'Uncle Jeff': Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with the 24-year-old daughter of billionaire hedge fund founder Glenn Dubin is more complex than previously known

Lars Niki/Getty Images for The Museum of Modern ArtEva Andersson Dubin, Glenn Dubin, and daughter Celina Dubin attend The Museum of Modern Art's Party in the Garden at MOMA on June 5, 2017 in New York City.

• Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein told associates that he considered marrying Celina Dubin, the 24-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend Eva Andersson Dubin and hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin, a source tells Business Insider.
• According to financial records reviewed by Business Insider, Epstein named Celina as a beneficiary of a trust that he also used to pay lawyers, models, and other associates in his orbit.
• He told associates that marrying Celina would permit him to leave her his vast fortune, including his private island, without paying estate taxes, according to the source. There is no indication that the two had a romantic relationship.
• A different source familiar with Epstein's finances told Business Insider he used trusts and other accounts to send money to alleged co-conspirators and apparent victims of his sex trafficking operation as recently as this year.
• The existence of the trust raises questions about whether the executors of Epstein's will - who were named as beneficiaries - may have conflicts of interest and what, if any, money is available to the 26 women suing his estate.

Jeffrey Epstein died a bachelor, but the convicted pedophile told associates that he considered marrying the 24-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend, Business Insider has learned.

The woman, Celina Dubin, is the daughter of physician and former Miss Sweden Eva Andersson Dubin and billionaire hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin. Eva Andersson dated Epstein for 11 years beginning in the 1980s before she married Glenn Dubin in 1994; Epstein told associates that he introduced the couple.

As recently as 2014, according to one source close to Epstein, he told associates that if he ever married, it would be to Celina, who was 19 at the time and who once called him "Uncle Jeff." There is no evidence that Epstein ever had a romantic relationship with Celina, and his intent appears to have been financial. Epstein told associates that he wanted her to inherit his fortune, including his private island in the Caribbean, the source said, and that marrying her would be a way to avoid inheritance taxes.

The source provided Business Insider with handwritten notes, taken after the fact, recounting the conversations.

At around the same time, in 2014, Epstein named Celina as a beneficiary of a trust, according to financial documents provided by a different source and reviewed by Business Insider. She was removed as a beneficiary in 2015, and the Dubins said they were not aware of the trust's existence. It's unclear how much money was in the trust while Celina was a beneficiary, but it totaled roughly $50 million in 2019, according to this source, who is familiar with Esptein's finances.

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The Dubins are prominent socialites and philanthropists in New York City and Palm Beach. Eva was for many years the in-house physician for NBC, and founded the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Health System. Glenn Dubin cofounded the hedge fund Highbridge Capital Management and now runs a quant fund called Engineers Gate.

Celina is currently attending the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She graduated from Harvard University in 2017, and was named one of the "15 Hottest Freshman" in her class by The Harvard Crimson in 2014. She has been photographed on the red carpet at numerous charity events, and has written for Departures magazine.

In August, Business Insider reported that the Dubin family has been tied financially, socially, and philanthropically with Epstein for decades. In 2009, after Epstein's release from jail on charges of soliciting a child for prostitution, the Dubins wrote an email to his probation officer saying they were "100% comfortable" with Epstein spending time with Celina, who was 14 at the time, and their two other minor children. Since Epstein's July 2019 arrest, however, the Dubins have sought to publicly distance themselves from the sex offender.

The existence of the trust, and Epstein's interest in leaving his vast wealth to Celina, suggest that his relationship with the Dubin family was more complex than had been previously known.

In a statement, Dubin family spokesman Davidson Goldin told Business Insider: "Glenn saw him perhaps once a year in large group settings and had no business interactions with him whatsoever after 2007. Eva and Celina Dubin accepted less than a handful of invitations to gatherings that included the founder of Microsoft and a DNA pioneer. The Dubins are horrified by Jeffrey Epstein's despicable conduct. Had they been aware of it, they would have cut off all ties instantly."

Epstein established the irrevocable trust in 2004

Epstein, who died by suicide in August, created the irrevocable trust - a common holding structure to reduce tax liabilities - in 2004. He transferred that trust from JPMorgan to Deutsche Bank, along with other entities, in 2013. The trust contained roughly $50 million as of 2019 - or close to 10 percent of the total value of Epstein's declared wealth - according to the source familiar with Epstein's finances.

The trust, and others like it, appear to have been used in part to facilitate payments to women in Epstein's orbit. It named six people as beneficiaries and two as trustees - people who administer the account on behalf of the beneficiaries - according to a 2014 document viewed by Business Insider. The trustees were Epstein's New York-based accountant Harry Beller and Virgin Islands-based lawyer Erika Kellerhals, both of whom worked with Epstein on various organizations he set up. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Celina Dubin was removed from the trust in 2015, and never received any payments from it, according to the source familiar with Epstein's finances. Three of Epstein's longtime female associates were also beneficiaries in 2014. All three were listed on the trust document as residing at 301 E. 66th Street, the Upper East Side building home for years to members of Epstein's entourage - young models, girlfriends, pilots, lawyers, and, in the 1980s, Eva Andersson Dubin.

