A Meeting Without Protocol - and: The Banality of Evil - How a Schoolyard Dispute Sparked the Epstein Scandal

There are encounters that change a life - and others that shake a world order, and why no one looked more closely. The meeting between Leslie H. Wexner, the discreet king of American retail, and Jeffrey Epstein, a former teacher and later financial advisor with unusual access to wealth, belongs to the latter category. Yet as momentous as their alliance was, so little is known about its beginning. No contract, no protocol, no public moment - just a shadow that has never faded since. Officially, it is said to have happened in the mid-1980s. The reports vary: some say 1986, others 1987. Epstein, who had previously worked as a teacher at the Dalton School and then briefly at Bear Stearns, is said to have approached Wexner through a "mutual acquaintance" - an unremarkable phrase that is never further explained in any article. Names like Robert Morosky or Robert Meister are mentioned, but none of the intermediaries has ever publicly explained why Epstein, of all people, was taken into confidence as an "advisor." He had neither a license as an asset manager nor significant experience in finance. What he did have was a talent: making people believe they needed him.

Epstein was initially a math teacher at the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan. He was hired there without a college degree - on the recommendation of then-headmaster Donald Barr, father of William Barr, Trump’s later attorney general. A student’s father at Dalton, a high-ranking manager at Bear Stearns, was impressed by Epstein and recommended him for a position at the investment bank. There, Epstein began as a junior assistant in the options division, quickly rose through the ranks, and was made a limited partner in 1980 - even though he had no official license as a broker or financial analyst. After leaving, Epstein founded his own financial firm in the early 1980s: initially J. Epstein & Co., later Financial Trust Co. based in the Virgin Islands. His clientele was reportedly extremely exclusive - it was said he only managed the wealth of billionaires.

What happened next defies all conventional logic. Within a few years, Epstein went from being an unknown ex-teacher to the de facto treasurer of Wexner’s empire. He not only managed large portions of the Limited founder’s fortune - he also gained access to his foundations, real estate, and company shares. In 1991, Epstein suddenly became co-owner of Southern Trust and VSD, and in 1996, Wexner even transferred to him the largest townhouse in New York, located on East 71st Street - a gift, officially. The purchase price: zero dollars. The reason: never truly given. Wexner was no ordinary entrepreneur. He was the man behind one of the largest fashion and retail empires in America. With his company The Limited Inc. - later renamed L Brands - he controlled for decades brands like Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Bath & Body Works, Express, and Henri Bendel. His decisions set trends, body ideals, and billions in sales. Victoria’s Secret alone shaped entire generations of women and became a global projection surface for beauty, eroticism, and consumerism. Added to this was real estate ownership worth billions, especially in Ohio and New York, as well as the creation of New Albany, a master-planned town on the outskirts of Columbus - complete with police, schools, golf club, and a foundation that reached into the political establishment. Wexner’s influence extended to Harvard, where his foundation generously funded programs, and into strategic security circles, such as the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program, which trains future leaders of Israel - in close cooperation with Israeli government agencies. Those who had access to Wexner had access to an exclusive circle of power, money, and influence. And suddenly, Epstein belonged to that circle. Not just as a manager, but as an extension - someone who signed, decided, represented. As Wexner increasingly withdrew from public life, Epstein became the unofficial interface between his mentor’s wealth and the world that was meant to desire it. Model castings, jet-set connections, Harvard donations - everything ran through Epstein. He was the man who moved elegantly between patronage and manipulation, between glamour and gray zones. And no one seemed to question it.

But why did Wexner allow this? Why did he tie his life’s work to a man about whom practically nothing was known? There is no simple answer - only hypotheses that snake through gaps, inconsistencies, and contradictions. Perhaps it was charm. Perhaps usefulness. Perhaps a blind spot. Perhaps even a pact. But none of that explains why Epstein was ever exposed years later - and why the silence suddenly broke. To understand that moment, you have to return to a very different place. Not the world of millionaires and private jets. But to a high school gymnasium in Florida. Sometimes the unimaginable began with something seemingly trivial. No secret network, no global conspiracy - just a banal scene: Two girls, fourteen years old, argued in February 2005 in the gym at Royal Palm Beach High School. A friendship broke apart, words were exchanged, tears as well. But what no one knew: This teenage drama set in motion a chain of events that would shake the United States to its very core. One of the girls, deeply hurt, confided in her parents at home and reported what the other had once told her. An older man. Gifts. Massages. A house in Palm Beach. The father listened - and reported the incident to the police. What followed was not a heroic investigation, but a revealing example of how institutions failed when the perpetrator was rich, powerful, and well connected. To be continued .....

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