Nearly three decades before Jeffrey Epstein ran into trouble with the law for being a sex offender, he was featured in Cosmopolitan magazine as a ‘bachlelor of the month.’
Epstein, the wealthy financier who faces federal sex trafficking charges, appeared in Cosmo’s July 1980 issue, where he was hailed as a ‘New York dynamo’ who was seeking a ‘cute Texas girl’.
He was featured in a section of the magazine which lists eligible bachelors across the country, according to The Daily Beast.
Epstein at the time was a trader at Bear Stearns, the Wall Street investment bank.
As ‘bachelor of the month,’ Cosmo invited single women to write to him at the bank’s Manhattan headquarters.
Jeffrey Epstein was once named ‘bachelor of the month’ by Cosmopolitan magazine in 1980 – decades before he was charged with sex crimes. Epstein is seen left during his stint as a school teacher in New York City in the 1970s. He is seen right in a mug shot distributed last week
Epstein was featured in the July 1980 edition of Cosmopolitan magazine
‘Financial strategist Jeffrey Epstein, 27, talks only to people who make over a million a year!’ the ad read.
‘If you’re “a cute Texas girl,” write this New York dynamo at 55 Water St., 49th floor, N.Y.C. 10041.’
The ad included a photo of Epstein, who is wearing a suit and tie. He is also sporting a dark-haired mullet.
In August 1980, Bear Stearns placed an ad in The Wall Street Journal announcing that Epstein was one of the bank’s employees who made limited partner.
The next year, however, Epstein left Bear Stearns after he allegedly loaned a friend $20,000 to buy stock.
After his stint at Bear Stearns, Epstein began to work exclusively as a money manager for wealthy moguls worth at least $1billion.
His only known client in the 1980s was Leslie Wexner, the chairman of Limited Brands, the parent company of Victoria’s Secret.
For two decades Epstein was personal wealth adviser to Wexner.
But ex-employees have alleged that his powers stretched far beyond this brief and said he had input in L Brands’ management.
He tried to influence the selection of Victoria’s Secret models and also purchased a $10million plane on the company’s behalf, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Recalling business meetings with now 81-year-old Wexner, a former director said: ‘He would say Jeffrey says this and Jeffrey says that’.
In light of fresh charges being brought against Epstein – who is in custody in New York for alleged sex trafficking – L Brands are examining the extent of his influence in the company.
A spokesperson for L Brands said they do not believe Epstein was either an employee or representative of the company and branded his crimes as ‘abhorrant’.
From the 1980s to the early 2000s, Epstein and Wexner forged a close professional and personal relationship.
Sources close to the pair claim told the Wall Street Journal the retail tycoon was attracted to the financier’s high-flying New York lifestyle and charm.
Robert Morosky, former vice chairman of L Brands, said: ‘Les is an insecure guy with a big ego…he had a lot of money but craved respect. They [Wexner and Epstein] played off each other’s needs.
Since fresh charges were brought against Epstein, Wexner has moved to distance himself from his former friend.
In a memo to L Brands employees earlier this month, he wrote: ‘I would never have guessed that a person I employed more than a decade ago could have caused such pain to so many people.’
Last week, L Brands instructed a team of lawyers to review the financier’s position following reports from former executives that the 66-year-old unofficially burrowed his way into the Ohio-headquartered business through his ties to Wexner.
Epstein, who kept a number of powerful figures as friends including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Alan Dershowitz, and others, is currently jailed at Metropolitan Correctional Center after being charged with molesting girls at his homes in New York and West Palm Beach between 2002 and 2005.
He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of sex trafficking and is next due in court on Wednesday.
The now 66-year-old hedge fund manager is accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars for massages and then molesting them at various locations from 2002 through 2005.
Last week, Epstein reportedly tried to hang himself in his jail cell. His cellmate claims to have saved his life.
Jeffrey Epstein’s cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione (pictured) says he saved the billionaire pedophile’s life during his recent suicide attempt inside Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York
Tartaglione and Epstein are in the same Special Housing Unit which is home to 99 inmates who pose a security risk or have violated disciplinary rules
Nicholas Tartaglione – a former NYPD officer accused of killing four men over a drug deal gone wrong – claims he found Epstein unconscious on Tuesday night.
Epstein tried to hang himself before Tartaglione, 49, quickly called for help, according to the New York Daily News.
Investigators were initially trying to determine whether Tartaglione had assaulted Epstein or whether the billionaire financier had attempted to end his own life when he was found in his cell.
Epstein was rushed to hospital with neck injuries, while Tartaglione was questioned about Epstein’s behavior and mental state in the hours before he was found on the floor.
However, Tartaglione’s attorney Bruce Barket told DailyMail.com on Friday that the pair had struck up a close friendship following Epstein’s arrest on July 6.
The twosome are in the same Special Housing Unit which is home to 99 inmates who pose a security risk or have violated disciplinary rules.
Muscle-bound Tartaglione is accused of murdering four men following a botched cocaine deal in December 2016.
Attorney General William Barr declared back in March that prosecutors would be seeking the death penalty over the callous crime.
Tartaglione is alleged to have lured his four victims to a bar in upstate New York, before he held them their against their will and killed them.