Two of the women named as beneficiaries married each other in 2013 at Epstein's direction so that one, who was from Eastern Europe, could gain legal residency, Business Insider previously reported. Both are adults and have since divorced.

None of the three women have come forward publicly, and because they may be victims of sexual abuse or trafficking, Business Insider is not naming them.

Rounding out the list of the beneficiaries in 2014 were two longtime Epstein attorneys, Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke. They're named on dozens of documents related to Epstein entities, including businesses and foundations, in various executive roles, including president, director, and treasurer.

Neither Kahn nor Indyke responded to requests for comment.

Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesHighbridge Capital co-founder Glenn Dubin and his wife Eva Andersson-Dubin at the Dubin Breast Center Gala in New York in 2011.Epstein moved money to alleged co-conspirators as recently as this year

The source familiar with Epstein's finances told Business Insider that Epstein also used other trusts and accounts held at Deutsche Bank to move money to people in his orbit, including women that have been identified both as victims and co-conspirators in his sex trafficking scheme, as recently as this year.

Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein confidant who has been accused of recruiting women and girls for him, was named as a beneficiary on multiple trusts, the source said. Maxwell, who is reportedly in hiding, could not be reached for comment, although she has denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the past. Her lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Nadia Marcinko, who was described as Epstein's "sex slave" in police records and who was accused by multiple victims of participating in sex acts with Epstein and underage girls, was the recipient of payments in early 2019, the source said. So was Anouska de Georgiou, a British actress who publicly came out this year as a victim. Neither responded to requests for comment.

In recent years, Epstein also sent money to about a half dozen women in Russia who appeared to be models, the source said, describing some of the transactions as apparent tuition payments.

Before he died, prosecutors accused Epstein of using his vast wealth to "influence individuals who were close to him during the time period charged in this case and who might be witnesses against him at a trial." In particular, they cited large money transfers to two unnamed potential co-conspirators - one received $100,000, the other $250,000 - in late 2018.

Deutsche Bank terminated its relationship with Epstein in late 2018 after reporting in The Miami Herald re-ignited public outrage over his crimes, according to the Wall Street Journal. As the bank wound down Epstein's accounts in the early summer, the source familiar with Epstein's finances told Business Insider, most of the $50 million in the trust of which Celina had been a beneficiary went to an Epstein account at FirstBank Puerto Rico, which took over most of Epstein's banking. A representative for FirstBank did not respond to a request for comment.

It's legally possible that the beneficiaries of the 2004 trust, including Celina, didn't know they were beneficiaries at all, according to William LaPiana, New York Law School's professor of wills, trusts, and estates.

LaPiana said Epstein could have used money from the trust to buy gifts for the beneficiaries - and the source close to Epstein said he loved to buy presents for close companions and high-profile contacts.

"The one who never failed him"

The Dubins' long history with Epstein dates back to the 1980s, when he dated Eva Andersson for more than a decade - his longest relationship and first serious girlfriend. Eva married Glenn Dubin in 1994. The couple had three children, starting with Celina.

Epstein became particularly close to Celina, according to a dossier that Epstein's defense attorneys prepared for him in 2007, before he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida. The document, which was first published by The Palm Beach Post in October, relies on statements gathered from close Epstein associates, including Eva and Celina, who was 12 years old at the time.

"Jeffrey has enjoyed an especially close relationship with Celina, 12," the dossier states. "Celina wrote glowingly of their weekly science lesson when 'Uncle Jeff,' as she calls him, takes time from his personal and business schedule to go over to her apartment and discuss science and mathematics lessons she is learning at school."

The document quotes Celina recalling the time her father was too busy at work to accompany her to father-daughter dance day at her ballroom dancing class. "I got to the class alone," she wrote, "but then soon enough a quick phone call to Uncle Jeff didn't leave me standing there, alone for more than 10 minutes. Uncle Jeff substituted for my father that night, and the way he rushed to the class felt exactly like having my father there."

Some information in the dossier is at odds with recent claims the Dubins have made about their relationship with Epstein. For instance, multiple sources have told Business Insider that Epstein was Celina's godfather. But, through spokespeople, the Dubins have repeatedly denied it, both to Business Insider and other outlets. (Vanity Fair, for instance, quoted a "source close to the Dubins" saying "the Dubins are Jewish and Jewish people do not typically do godparents.")

The dossier, however, contains repeated, unambiguous statements from Eva Andersson Dubin to the contrary. "Today [Jeffrey] is a very close and important friend to my family. He is the godfather of my three children and is close friend of my husband as well [sic]." She later adds: "I could not ask for a better friend or godfather to my children."

Goldin, the Dubins' spokesperson, insists that Eva Andersson Dubin was mistaken, writing in an email: "None of the Dubins' three children have any godparents."

In 2009, Epstein's former house manager, Alfredo Rodriguez, attempted to sell Epstein's "little black book" for $50,000 to an attorney representing one of Epstein's victims. The lawyer alerted the FBI, and Rodriguez was arrested in a sting operation on charges of obstruction of justice. Agents seized both the address book and handwritten notes, including email addresses and phone numbers for key figures, that Rodriguez had prepared for the attorney to aid him in his case. The notes included a phone number for the Dubins with the notation: "Eva Andersson (Dubin). (Former model and mother of naked pic)."

