Jeffrey Epstein’s Taste in Art, Music, and Books Seems Pretty Twisted in Hindsight
Credit to Author: Emma Ockerman| Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2019 17:22:31 +0000
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In one of the bathrooms at his 21,000-square-foot Manhattan townhouse, Jeffrey Epstein hung a nude painting. It’s the same bathroom where Jennifer Araoz said he raped her when she was 15. Araoz also said Epstein told she looked like the small-breasted woman in the portrait.
The accused child sex trafficker’s predilection for erotic decor and books might not have captured anyone’s attention — were he not an accused child sex trafficker (and a registered sex offender as a result of similar offenses in the early aughts). He reportedly held onto photographs of naked, young girls well after he was made to register. A disturbing painting of a roaring tiger curled up next to a young woman, wearing a wedding ring, also graced the walls of his estate in New Mexico, according to Fox News.
Then there’s the book “SlaveCraft: Roadmaps for Erotic Servitude,” which the 66-year-old financier ordered off Amazon.com for delivery to the same Palm Beach, Florida, mansion where he allegedly also flew in young girls to abuse.
Epstein was arrested in July on allegations that he had sexually abused dozens of girls, some as young as 14, between at least 2002 and 2005. Investigators executing a search warrant of his Manhattan townhouse discovered a “trove” of nude photos, some of which appeared to depict underaged girls, according to court documents.
Before killing himself in his Manhattan jail cell earlier this month, he faced up to 45 years in prison and had pleaded not guilty. But federal investigators have pledged to continue probing his network of wealthy and powerful enablers.
The art
Epstein’s townhome on the Upper East Side — believed to be one of the largest private residences in New York — was “no mere rich person’s home,” Vanity Fair wrote in 2003. For one, it was decorated with individually framed eyeballs and a black, stuffed poodle.
Epstein also owned a mural depicting himself in a prison yard, which he showed to a house guest about three months ago, according to the New York Times.
“He said, ‘That’s me, and I had this painted because there is always the possibility that could be me again,’” R. Couri Hay, a public relations specialist who visited Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse earlier this summer, told the Times.
Epstein’s art collection also included a suggestive painting of Bill Clinton in heels and a blue dress — a reference to an outfit worn by Monica Lewinsky, according to the artist — which he displayed prominently in his Manhattan townhouse. (Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” multiple times but has denied any deeper association with him.)
Epstein once decorated a chess board in the townhouse with custom figurines modeled off his staffers, many of whom were women, according to the New York Times. And he hung a life-size female doll from the chandelier.
Less is known about his interior of his Palm Beach estate, although police told the Miami Herald they also saw nude photos of girls around that house. Photos from a 2005 search warrant show a bust of a woman’s bottom fixed to the wall, paintings of women with their legs spread, and paintings of faceless and naked, muscular women.
READ: The feds want to talk to the pilots who flew Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’
After that search warrant was executed, Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in 2008 to avoid harsher human trafficking penalties. He allegedly continued to abuse women during and after his short jail sentence in Palm Beach, three women said this week in new lawsuits against his estate.
The books
Police found something else at Epstein’s Palm Beach home: Amazon receipts, tossed in the garbage, for books on sex slavery and dominant-submissive relationships. Epstein bought the books in 2005, shortly before the search warrant was executed, according to court documents.
The books include “Training With Miss Abernathy: A Workbook for Erotic Slaves and Their Owners.” All of the books are about sexual submission as a kink.
Additionally, one of the five accusers who sued Epstein’s estate — known only as Lisa Doe — also said in court filings Tuesday that Epstein told her to read a book called “Massages for Dummies” after he sexually abused her. Epstein often lured young girls into his home under the guise of paying them for massages that would often turn sexual, if not violent.
The music
Epstein was apparently passionate about music, if you believe he actually was building a windowless, private concert hall on his island.
But his music taste, in hindsight, strikes an uncomfortable chord. Epstein liked rock songs like Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” and an Oscar Peterson rendition of “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” a song about a girl’s devotion to her father over her lover, according to on Spotify playlists found by Business Insider.
He also created two playlists exclusively for traveling to and from Paris aboard his private jet, aptly dubbed “paris flight and paris_return.” Those playlists feature a mixture of jazz and classic rock, according to Business Insider.
He also saved a comedy album from Louis C.K. and a version of “Before You Accuse Me” by Eric Clapton, according to Business Insider.
Epstein also donated cash to music programs, according to the Daily Beast, like Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts, a renowned music camp for kids. He even had a rental lodge on Interlochen’s property, and visited nearby Traverse City with his alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, who Epstein’s accusers have said recruited and groomed them. One accuser, described even said in a court filing Tuesday that Maxwell personally taught her how to give a proper blow job to Epstein.
Cover image: Repaired front door of Jeffrey Epstein’s Upper East Side $77 Million Townhouse, that has become a tourist attraction, New York, NY, August 12, 2019. Jeffrey Epstein committed apparent suicide in jail while in Federal custoday as he was awaiting trail for sex-trafficking, after being arrested in New York on July 8, 2019. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
This article originally appeared on VICE US.