Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion has finally sold for a steep discount from its initial $88million asking price with a $51million purchase by an undisclosed buyer on Tuesday, according to an attorney for the estate.
The funds from the sale will be transferred to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, Dan Weiner said in a statement to CNN.
New claims will begin to be issued after claim payouts were suspended from the program on Feb. 4 by the independent administrator of the EVCP, Jordy Feldman.
Feldman plans to lift the suspension once she evaluates the financial situation surrounding the sale of the mansion.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse where he used to lure and abuse underage girls sold for $51million to an unnamed buyer
The pre-war home on East 71st street in the heart of New York City was under contract seven months after it was first put on the market, according to the Wall Street Journal
Epstein outside the mansion in which he lured and abused underage girls and set up secret cameras to spy on his victims
‘We are eager to resume issuing compensation offers as soon as possible,’ Feldman said. ‘Once we have more information about the amount of funds that will be made available to the Program and when, I will decide when we can lift the suspension and get back to full Program operations.’
With a sprawling 28,000 square feet over seven floors, the mansion is described in the listing as ‘a once in a life-time opportunity to own the largest single-family home in New York City.’
However the mansion has a dark past as the place where Epstein would draw in girls as young as 14 and sexually abuse them.
The pedophile racked up an expansive property portfolio before his death including homes in Paris, New Mexico and Florida as well as his private island Little St. James, all of which are said to have been sites of his abuse
The convicted pedophile allegedly had secret cameras installed inside the sprawling property to spy on his victims while it was also fitted with unusual decor including the now-infamous painting of Bill Clinton in a dress.
The deal marks one of the most expensive home sales in the Big Apple in the last year, after the pandemic sparked a mass exodus from the city and squeezed the real estate market.
The sale may come as some small relief to Epstein’s many victims with the proceeds from the sale of his estate going toward the victim compensation fund.
The property was first put on the market for $88 million back in July, just over a year after Epstein was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial on a string of sexual abuse charges.
The price was then slashed by $23 million to $65 million in January.
Sources told the Journal it was in contract for roughly $50 million, marking a staggering 43 percent saving on the original asking price after a relatively short seven-month period on the market.
The mystery bidder has not been identified and it is not clear what they will choose to do with the property.
The pedophile racked up an expansive property portfolio before his death including homes in Paris, New Mexico and Florida as well as his private island Little St. James, all of which are said to have been sites of his abuse.
Epstein’s beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, has been under contract since November and the prospective owner has vowed to demolish it.
With a sprawling 28,000 square foot space over seven floors, the mansion is described in the listing as ‘a once in a life-time opportunity to own the largest single-family home in New York City.’ Pictured the balcony
The convicted pedophile allegedly had secret cameras installed inside the sprawling property to spy on his victims
Epstein’s New York City townhouse is his most valuable property, with the billionaire reportedly snapping it up from Leslie Wexner – the man behind Victoria’s Secret – for $20 million back in 1998.
The 50-foot-wide, 100 feet deep property was built as New York City’s largest and most luxurious French Neo-Classical Mansion, according to the listing.
It boasts huge 15-foot-tall oak entry doors, imported French-limestone meticulously decorated with carvings, sculpture figures and ornamental iron works.
Based in Lenox Hill, the mansion also comes with the unique promise that its view of nearby Central Park can never be blocked by new buildings.
Gone are the brass initials of its previous disgraced owner ‘J.E’ which used to greet Epstein’s victims and famous friends including Prince Andrew to the home.
It was also fitted with unusual decor including the now-infamous painting of Bill Clinton in a blue dress
The home has an imposing 15-foot front door, which once featured the letters ‘J.E’ in raised brass (seen above after the July 2019 raid)
Esteemed guests who’ve stayed at the home include Prince Andrew, who is shown in the above image peering around the front door in December 2010
It is not clear whether Epstein’s extravagant decor – which included a large taxidermy tiger and poodle, a painting of a woman exposing her breast and a painting of Clinton posing in a blue dress – remains.
However the home’s reputation will be harder to shake off. Epstein reportedly sexually abused dozens of girls as young as 14 inside the property.
Victims have long described a massage room where the pedophile would assault them while he had also reportedly fitted the home with secret cameras to spy on his victims.
The home was raided by the FBI in July 2019 as part of a sex trafficking sting.
During the raid, federal authorities reportedly found thousands of graphic photos including of underage girls and a locked safe filled with compact discs labeled as ‘nude girls’.
They also found Epstein’s massage room set up just as several of his young victims had described it from years earlier, with a table and assortment of sex toys.
Hundreds of pinhole surveillance cameras were also found installed throughout the home so he could monitor his victim’s ‘private moments’ in bedrooms and bathrooms.
Epstein died by suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan August 2019 while awaiting trial. Pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell
He allegedly had a media room behind a hidden door where he kept stacks of TVs playing the surveillance feeds.
‘Piles of cash’, diamonds and an expired foreign passport listing Epstein’s residence as Saudi Arabia were also discovered in the raid.
Esteemed guests at the home include Prince Andrew, who was pictured in December 2010 peering around the front door, as he reportedly waived goodbye to a brunette female he’d led out.
Built in the early 1930s, the home was originally commissioned by Herbery N. Straus, an heir to the Macy’s department store fortune, whose father had perished on the Titanic 18 years earlier.
More recently it was owned by Leslie Wexner, chairman of L Brands, which owns retailers including Victoria’s Secret, who was also a mentor of Epstein’s.
Epstein reportedly purchased the home from Wexner back in 1998 for $20 million – just under $7 million more than Wexner had bought it for in 1989.
Epstein’s beachfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, is also under contract. Proceeds from the sale of his estate will go to the victim compensation fund
Epstein was found hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan August 2019 while awaiting trial.
He had pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing girls as young as 14 and young women in New York and Florida in the early 2000s.
His death was ruled a suicide but his attorneys and some family members claim he was murdered to stop him from sharing what he knows about other high profile, powerful people.
His alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell is now awaiting her sex trafficking trial in summer 2021.
She has been charged with conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury.
Prosecutors say Maxwell groomed three girls between 1994 and 1997 for Epstein in London, Florida, New York and New Mexico.
She then not only facilitated Epstein abusing them, prosecutors say, but took part in some of the abuse herself.