14 MICHAEL WOLFF SIEGE 15 In November 2004, for instance, Jeffrey Epstein, the financier later in fact, never moved into the house. Trump had, miraculously, earned caught in a scandal involving underage prostitutes, agreed to purchase $55 million without putting up a dime. Or, more likely, Trump merely from bankruptcy a house in Palm Beach, Florida, for $36 million, a prop- earned a fee for hiding the real owner—a shadow owner quite possibly erty that had been on the market for two years. Epstein and Trump had being funneled cash by Rybolovlev for other reasons beyond the value been close friends—playboys in arms, as it were—for more than a decade, of the house. Or, possibly, the real owner and real buyer were one and with Trump often seeking Epstein’s help with his chaotic financial affairs. the same. Rybolovlev might have, in effect, paid himself for the house, Soon after negotiating the deal for the house in Palm Beach, Epstein took thereby cleansing the additional $55 million for the second purchase Trump to see it, looking for advice on construction issues involved with of the house. moving the swimming pool. But as he prepared to finalize his purchase This was Donald Trump's world of real estate. for the house, Epstein discovered that Trump, who was severely cash- constrained at the time, had bid $41 million for the property and bought “ it out from under Epstein through an entity called Trump Properties As though using mind-control tricks, Jared Kushner had become highly LLC, entirely financed by Deutsche Bank, which was already carrying a skilled at containing his deep frustration with his father-in-law. He stayed substantial number of troubled loans to the Trump Organization and to expressionless—sometimes he seemed almost immobile—when Trump Trump personally. went off the rails, unleashing tantrums or proposing dopey political or Trump, Epstein knew, had been loaning out his name in real estate policy moves. Kushner, a courtier in a crazy court, was posses