Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach: 5 key moments in the case that shocked the world

Since the release last week of the names of nearly 200 people associated with the late disgraced billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, the eyes of the world have turned once more to South Florida and, in particular, to Palm Beach, where Epstein had a home for years on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The names include many who have either visited or lived full- or part-time in Palm Beach over the past three decades, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew.

Here's a look at some of the key moments in the Epstein case and their connections to Palm Beach.

What to know about Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein was a financier who in 2008 pleaded guilty to two felony charges, of soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. He received a plea deal that was criticized for being lenient.

Many of the allegations had centered around Epstein's Palm Beach home at 358 El Brillo Way, which he bought in 1990. Underage girls from Palm Beach County told investigators they were brought to Epstein's mansion in Palm Beach and homes in New York, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for sexual encounters.

In 2019, under renewed pressure to examine the case spurred by a Miami Herald investigation, officials charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy. Before he could go to trial, he killed himself on Aug. 10, 2019, while in federal custody in New York.

A 2019 Palm Beach Post investigation found that then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, who was the prosecutor in the first criminal case against Epstein, sunk his own prosecution before a 2006 grand jury.

The Post sued to uncover documentation from that grand jury, and last year an appeals court ordered the trial court judge to review and release the grand jury's transcripts.

1. Who own's Epstein's house now? What happened to Epstein's mansion and how much did it sell for? Why was Epstein's house demolished?

In November 2020, the Palm Beach Daily News confirmed that Epstein's former home at 358 El Brillo Way was under contract, selling to developer Todd Michael Glaser for $18.5 million.

In talking with reporter Darrell Hofheinz at the time, Glaser said when he bought the house that he would demolish it — which happened within months, as a bulldozer in April 2021 gutted the home where prosecutors said Epstein sexually assaulted girls and young women.

Venture capitalist David Skok, through his 360 El Brillo Way LLC, paid nearly $26 million for the roughly three-quarter acre lot in September 2021.

The address was changed from 358 El Brillo Way to 360 El Brillo Way, and construction started in early 2023 on a new, modified Cape Dutch-style house on the site. The house will have six bedrooms, a red tile roof and an interior courtyard, with 9,529 square feet of living space.

2. Those connected with Epstein have faced charges

People who worked for and were affiliated with Epstein during his time in Palm Beach have faced charges in connection with his crimes.

In 2012, Alfredo Rodriguez, who managed Epstein's Palm Beach house, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to obstruction. Police said he hid and later tried to sell Epstein's journal, which contained the names and phone numbers of Epstein's victims.

The Palm Beach Daily News noted at the time that Rodriguez received the same length of sentence as Epstein, who served only 13 months of his sentence.

In 2020, federal investigators arrested longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell on charges of sex trafficking. She was found guilty in 2022 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Among the charges leveled against Maxwell: She recruited underage girls and young women for the sex-trafficking ring run by Epstein. Some of those girls were from Palm Beach County, including teens from Lake Worth Middle School and Royal Palm Beach High School.

Maxwell is serving her sentence at FCI Tallahassee, a federal prison in Florida's capital city.

3. Palm Beach police began their investigation in 2005

Allegations against Epstein were first brought to the Palm Beach Police Department when a concerned stepmother called the law-enforcement agency in 2005 to say her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been molested by a wealthy man.

In a letter to the Palm Beach Daily News in 2021, former Palm Beach police Chief Michael Reiter, who led the department at the time, said the department "recognized the importance of stopping Jeffrey Epstein and bringing him to justice."

The 2019 Palm Beach Post investigation found that Krischer, the state attorney who was the first to prosecute Epstein for sex crimes, approached the case as though the girls who accused Epstein were prostitutes, instead of viewing them as victims of sexual assault.

Reiter and Joseph Recarey, the detective who led the case, were frustrated by Krischer's decisions and went to the FBI, as well as urged Krischer to step down.

More: Letter from ex-Palm Beach police chief: Learn lessons from Epstein case

"The department never bent to the power and influence brought to bear against us," Reiter wrote. "Unfortunately, of the many other agencies involved, only the FBI acted in a similar way."

Recarey died in 2018, before Epstein was arrested on federal charges. Recarey said that during the investigation, nearly two dozen girls and young women provided nearly identical information about their encounters with Epstein, including information about how he flaunted his wealth to exploit them, The Palm Beach Post reported in a 2019 investigation.

More: How the Epstein saga could've been ended years ago: To his first prosecutors, victims were prostitutes

Recarey worked to build the case against Epstein, with the detective finding what would become dozens of teens who said they had been targeted by the billionaire.

As part of the investigation, Palm Beach police arranged for Epstein's trash to be set aside by garbage collectors, so detectives could sift through it.

When local prosecutors led by Krischer tried to offer Epstein a plea deal that would not involve time behind bars, Recarey fought back.

From the 2019 Palm Beach Post investigation:

4. What was inside Epstein's Palm Beach home?

When Palm Beach police searched Epstein's El Brillo Way home in 2005, they found many details that corroborated what they had been told by underage victims, including a hot pink and green couch in Epstein's bathroom, The Palm Beach Post reported in 2019.

Also found in the house:

• Phone message books with names of teen girls.

• A high school transcript from a girl, which was found on a desk in Epstein's bedroom.

• Naked photos of teen girls.

What investigators didn't find: computer towers, which Recarey said in a deposition that he believed had been there because cables were still dangling from a wall.

There were hidden cameras in two rooms of Epstein's house, police said.

In the mid-2000s, Epstein had three black Mercedes and a green Harley-Davidson motorcycle. His home's staff included a private chef — Epstein was known for his preference not to eat at restaurants.

Later, demolition crews would find a trio of candles that still remained on a bathroom sink in the long-empty house.

5. Epstein rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful in Palm Beach

Some of the names included on the list published last week are no surprise to those who have followed the case.

Two of the highest-profile names on the list: Clinton and Trump.

Clinton's name has been mentioned alongside Epstein's for years. They reportedly met as early as 1995, at a fundraising dinner for Clinton in Palm Beach.

Last week, a representative for Clinton told People that Clinton doesn't know anything about Epstein's "terrible crimes."

In 2019, a Clinton spokesman said the former president had taken four trips on Epstein's planes in 2002 and 2003, with stops in connection with the Clinton Foundation's work. "Staff, supporters of the Foundation, and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of the trip," the spokesman said.

Trump and Epstein were photographed together several times, and Epstein was a member of Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump said he had known Epstein for 15 years and that Epstein was a "terrific guy."

"He’s a lot of fun to be with," Trump said in the New York interview. "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."

Trump in 2019 said he "threw him (Epstein) out" of the club.

"I'm not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein," Trump told reporters at the time.

"I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him," Trump said. "People in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn't a fan. I was not — yeah, a long time ago. I'd say maybe 15 years. I was not a fan of his. That I can tell you. I was not a fan of his."

In a letter to the Palm Beach Daily News in 2019, resident Alexander C. Ives said Epstein was not a fixture to everyone in the town. "Just as though living in a small town, some if not many Palm Beachers had and continue to have a good enough sense of character judgment to avoid Epstein's company and his like," Ives wrote.

Though Epstein was not known for attending many parties, he reportedly made some big-dollar donations to local organizations, including, as of a 2006 Palm Beach Post article, $100,000 to Ballet Florida.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Jeffrey Epstein house in Florida: What happened to his real estate?