Jeffrey Epstein hired a college student for erotic massages. She also gave a massage to his billionaire friends, Glenn and Eva Dubin - though they say they don't recall it
- Glenn and Eva Dubin, a billionaire couple with deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, received a massage recommendation from the financier years ago, according to interviews and police records reviewed by Business Insider.
- Epstein hired one masseuse as an assistant when she was 23, before she received her massage therapy license. She gave Epstein erotic massages and massaged his close friends and assistants, as well as the Dubins on at least one occasion.
- The Dubins said they did not recall the massage, and a source said there was no erotic component. The couple, who remained friendly with Epstein after he went to jail on charges including soliciting a minor for prostitution, reiterated that had they known of the new allegations against the disgraced financier, they would have cut off contact.
- The masseuse says she "massaged many of Epstein's friends" while she worked for him, but that none of them expected any sexual favors.
In 2003, a young college student was recruited to answer phones and run errands for financier Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach.
The job turned into much more, including massages for Epstein and a referral to massage at least one billionaire couple, according to a police report from January 2006. The massages for Epstein, she told police, became sexual.
Over the course of the Palm Beach Police Department's investigation into the now-disgraced sex offender, which ended in a secretive 2008 plea deal, investigators spoke with Johanna Sjoberg. Her story offers a window into how Epstein's network functioned, from the way he found girls and women to service his needs to how some of them connected with his rich and famous friends.
On a referral from Epstein, for example, Sjoberg gave at least one massage to Glenn and Eva Dubin, the billionaire couple with longtime ties to Epstein that they now say they regret.
The Dubin's patronage, at Epstein's recommendation, of a masseuse who had given him erotic massages has not been previously reported. She gave a statement to police in 2006 and later spoke to the Daily Mail in 2007, and Business Insider has confirmed details of her story. A lawyer for Epstein did not respond to a request for comment.
Now a hair stylist, Sjoberg told police she met Epstein in 2003, when she was 23, according to the 2006 report. She said she was approached on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University, the private Christian college she attended, by longtime Epstein friend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was looking for assistants for Epstein's Palm Beach house.
Sjoberg took the part-time job and began providing massages to Epstein before she received her massage therapy license, which public records indicate was issued in November 2003. She also massaged Epstein paramour Nadia Marcinkova and his assistant Sarah Kellen, according to the police statement.
She told police that Epstein turned some of the massages into sexual encounters:
He would instruct her to rub his nipples as he masturbated himself. [She] stated she felt 'grossed' about the behavior but as she was getting paid, she just continued. [She] also advised she would on occasion perform the massages naked. Epstein would on occasion, utilize the vibrator/massager on her vagina area when she performed the massages. Sjoberg explained that Epstein never exposed himself to her.
Epstein paid her and "took care of" her college tuition, in addition to renting a car for her for a week, according to the police statement. She later told the Daily Mail that Epstein also covered the down payment on her home and paid for her to become a masseuse and hair stylist. (She told the Daily Mail that she met Epstein in 2001, when she was 21 -two years earlier than in her account to police investigators.)
'Nothing inappropriate is being alleged'
Epstein referred Sjoberg to at least one other client, she told the Palm Beach police in January 2006.
"Epstein also recommended her to another client who resides at Breakers Row in Palm Beach area," the police report of her interview says. "The client she was referred to was 'Glenn' unknown last name, and his wife, who she provided a massages to [sic]."
Business Insider has confirmed that the Glenn referred to in the statement was Glenn Dubin, who had a house with a Breakers Row address until 2012, according to public records. Sjoberg gave Dubin and his wife at least one massage.
It's unclear when the massage took place, and there was no erotic component, Sjoberg told Business Insider.
"I massaged many of Epstein's friends when I worked for him, because I was a talented licensed massage therapist," Sjoberg said. "To me Glenn was just another person on the table. There was never any other expectation by his friends. If something inappropriate happened I would have a memory of it."
"The Dubins have no recollection of this person or event but regardless, nothing inappropriate is being alleged," a spokeswoman for the couple said. "Any suggestion to the contrary is highly irresponsible and completely inaccurate."
The Dubins' relationship with Epstein dates back to the 1980s, when Epstein and Eva Dubin-then Eva Andersson-dated, and continued after he went to jail in 2008 for charges including procuring a minor for prostitution.
Business Insider reported last month that Eva Dubin emailed Epstein's probation officer in 2009 ahead of hosting a large Thanksgiving meal, saying the couple was "100% comfortable" with Epstein around their children, including their then-teenage daughter.
Epstein and the Dubins have financial ties as well as personal ones. Epstein was a "longtime investor" in Highbridge Capital, the hedge fund Glenn Dubin founded in the 1990s, according to an affidavit Dubin submitted in a court case in 2010. And both men were investors in a fund run by D.B. Zwirn, a former Highbridge Capital employee. According to Vanity Fair, Epstein "arranged" the sale of Highbridge to JPMorgan Chase, and Epstein made a $75 million investment in a fund run by another former Highbridge portfolio manager at Dubin's recommendation.
Epstein and the Dubins were also philanthropically intertwined. In 2009, Epstein sought to make a donation to Eva Dubin's breast cancer charity, the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. In order to avoid public scrutiny over a donation from a registered sex offender, he made the donation through another charity established by Eva Dubin, the Celina Dubin United Fund, which in turn donated about $26,600 to the breast-cancer group from 2010 through 2012, according to tax records.
The Dubins said they are "horrified" by last month's federal charges against Epstein, which accused the money manager of running a sex trafficking ring in Florida and New York for years involving girls as young as 14.
"Had they been aware of the vile and unspeakable conduct described in these new allegations, they would have cut off all ties and certainly never have allowed their children to be in his presence," the Dubins said through a spokeswoman, noting that they thought Epstein had rehabilitated himself and "deserved a second chance."
Other finance links
The Dubins aren't the only high-profile family to come under recent scrutiny for their Epstein ties.
Private equity titan Leon Black, who co-founded Apollo Global Management, continues to face criticism for his lack of transparency around his social, financial, and philanthropic links to Epstein. Weeks after Business Insider and other outlets reported various ties to Epstein, Black said in memos to employees and investors that Apollo never did business with Epstein.
He countered a Bloomberg report that said he allowed Epstein to pitch his services to Apollo executives. Black did acknowledge that he donated money Epstein's charities and vice versa. He has yet to explain why he donated $10 million to an Epstein-run foundation in 2015, years after the money manager was released from jail.
He also has not yet provided amended tax returns to confirm that he and his wife removed Epstein as director of their family foundation in 2007. Epstein's name appeared on tax documents through 2012 in what the Blacks' spokeswoman said was a clerical error.
Epstein also reportedly funneled dozens of wealthy clients to James 'Jes' Staley when he led JPMorgan's wealth management business. Staley is now CEO of Barclays.
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