstein’s mysterious past… however random or insignificant they may seem.
Mark Remillard is a journalist based in New York City and the host of the award-winning podcast Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein, which examined the late sex-offenders crimes and his financial history. It was awarded the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting in Network Radio.
More info: https://linktr.ee/markjremillard
