Associated Press
- Financier Jeffrey Epstein was an important political donor before he pleaded guilty to charges of felony sexual solicitation of underage girls in Florida in 2008.
- Epstein donated $184,276 to politicians on both sides of the aisle including Chuck Schumer, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Bob Dole since 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
- Three of the public officials — Eliot Spitzer, Bob Packwood, and Bill Clinton — who received donations from Epstein have also faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
- Financier Jeffrey Epstein pleaded not guilty to new charges of sex trafficking on July 8, 2019.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking of underage girls, was once a major political donor.
Since 1990, Epstein has donated $147,426 to various Democrats and $18,250 to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Chuck Schumer, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Bob Dole received thousands a piece.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to felony sexual solicitation of underage girls. Epstein continued to make donations after he was released from a 13-month prison term.
Some politicians, including disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer and retired Senator Chris Dodd, returned Epstein’s donations as accusations of the financier’s wrongdoings became public. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also returned a $10,000 gift from Epstein three days after receiving it in 2018, according to The Daily Beast.
Keep reading to learn more about Epstein’s political donations.
Delegate Stacey Plaskett, who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands in the House of Representatives, accepted donations from Epstein after he registered as a sex offender.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Epstein made the maximum individual contribution — $5,400 — to Plaskett’s reelection campaign in 2016, The Daily Beast reported. Plaskett’s district includes St. Thomas, where Epstein’s firm is incorporated, and Epstein’s private island.
Epstein also donated $2,700 to Plaskett in 2018.
Epstein sent $10,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in October 2018, only to have the money returned to him three days later.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
"Without second thought, the DCCC immediately refunded this unsolicited donation," a DCCC spokesperson told The Daily Beast.
Epstein gave so much to Gwendolyn Beck, an independent running for Congress from Connecticut in 2014, that he violated the FEC’s individual contribution limit.
REUTERS/Jason Reed
Epstein donated a total of $12,600 to Beck — $2,600 directly to Beck’s campaign, in addition to two donations of $5,000 each to two political groups supporting that candidate — records from the Federal Election Commission show. The FEC declined to prosecute.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- A look inside multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s real-estate portfolio, where sex trafficking reportedly took place and a $77 million Manhattan mansion may have been acquired for $0
- A day in the life of a former Wall Street investment banker who quit his high-power job to run a seafood restaurant, wakes up at 5:00 a.m., and grew his company to 39 locations in 10 years
- I spent an afternoon in Moscow’s $12 billion financial district, home to some of Europe’s tallest skyscrapers and where Trump once wanted to build a tower. Here’s what it looks like.
Source: Business Insider – trogers@businessinsider.com (Taylor Nicole Rogers)