Jeffrey Epstein may not actually be a billionaire — and relied heavily on Trump's favorite bank: NYT

One of the most lingering unanswered questions about Jeffrey Epstein, the mysterious wealth manager connected to numerous high-powered politicians and institutions who is now facing indictment over child sex trafficking, is how exactly Epstein got to be a billionaire managing the accounts of the wealthiest people on earth.

According to a new investigation by The New York Times, it turns out that Epstein may not have been a billionaire at all. His investment organization has almost nothing in the way of financial reports — and it turns out he may have had the same avenue to credit that President Donald Trump had.

"Mr. Epstein’s wealth may have depended less on his math acumen than his connections to two men — Steven J. Hoffenberg, a onetime owner of The New York Post and a notorious fraudster later convicted of running a $460 million Ponzi scheme, and Leslie H. Wexner, the billionaire founder of retail chains including The Limited and the chief executive of the company that owns Victoria's Secret," reported the Times. "Mr. Hoffenberg was Mr. Epstein’s partner in two ill-fated takeover bids in the 1980s, including one of Pan American World Airways, and would later claim that Mr. Epstein had been part of the scheme that landed him in jail — although Mr. Epstein was never charged. With Mr. Wexner, Mr. Epstein formed a financial and personal bond that baffled longtime associates of the wealthy retail magnate, who was his only publicly disclosed investor."

Another connection he enjoyed, according to the Times, was Deutsche Bank — the same international creditor that routinely did business with the Trump Organization. Deutsche Bank reportedly only cut off Epstein a few months ago, as his criminal liability mounted.

Deutsche Bank itself is facing a flurry of investigations over their relationship with Trump and with a sovereign wealth fund in Malaysia plagued with corruption and embezzlement. The company is slashing 18,000 jobs as its woes continue.