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- Former money manager Jeffrey Epstein pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking of minors on July 8.
- President Donald Trump once referred to Epstein as a "terrific guy."
- Some of Epstein’s former friends include L Brands CEO Les Wexner and President Bill Clinton. Both have said they cut ties with the disgraced financier years ago.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Former hedge-fund manager and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein may have kept his client list under wraps, but he didn’t do the same with a social circle that included presidents and Hollywood stars.
Epstein, who ran a business out of the US Virgin Islands, was known for jetsetting with the likes of former President Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew (the third child of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth).
"I invest in people — be it politics or science," Epstein was known to say, according to New York Magazine. "It’s what I do."
Epstein, 66, was arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors on July 6 shortly after exiting his private jet in New Jersey. He pleaded not guilty on July 8. However, Epstein has pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges of solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution in Florida.
Keep reading to learn more about the famous people who have crossed paths with Epstein.
President Donald Trump once considered Epstein a friend.
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The future president claimed in 2002 that he had a long friendship with Epstein. "I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump said, according to New York Magazine. "He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
According to Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, Trump now believes the crimes Epstein was charged with are "completely unconscionable and obviously criminal. She also labeled them "disgusting," according to a report from the Associated Press.
"The president told me this morning he hasn’t talked to Epstein, he doesn’t think he’s talked to him or seen him in 10 or 15 years," Conway added.
Former President Bill Clinton traveled with Epstein in 2002 and 2003.
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A statement released by Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said the former President traveled to Europe, Asia, and twice to Africa on Epstein’s private jet. Clinton’s staff and Secret Service agents also went on these trips, which were to further the work of the Clinton Foundation, according to the statement.
At the time, Clinton told New York Magazine through a spokesperson that Epstein was a "both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science."
Ureña also said that Clinton and Epstein haven’t spoken in "well over a decade" and that Clinton "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein was charged with.
Read more: Bill Clinton said he ‘knows nothing’ about charges against Jeffrey Epstein
Actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Chris Tucker also took trips with Epstein.
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Epstein, Clinton, Spacey, and Tucker spent a week in 2002 touring AIDS project sites in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Mozambique for the Clinton Foundation, according to a New York Magazine report.
Spacey has also been charged with sexual assault, although the case may be dismissed, according to The New York Times.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- Meet Jeffrey Epstein, the financier reportedly arrested on suspicion of sex trafficking who’s rubbed elbows with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Kevin Spacey
- How Jeffrey Epstein, the mysterious hedge-fund manager arrested on sex-trafficking charges, made his fortune
- Trump says if asylum seekers don’t like conditions in detention centers, ‘just tell them not to come’
Source: Business Insider – trogers@businessinsider.com (Taylor Nicole Rogers)