pWotD Episode 3117: Jeffrey Epstein Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today. With 183,957 views on Thursday, 13 November 2025 our article of the day is Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Edward Epstein (January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School. After his dismissal from the school in 1976, he entered the banking and finance sector, working at Bear Stearns in various roles before starting his own firm. Epstein cultivated an elite social circle and procured many women and children whom he and his associates sexually abused. In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after a parent reported that he had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. Federal officials identified 36 girls, some as young as 14 years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused. Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a controversial plea deal agreed by the US Department of Justice's Alex Acosta, and served almost 13 months in custody but with extensive work release. Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. He died in his jail cell on August 10, 2019. The medical examiner ruled that his death was a suicide by hanging. Epstein's lawyers have disputed the ruling, and there has been significant public skepticism about the true cause of his death, resulting in numerous conspiracy theories. In July 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released CCTV footage to support the conclusion that Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell. When the Department of Justice released the footage, approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds of it was missing, and the video was found to have been modified despite the FBI's claim that it was raw. Since Epstein's death precluded the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against him, a judge dismissed all criminal charges on August 29, 2019. Epstein had a decades-long association with the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who recruited young girls for him, leading to her 2021 conviction on US federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping him procure girls, including a 14-year-old, for child sexual abuse and prostitution. According to The New York Times, Epstein made much of his fortune by providing tax and estate services to billionaires. He was also a renowned social networker, whose vast network included business people, royalty, politicians and academics. His friendships with public figures including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton have attracted significant controversy. Documents released by the House Democratic Caucus in September 2025 show that he maintained connections with Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Steve Bannon. This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:22 UTC on Friday, 14 November 2025. For the full current version of the article, see Jeffrey Epstein on Wikipedia . This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes. Follow us on Mastodon at @
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