July 2019
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein partied together. Then an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion came between them.
Spoiler: Not just any Palm Beach mansion! 🤯🤯
washingtonpost.com/politics/donal…
You can find this important story in the archive here:
archive.fo/YrWKu
For the better part of two decades starting in the late 1980s, Epstein and Trump swam in the same social pool. They were neighbors in Florida. They jetted from LaGuardia to Palm Beach together. They partied at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and dined at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.
And then, in 2004, they were suddenly rivals, each angling to snag a choice Palm Beach property, an oceanfront manse called Maison de l’Amitie — the House of Friendship — that was being sold out of bankruptcy.
…jumping ahead…
Photographs and videos show Epstein and Trump posing together at the mansion in 1992, 1997 and 2000. The two were also pictured together, with model Ingrid Seynhaeve, in 1997 at a Victoria’s Secret party in New York City.
Around that time, Trump flew at least once, in the late 1990s or 2000, on Epstein’s private plane from Florida to New York, according to Epstein’s brother, Mark, who described the flight in a 2009 deposition.
In an interview last week with The Post, Mark Epstein said Trump flew on the plane “numerous times” but said he was only present for one flight.
“They were good friends,” Mark Epstein said. “I know [Trump] is trying to distance himself, but they were.” He added that Trump used to comp Epstein’s mother and aunt at one of Trump’s Atlantic City casino hotels. When a Post reporter sought further details, Mark Epstein hung up
Side Note: ⬆️⬆️ Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, does not wish to discuss details about his mother and sister visiting Trump’s Atlantic City casinos. 🤔🤔
…jumping ahead…
It was another prime property on Palm Beach island that pitted the two men against each other — a six-acre oceanfront estate with a 180-degree view of the Atlantic.
In November 2004, Trump, who was starring in NBC’s “The Apprentice” at the time, declared himself intent on winning “the finest piece of land in Florida and probably the U.S.,” an estate that had been seized as part of the bankruptcy of nursing home magnate Abe Gosman.
Trump said he planned to create “the second greatest house in America, Mar-a-Lago being the first” and then resell it.
🔥🔥🔥➡️➡️➡️ Epstein was also enraptured by the property, which Gosman had purchased in 1988 for about $12 million from Leslie Wexner, the Ohio-based retail executive who was a friend and patron of Epstein’s. ⬅️⬅️⬅️🔥🔥🔥
⬆️⬆️⬆️ Did you catch that? The mansion that supposedly caused Epstein and Trump to split had previously belonged to Les Wexner.
This Les Wexner: ⬇️
In contrast to Trump, Epstein seemed interested in living at the place. Harley Riedel, an attorney for Gosman, said the previous owner had filled the mansion with pricey art and “really did have in his heart that it would be nice if someone moved in and lived there.”
But wait, there’s more!
…jumping ahead…the property goes to auction…both Trump and Epstein make bids…
A third bidder jumped in late, prompting Trump to pipe up again. “This is Mr. Trump,” he said over the speakerphone. “It seemed to be very clear that they dropped out also.”
The judge allowed the other bidder, Mark Pulte, to proceed, but Trump outbid him, too, with an offer of $41.35 million.
“I will therefore determine by the bang of the gavel that Mr. Trump is the higher bidder,” Friedman said.
In an interview, Luzinski described the showdown as “two very large Palm Beach egos going at it.”
It is unclear whether Trump and Epstein were in contact after the house sale. That month, Trump left two messages for Epstein at his home in Palm Beach, according to records obtained by Vice News — the last known interaction between the two men.
Now brace yourself, because this next part is the second big bombshell to this story…
🔥🔥🔥➡️➡️➡️ Four years after he bought the Gosman mansion, Trump sold it to Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev for $95 million, more than doubling his investment. ⬅️⬅️⬅️🔥🔥🔥
Then in 2016, as Trump was running for President of the United States, Dmitry Rybolovlev had the mansion demolished.
nytimes.com/2016/08/28/bus…
Ok so let’s review what we know about this story:
1. Epstein and Wexner meet in 1985 and are buying property together by 1989.
2. Some time in the late 1980s, Trump and Epstein become friends and start palling around together.
3. In 1988, Les Wexner sells his Palm Beach mansion (Maison de l’Amitie) to Abe Gossman.
4. Circa 2000, the Gosman nursing home/health care business empire begins collapsing.
bizjournals.com/boston/stories…
5. By 2004, Gosman had filed for personal bankruptcy and his Palm Beach mansion went to auction.
6. Both Trump and Epstein wanted the property and bid at the auction, but Trump won it with a $41.35 million bid.
7. The dispute over the property allegedly ended the relationship between Epstein and Trump, and they never spoke again.
8. In 2008, Trump sells the property to a Russian oligarch, Fertilizer King Dmitry Rybolovlev, for $95 million, more than twice the price paid at auction.
9. In 2016, Rybolovlev tore the entire property down the the ground.
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