On Gatsby, sort of – Julia Amalia Heyer and Marc Pitzke in Der Spiegel:

‘Ward, 56, is a journalist and the author of several bestsellers. She has been a senior reporter for CNN and has written for a number of big-name newspapers and magazines.
In fall 2002, she was commissioned by the magazine Vanity Fair to write a profile of Jeffrey Epstein. "At the time, he was a Gatsby-like character. Everybody was talking about him, but nobody knew who he really was,” says Ward. Just like in the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald about the secretive bachelor Jay Gatsby, who would throw lavish parties in his villa for the high society of New York.’

(…)

‘Jeffrey Epstein has now been dead for more than half a decade, but hauntingly he seems more alive than ever. The U.S. judiciary has been busy with Epstein and his crimes for more than 20 years – as have American politics.
His name has become shorthand for the fact that different rules apply to those who hold power. That wealth and influence feed off each other – and that those with both can ignore rules and the law.
That is partly due to the crimes that he committed. Epstein – this man with the reptilian eyes, thick hair and the perpetual tan common to those who have secured a spot on the sunny side of life – sexually abused underaged girls on a scale that can only be described as industrial. His method of recruiting girls resembled a snowball system, one which ultimately involved up to 1,000 victims. He had girls delivered the same way most people order takeout meals.’

(…)

‘Last week, a book written by Epstein’s most famous victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, was published. It contains a detailed description of how Epstein allegedly brought her to Prince Andrew as a 17-year-old. He denies it, but is now no longer allowed to use his royal title at the behest of his brother, King Charles III.’

(…)

‘Epstein was also a guest at Trump’s marriage to his second wife, Marla Maples.
All in all, it was a rather public friendship between two men, lasting around 15 years. Fodder for the gossip pages: Parties in Florida and New York, surrounded by models, cheerleaders and private airplanes.
The two men were similar in many ways, both making it all the way from the outer boroughs of New York to the high society of Manhattan.
Then, they had a falling-out, likely over a piece of real estate. Radio silence followed. That, at least, is Trump’s story, and there is nothing to contradict this account.’

(…)

‘He began seeking out proximity to powerful, wealthy men early on. He left college without a degree to teach at the Dalton School in New York, where Manhattan's elite send their more gifted children. There he tutored a boy who was the son of the future chairman of the investment bank Bear Stearns.
That is how Jeffrey Epstein became an investment banker.
He quickly became a junior partner at Bear Stearns, then left the bank abruptly. Allegedly, to become self-employed.
Others said it was insider trading. That he had been caught. He was questioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission but never charged.
He still received a bonus of $100,000 in the year of his departure.
Since then, nobody really seemed to know what Jeffrey Epstein did, where his money came from.
While other hedge fund managers would name their clients in the hopes of attracting more, there was a long period when only one man was known to be associated with Epstein: the billionaire Leslie Wexner from Ohio, a textile magnate who owned brands like Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria's Secret.’

(…)

‘If you ask Teresa Helm about the Epstein files, about what she expects from those responsible in politics and in the judiciary, she answers that she doesn’t know what "these files" mean, what is supposed to be in them. But, she says, she does know "that there has to be evidence supporting their network.” "There are clearly lots of people complicit,” says Helm. "So where are those people? Who are those people?” In the hopes of finding that out, Teresa Helm voted for Donald Trump in November 2024, believing he would uncover what others were keeping under wraps. Does she still cling to that hope today? Yes, she says. She does continue to cling to this belief. To the hope that the truth will still come to light. And that accomplices and co-conspirators will finally be held accountable.’

Read the article here.
The money appears to be a minor detail, but really, where did it come from?

One client is not that much.

And before the monster became a monster he must have had some appeal, appeal enough at least to attract all sorts of celebs.

We’ll be waiting for the movie. Or the novel.