Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case - NYTimes.com

It has not been a good year for Jeff Epstein. A billionaire money advisor who owned his own island in the Caribbean as well as a large townhouse in NY, Epstein used to be known for his secrecy, smart friends, dislike of suits and ties, and yoga. That has changed in the past year. In fact, it has changed in a big way! Read on:

Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case - NYTimes.com:

"On Monday morning, he turned himself in and began serving 18 months for soliciting prostitution....It is a stunning downfall for Mr. Epstein...a tabloid monument to an age of hyperwealth. Mr. Epstein owns a Boeing 727 and the largest town house in Manhattan. He has paid for college educations for personal employees and students from Rwanda, and spent millions on a project to develop a thinking and feeling computer and on music intended to alleviate depression.

But Mr. Epstein also paid women, some of them under age, to give him massages that ended with a sexual favor, the authorities say."

In addition to these charges, he was also recently was identified as a major investor in Bear Stearns' (where he used to work) hedge funds that collapsed last year:

From NY Times DealBook:

"The New York Post reported Monday that he was the “Major Investor No. 1″ described in a recently unsealed indictment as one of the three largest investors in two Bear Stearns hedge funds that collapsed. A spokesman for Mr. Epstein confirmed to the Post that he was the investor, who wasn’t identified in the indictment but was said to have had $57 million tied up in the funds shortly before they imploded early last summer.....The indictment said that in April 2007, the investor — whom we now know to be Mr. Epstein — told Mr. Cioffi he was thinking about pulling his money out of the fund. The funds had a bruising February and both funds lost money in March of that year."

So he was at least right on wanting to pull his money out of the fund.

For more on the charges see the Wikipedia entry.