Criminal Justice
Jeffrey Epstein paid Berkeley Law student’s tuition in exchange for ‘girls’
Multimillionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein in March 2017. (Photo from the New York State Sex Offender Registry via the Associated Press)
Jeffrey Epstein paid for a University of California Berkeley School of Law student’s degree in exchange for referrals for “girls” to serve as “assistants” for the convicted sex offender, the Daily Californian reports.
According to a March 22, 2016, American Express credit card statement, the story says, Epstein paid a $1,000 deposit to Berkeley Law for the student, already training to be a French barrister, who graduated with a Master of Laws from Berkeley Law in 2017 with hopes of working in the U.S.
A week before the payment, the late Epstein wrote the student that he would “personally” handle the deposit, the story states, but he was frustrated that the student hadn’t supplied him with “assistants,” referred to as “girls,” since it was part of their “understanding.” Other emails, which continued from 2011 until 2019, included names, photos and descriptions of girls from New York, Paris, Zurich and Monaco.
And in 2016, Bella Klein, one of Epstein’s former accountants, wrote the student to confirm Epstein made about $2,700 worth of payments to campus for summer session housing, the story says.
Later, Epstein told the student that her recommendation of a 28-year-old as an assistant didn’t meet his requirements, the story says, adding that the student replied, “ok, no more over 24! Sorry for that.”
The former student, unnamed in the story, declined to comment for the Daily Californian story, and campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore said federal privacy laws prevented UC Berkeley from commenting individual students, but noted that many students have third-party sponsors that pay for tuition and other fees processed through standard billing procedures, according to the story.
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
