Two opulent homes owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have hit the market in New York and Florida for a combined $110 million.
The homes are the first of Epstein’s extensive real estate portfolio to be sold off after the financier’s death by suicide in a prison cell in August 2019, the Wall Street Journal first reported on Thursday. The properties include an Upper East Side townhouse steps from Central Park and a nine-bedroom waterfront estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Modlin Group
Listed by Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group, the townhouse boastsd seven stories and 40 rooms. It was built in the 1930s in the French Neoclassical style and served as a private school in the 1960s. The listing, which makes no mention of its connection to the financier, describes it as having “provenance and commanding authority in a neighborhood steeped in New York’s richest history.”
Last summer, Epstein committed suicide while waiting for trial on charges of running an extensive worldwide sex trafficking scheme involving underage girls. He had first been convicted of abusing a teenage girl in 2008 and, as was later claimed by prosecutors in later sessions, recruited girls for sex acts at both the New York and Palm Beach properties. When authorities raided the townhouse after Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, they found piles of cash, diamonds and an expired passport listing Saudi Arabia as Epstein’s residence.
Leslie Wexner, the founder of Victoria’s Secret parent company L Brands, bought it in 1989 and later sold it to a company headed by Epstein. If sold for the asking price, it would go on real estate records as the most expensive townhouse sale in New York City – the home currently occupying that spot is a $77 million sale of a nearby mansion owned by Penthouse Magazine founder Bob Guccione.
The Corcoran Group
The Palm Beach estate sits at 14,000 square feet and is listed for $21.995 million by Kerry Warwick of the Corcoran Group. Also making no mention of its past or former owner, the listing describes it as a “beautiful John Volk lakefront residence located in the prestigious Estate Section on El Brillo Way.” Epstein’s personal belongings have been removed from the house but, according to the Wall Street Journal, it still contains his furniture and has the initials “J.E.” in raised brass letters on the front door.
After Epstein’s death, a judge and his estate negotiated a victims’ compensation fund for the alleged victims. The sale of the properties would go toward that fund as well as any outstanding tax and creditor obligations. During his life, Epstein amassed an estate that was worth a reported $636 million and included an apartment in Paris, a ranch in New Mexico and a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands — all likely to hit the market sometime in the coming year.
