Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
Everything we know about Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark, who almost inherited the financier's $500 million estate
Everything we know about Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark, who almost inherited the financier's $500 million estate
Ellen Cranley,Ellen CranleySep 6, 2019, 19:56 IST
Advertisement
Mark Epstein and Polina Proshkina attend CATHERINE MALANDRINO 2014 Fashion Show at Pier 92 on September 10, 2013 in New York City.Shaun Mader/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Jeffrey Epstein's younger brother Mark first raised eyebrows when he offered his Florida condo as collateral for the financier's July arrest on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
After the financier's death, investigators have scrutinized high-profile connections and multiple properties at the center of the disturbing allegations against him of orchestrated abuse.
From scandals in higher education to a majority stake in a mysterious Manhattan apartment building, see everything that's known about the other Epstein.
After Jeffrey Epstein's July 6 arrest on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges, investigators have pored over the late financier's high-profile connections and multiple properties that could be key details in the disturbing allegations of orchestrated abuse against him.
Though many of Epstein's former high-society acquaintances have distanced themselves from the case after he died by apparent suicide while awaiting trial in a Manhattan prison, his lesser-known brother Mark has emerged at the center of the questions surrounding the fate of the financier's estate.
Mark is Jeffrey's younger brother who started as an artist before pursuing numerous business ventures in their native New York City.
From scandals in higher education to a majority stake in a mysterious Manhattan apartment building, see everything that's known about the other Epstein.
Mark, like Jeffrey, has spent his life in the Epsteins' native New York City.
Mark Epstein grew up in Brooklyn, New York and attended the art school Cooper Union in Manhattan and Stony Brook University.
The Daily Beast says that childhood neighbors "have only good things to say about the Epstein they still call Puggie," and he had a knack for business that started out as an artistic venture around his time at Cooper Union.
Neighbors told the Daily Beast that Mark once ran a "business silk-screening T-shirts" that has been described as "one of the most versatile silk screening printing companies in New York."
He founded his own companies and ventured into the world of modeling.
Epstein's scattered business track record has made it difficult to pin down his primary source of wealth. He headed Atelier Enterprises, Inc., a charter and leasing company, in 1984 before he began investing in New York real estate in the early 1990s.
Records reported by the Daily Beast show Mark Epstein formed his own modeling agency, Saint Model and Talent, in December 2005, but the report notes that the agency has no website or social media presence and does not appear to have ever signed a model.
His business ventures reportedly came alongside financial trouble. While plagued with recurring tax debt, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to sell his 80-foot, 3 1/2-bathoom yacht, according to The Wall Street Journal.
His wealth has been the subject of scrutiny for years, as he previously claimed to have semi-retired at age 39 and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity. He has also repeatedly denied any business connections to Jeffrey, but his past deals are likely ripe for probing by federal investigators in Jeffrey's conspiracy case.
He's known for being a controversial figure at his and Jeffrey's alma mater, Cooper Union.
That same year, he was named as chairman of its board of trustees. He later stepped down in 2015 after intense criticism of the board's decision to charge tuition at the formerly free institution.
Amid outrage over the decision, Epstein was blasted by Art In America magazine as "intimately involved in most of Cooper Union's worst decisions" during his time on the board, when he was accused of financial mismanagement.
He's involved in global politics and has been associated with Washington heavyweights like Adam Schiff, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Maxine Waters.
Epstein is listed on the board of directors for The Humpty Dumpty Institute, which works with the United Nations in attempts to rebuild developing countries.
The Daily Beast reported that a tax filing from the institute, where Epstein sits on the board of directors, shows Epstein loaned the international charity at least $100,000 in 2014.
The group lists Democratic representatives Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff of California and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida on the congressional advisory board of the institute, the Daily Caller reported.
His relation to Jeffrey caused controversy for at least one of his businesses.
Epstein's real estate company, Ossa Properties, once owned around 500 renter-occupied apartments in four co-op projects in New York City, according to a 1993 New York Times report.
The Daily Beast reported that an intern for the company said it is run almost exclusively by Anthony Barrett, who records show is a former asset manager for J. Epstein. & Co and a former vice president of Ossa Properties. Epstein has denied any connection between Ossa Properties and J. Epstein. & Co., telling Crain's New York, that the information in those filings was a "mistake." But Barrett later told The Wall Street Journal that the two were indeed affiliated.
An even closer tie to Jeffrey lies in Ossa Properties' majority stake in 301 East 66th Street, a mysterious Manhattan apartment building where records show Jeffrey Epstein long housed girlfriends, associates, employees, and businesses.
The building came back under scrutiny after Jeffrey's arrest as a possible center of a trafficking operation involving young and underage models and women.
Mark has emerged as a responsible figure since Jeffrey's death.
Mark first raised eyebrows in July 2019 by offering up his Florida condo as collateral for Jeffrey's bail after his July 6 arrest.
He became another footnote in his brother's legal proceedings after Jeffrey died in jail on August 10. In a will signed just two days before Jeffrey was found dead in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the financier described an estate worth more than $577 billion, and noted that Mark would have inherited the entire estate had Jeffrey died without a will.
But the newly signed will left nothing to Mark Epstein and said the entire estate would go to a trust that was created on August 8, the same day the will was signed.
