NEW YORK — The billionaire exchanged nearly 2,000 emails with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein over more than a decade, revealing deeply personal thoughts about life, loneliness and growing old.

He kept their relationship from his investors, apparently confident that all the links between Epstein and himself, including the business they were partners in and the trips he had made to visit Epstein in jail, would never be disclosed.

But the release of 3 million additional pages of the Epstein files Jan. 30 has made it clear that the billionaire, New York real estate mogul Andrew Farkas, had a profound friendship with Epstein, whom he called “one of the blessings” in his life and “one of the bravest men I’ve ever known.”

Their relationship played out in the trading of deep confidences, swapped introductions to powerful people and visits to Epstein’s island, the documents show, and their business partnership was a mutually beneficial real estate deal that helped Epstein save millions of dollars in taxes.

In an emailed statement Friday, Farkas issued no denials about the nature of the two men’s connection.

“I deeply regret ever associating with Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. But he disputed that he had kept the marina partnership a secret, saying that he was under no obligation to disclose it.

Over the weekend, Farkas sent a second statement noting that his 15 years of exchanges with Epstein could “be mischaracterized” if they were “taken out of context or without understanding my broader communication style.” He added, “At no time have I conducted myself inappropriately.”

Farkas has not been charged with any crime or accused of any impropriety.

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Epstein thanks Farkas for visiting him.

Excerpt from email Epstein sent Farkas on Nov. 16, 2008.

great seeing you,, sorry it was such a schlep.

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The emails between the two men, peppered with crude misogyny and casually dropped names of power players, show that Epstein’s and Farkas’ business ties were the byproduct of friendship. Seeming eager to stay in Epstein’s good graces, Farkas often appeared willing to cut him in on deals. Epstein, in turn, seemed happy to be Farkas’ connector to political figures, influential bankers and others.

Farkas, 65, the scion of a family that built the department store chain Alexander’s, is the founder of Island Capital, a New York-based merchant bank, whose real estate acquisitions include the $373 million Sheraton Times Square. He is also a generous donor to Harvard University, his alma mater, where he serves as chair of a social club called the Hasty Pudding Institute and endowed a building, Farkas Hall, in honor of his father.

In 2005, Farkas, an avid boater with a taste for massive, custom-made yachts, was looking to expand into the luxury marina business. He started a new company, Island Global Yachting, on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had owned a private island since 1998.

In July 2006, Epstein was charged in Florida with felony solicitation of prostitution. About four months later, Farkas emailed him with news of a pending deal in the Caribbean.

“We are now in contract to buy American Yacht Harbor, where you keep your tenders,” Farkas wrote, referring to a small but lively marina on the eastern edge of St. Thomas where Epstein’s financial services business was headquartered.

“I would like to be in on that,” Epstein wrote back.

The exchange, revealed in the latest document release, contradicts a statement Farkas made to Island Capital board members in 2019, shortly after Bloomberg News wrote about the marina deal. In the statement, he insisted that any negotiations with Epstein began “before he was charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime.” Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in August 2019.

Epstein was jailed in the Palm Beach County Stockade in June 2008. People with knowledge of the matter said that during the time that he served that 13-month jail sentence for the Florida sex crimes, Farkas visited him regularly. His name has never appeared on any jail visitor log, but Epstein, in an unusual arrangement, was permitted to leave the Palm Beach jail six days a week to put in a 12-hour “workday” at his office in West Palm Beach. It was there, the emails suggest, that Farkas traveled from New York City to secretly see him.

“Great seeing you,” Epstein wrote Farkas in an email Nov. 18, 2008, a few months into his jail sentence. “Sorry it was such a schlep.”

In an email sent Aug. 28, 2009, Farkas described his “regular pilgrimages to Palm Beach to visit a dear friend” in reference to Epstein.

“I did not visit him inside prison,” Farkas said when asked about the emails.

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Farkas wishes Epstein a happy new year.

Excerpt from an email Dec. 31, 2010

I hope that this year marks great health, new chapters, peace and prosperity for you. You are one of the blessings in my life and I cherish our friendship.

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After Epstein was released from jail, he and Farkas both received generous tax breaks in St. Thomas. They earned reductions on both personal and corporate income tax related to their businesses, saving as much as 90%, thanks to an agreement with the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority, according to the Epstein files and documents reviewed by The New York Times.

“IGY finance and tax guy are going to speak with your guys to reconcile the tax treatment for you,” Farkas wrote to Epstein in August 2009, referring to a tax specialist employed by Island Global Yachting.

Epstein, Farkas Special Tax Treatment

Multiple additional emails over the next decade show how Epstein and Farkas together applied and reapplied for special tax treatment in St. Thomas. The tax deals in the Virgin Islands ultimately saved Epstein more than $300 million, according to a lawsuit by JPMorgan Chase.

The emails also show that Farkas took trips to Epstein’s island and that the men appeared to refer to women as “gifts” on numerous occasions.

In one message, after Epstein asks if Farkas is “still waiting on gift?” Farkas responded with the name of a woman, instructing Epstein “just google and you’ll get her site and phone number.”

“If you have a masseuse out there, that would be great,” Farkas wrote in another note, while making plans for a visit to Little St. James.

Photos released by the Justice Department also show Farkas as part of a gathering on a yacht with Epstein and Jean-Luc Brunel, the French modeling agent and Epstein associate who was found dead by hanging in prison in 2022. A number of young women are seen on the boat as well; in one image, Farkas stands on the side of the yacht with his arms wrapped around one of them.

Farkas also helped Epstein open a St. Thomas bank account in 2016.

He apparently called in a favor from Richard Carrión, CEO of Banco Popular, one of the largest banks operating in St. Thomas.

Farkas sent Epstein the name of a contact at the bank the next day, adding that Carrión “made the referral personally.”

Carrión and representatives for the bank did not respond to requests for comment.

And Epstein, in turn, did favors for Farkas, including making a connection to Celestino White, one of the many government leaders in St. Thomas who has been accused in legal filings of accepting bribes from Epstein in exchange for access and influence.

“He seems like the real deal,” Farkas said about White. “I hope he can help.”

Farkas Tries to Buy Company Back

Farkas sold Island Global Yachting in 2022, three years after Epstein’s death, and over the last year, as his name has continued to appear in Epstein’s documents, he has begun a campaign to buy the company back.

A legal petition that Island Global Yachting filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan accuses him of a “bribery scheme” in that bid.

The company, which is now owned by MarineMax, accuses Farkas of promising a cash payment of $900,000 to an Island Global Yachting employee in order to obtain confidential information about the company that could help him buy it back.

Since the summer of 2024, Farkas has written several open letters to MarineMax shareholders, charging mismanagement and proposing that he buy the company back.

Farkas also offered the employee more money — up to $3 million — if and when he was able to purchase the yacht company back, the legal filings say.

“The allegations in this filing are false and meritless,” Farkas said in an email.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Debra Kamin/U.S. Dept. of Justice
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