impressed a pupil's father who then recruited-him to a job on Wall Street. Epstein used his mathematical knowledge to develop complex formulae that could be applied to financial markets, especially in the area of currency exchange. He went on to form his own company and began advising Leslie Wexner, the billionaire creator of the Limited Brands group, which owns, among other extremely successful companies, Victoria's Secret and La Senza. Some on Wall Street believe that Wexner is the source of Epstein's fortune, although the version Epstein seems to prefer is that he advises a number of very rich clients. Intriguingly, he is said to have a permit to carry a gun. Epstein's talents are not restricted to mathematics. He plays the piano to concert standard (there is a nine-foot Steinway grand in his house) and he cultivates Nobel Prize-winning scientists with whom he engages in arcane conversation.. . 'Ghislaine was totally in thrall to him,' Rupert Fairfax said:. Ile death of her father left a terrible gap in her lifeand Jeffrey-filled it. I remember seeing them together in Aspen. Jeffrey was everything to her. He lifted her up at a time when she was very down.' C4hislainfrfriends have asserted tharshe desperately wanted to marry Epstein, but that their romance turned into what one has described as 'an affectionate business relationship'. Epstein provided Ghislaine with a home, a beaux-arts townhouse on the Upper Fast Side close to his own residence. He also gave her the wherewithal to run it in a grand manner; she employed a substantial staff, including a full-time butler and maid who had their own quarters at the property. Ghislaine appeared effortlessly to establish herself as one of New York's leading socialites. Witness, for instance, the party she threw for Allegra Hicks, the designer ex-wife ofAshley Hicks, a grandson of Earl Mountbatten and second cousin of the Prince of Wales. The 80 guests at Ghislaine's house included Hollywo