Jeffrey Epstein set Elon Musk's brother up with a girlfriend in effort to get close to the Tesla founder, sources say
- Multi-millionaire sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein introduced Kimbal Musk, Elon's brother, to a woman in his entourage, two sources tell Business Insider.
- The woman, who had previously dated Epstein and lived in an apartment building where he was known to house models, dated Kimbal Musk from 2011 to 2012.
- Though the relationship was by all accounts genuine, the sources say Epstein hoped it would open doors to Elon Musk and his companies.
- Epstein and his entourage were granted a private tour of Musk's SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, Calif., in 2012.
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When word got out last year that disgraced multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein had been known to fraternize with Silicon Valley moguls, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk was quick to release a statement minimizing their relationship: He'd attended a dinner organized by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman where Epstein was present, he said, and "was at his house in Manhattan for about 30 minutes in the middle of the afternoon" at the urging of his then-wife Talulah Riley, who wanted to meet him "for a novel she was writing." He was "obviously a creep," Musk told Vanity Fair.
But the social connection between Epstein and Musk may be more complicated than that, Business Insider has learned. Jeffrey Epstein was in regular contact with Elon's brother Kimbal Musk, the tech millionaire turned restaurateur who serves on the boards of his older brother's companies Tesla and SpaceX, according to two people familiar with their relationship.
It's unclear how Epstein and Kimbal Musk met initially, but they saw each other occasionally because Kimbal was dating a woman in Epstein's entourage at the time, the people said. The woman had previously dated Epstein himself, and lived in an apartment building that Epstein's brother owned and which Epstein had used to house people close to him, including models from Eastern Europe.
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The couple, who dated from 2011 to 2012, was set up by Epstein himself, the sources said. Their relationship brought Epstein into contact with the Musk family and their businesses, and highlights how the convicted pedophile may have used the women in his inner circle to develop strategic relationships with prominent people in the world of tech and business.
"It almost seemed a little more transactional," said one source familiar with the couple. "The rumor has always been that Epstein facilitated introductions to beautiful women, looking for deal flow or access to capital. And the provenance of [Kimbal Musk's relationship to the woman] was right down the path of that."
By all appearances, Kimbal's relationship with the woman was genuine despite her continued financial ties to Epstein and his role in their introduction. The woman was going through an emotional rough patch before she met Kimbal, one of the people said, and the pair had shared interests.
Kimbal Musk made his millions in the Dot-Com boom alongside his brother by selling their online city guide company, Zip2, to Compaq for $300 million in 1999. He served as CEO of the ad-tech company OneRiot until 2010, when he broke his neck in a snow tubing accident and resigned to focus on the food industry.
By 2011, he was a full-time restaurateur and head of what would eventually become Big Green, a non-profit that teaches students about healthy eating and gardening.
Representatives for Kimbal Musk did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The woman, an American, was in one of the three couples that sources say Epstein directed to enter into same-sex marriages as part of a scheme to keep some of Epstein's foreign-born girlfriends inside the country, Business Insider reported in August. She was also named as a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust created by Epstein that at one point totalled $50 million, Business Insider reported in December.
The woman has not come forward publicly, and because she may be a sex trafficking victim, Business Insider is not naming her. She could not be reached for comment for this story.
Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell last year while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide. Epstein's lawyers could not be reached for comment.
Epstein has set up at least one other ex-girlfriend with a powerful man. He introduced his former girlfriend Eva Andersson, who was once Miss Sweden, to hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin in the early 1990s. The couple married and have three children. Epstein later told associates that he had considered marrying their daughter, Celina Dubin, so that she could inherit his fortune, Business Insider reported in December. Celina Dubin was also briefly named as a beneficiary of the same trust as the woman who dated Kimbal Musk. (Dubin was unaware of the trust's existence, according to a spokesperson, and she never received any payments from it. There is no indication that Epstein and Celina Dubin had a romantic relationship.)
A birthday party with a banker's daughter
The relationship gave Epstein an opportunity to get close to both Kimbal and his more successful brother. Epstein was invited to attend Kimbal's fortieth birthday party in New York City in September 2012, according to one of the sources familiar with the relationship. Epstein ultimately did not attend that party, though members of his entourage did.
It was the day after the birthday party, that Elon Musk and his then-wife Talulah Riley visited Epstein at his home in New York City, the person said.
According to emails reviewed by Business Insider, one of the people who was invited to the party at Epstein's request was Alexa Staley, the daughter of Barclays CEO James E. "Jes" Staley. She was 23 at the time and working on her PhD in physics at Columbia University.
Her father was a longtime business associate of Epstein. When Jes Staley worked in the personal banking division of JPMorgan, according to The New York Times, Epstein referred dozens of wealthy clients to him. After Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor in 2008, Jes Staley visited the Palm Beach office where Epstein spent his days while out on work release.
The Staleys, through a spokesperson for Barclays, declined to comment for the record.
Epstein took an exclusive tour of SpaceX
A few days before the birthday party, the source said, Kimbal had arranged for Epstein and members of his entourage to receive a private tour of the Hawthorne, California factory for SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon.
It's unclear whether Elon or Kimbal were present for the tour.
The week of the tour, Epstein was in Los Angeles to attend the WWW conference, a one-time event organized by Richard Saul Wurman, the founder of the TED conference and symposium franchise.
The WWW conference featured music from cellist Yo-Yo Ma and several speakers who have been previously linked to Epstein, including "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, scientists Steven Pinker and Lisa Randall, and MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte, who faced criticism for urging his successor Joi Ito to take funding from Epstein.
Epstein was listed as a sponsor for the conference, which took place from September 18 to 20, 2012, alongside General Electric and William R. Hearst III, according to the captions on YouTube videos of talks from the event. The captions were edited to remove Epstein's name after Business Insider reached out to RadicalMedia, which produced the videos under contract for WWW, for comment.
Epstein's involvement with the WWW conference has not been previously reported.
Elon Musk denies that Epstein advised Tesla
It's unclear whether Epstein had any business with Tesla or SpaceX, or invested in the companies. Epstein told New York Times reporter James B. Stewart, who met with him in 2018 to discuss a rumor that Epstein was creating a list of possible new board members for Tesla, that he had advised Elon Musk but couldn't discuss it publicly because his reputation is "radioactive."
A spokesman for Elon Musk told the Times that it was "incorrect to say that Epstein ever advised Elon on anything."
The men have dined together at least twice: In addition to the dinner organized by Reid Hoffman that Musk and Epstein both attended, BuzzFeed uncovered photos from a 2011 dinner in Long Beach as part of Edge, an exclusive dinner club for intellectuals founded by literary agent John Brockman.
Among the guests at that dinner were Elon Musk and Epstein, as well as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google cofounder Sergey Brin, who were all in town for the TED conference, according to the report. It's unclear whether Wurman, who himself is listed as a member on Edge.org, was present at that particular dinner. Wurman did not respond to a request for comment.
Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.