Rodriguez died in 2015. It's unclear what picture his notes referred to.

Epstein told associates he was at the hospital when Eva gave birth to Celina, the source close to Epstein said. That person said the financier characterized Celina as his sole heir, telling others that the young woman was "the only one who never failed him."

The source said there was nothing untoward about their relationship.

"Epstein did not visit Eva in the hospital when any of her children were born," said Goldin in an email.

Eva and Celina Dubin were invited to meet with prominent guests, including DNA pioneer James Watson

When Epstein was arrested in July, the Dubins' spokesperson at the time said Eva was shocked by the latest round of allegations, saying that their relationship had faded after his release from jail in 2008.

"She's a very loyal friend and didn't abandon him after 2008, but the frequency of their contact was less," the representative told the New York Times in July.

But the Dubins did not keep Epstein at arm's length. The source close to Epstein told Business Insider that Eva and Celina were at his home within the last year.

Epstein spent at least one major holiday with the family. In 2009, just months after his release from jail, they invited him to a Thanksgiving celebration at their Palm Beach home, Business Insider previously reported.

Eva and Celina were often invited for dinner when Epstein hosted a prominent guest, said the source close to the financier. Some of these meetings have been documented in recent months: Eva attended a celebrity-filled party for Prince Andrew in 2010 at Epstein's New York mansion, according to The New York Times. In 2011, Eva and Celina met with Bill Gates and Epstein, again at Epstein's New York home, The Times reported.

One previously unreported meeting took place within the last two years, said a different source with knowledge of the matter. At Epstein's New York mansion, Eva and Celina met with James Watson, the elderly scientist who helped discover DNA and who has been stripped of awards after repeatedly making racist remarks. Watson, who is in his 90s, could not be reached for comment, and his sons did not respond to requests for comment.

"Dr. Watson was at an introductory meeting...that included a physician, medical students and several other attendees for discussion about his work and accomplishments," said Goldin in an email. The meeting was not over dinner or lunch, he added.

Smaller clues in Epstein's footprint also point to his relationship with Celina. His Spotify account included a 2011 playlist called "celina," largely with music from DJ David Guetta. Epstein was publicly linked to another Celina - Celina Midelfart, a Norwegian businesswoman who dated Donald Trump. Midelfart was on Epstein's private plane several times in 1996 and 1997, according to flight records, but has not been publicly tied to him since then.

Epstein and Celina Dubin were connected philanthropically, too. In 2009, when Epstein wanted to contribute to Eva Dubin's breast-cancer organization - the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai - he understood that a public donation from a registered sex offender might not be welcome. As Business Insider previously reported, Eva established a new nonprofit, called the Celina Dubin United Fund, to serve as a pass-through, according to a source familiar with the donations. In 2013, according to the source familiar with the matter, Glenn Dubin learned about the arrangement and asked Eva to wind it down.

Though the foundation was named for her and administered by her mother, Celina was unaware of the setup, the source said.

Some of Epstein's other philanthropic activities overlapped with Celina's interests, including a 2016 $10,000 donation to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where Celina is now a third-year medical student. That year, Epstein also donated $50,000 to Harvard's Hasty Pudding Institute, per tax documents from his foundation. Epstein published a press release in 2014 touting his donations to the theater club, which counted Celina as a member when she was a Harvard undergraduate.

(Epstein had another connection to Hasty Pudding: he was friendly with the organization's chairman, billionaire real estate magnate Andrew Farkas, though he does not appear to have donated to the group before Celina went to Harvard.)

The Dubins have either denied or claimed to have no recollection of a host of allegations surrounding the Epstein saga, some of which were made under sworn testimony and unsealed in recent months, including that they hired a college student trained in erotic massage by Epstein for a massage at their Palm Beach home; that Glenn Dubin had sex with Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre after she gave a massage to Eva ; and that they hired a Swedish teenager as a short-term nanny after she said she was forced into sexual activity on Epstein's island.

"Glenn and Eva Dubin are outraged by the allegations in the unsealed court records, which are demonstrably false and defamatory," a spokesperson said in September, when the records became public. "The Dubins have flight records and other evidence that definitively disprove that any such events occurred."

New possibilities for Epstein's victims

It's unclear whether the 2004 trust still exists. But experts contacted by Business Insider say a trust like it could potentially be used to shield Epstein's assets from the 26 women who are currently suing his estate, claiming they are victims of an extensive sex trafficking operation.

New York Law School's LaPiana said that Epstein's victims might have grounds to try to access whatever money remains in the trust or others like it, which could amount to tens of millions of dollars - if lawyers can find it.

In mid-November, the executors of Epstein's estate, Indyke and Kahn, asked a judge in the US Virgin Islands to create a fund to compensate Epstein's victims. Overseen by New York-based attorney Jordana Feldman and famous mediator Kenneth Feinberg, who worked on similar funds for victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks and other incidents, the fund would pay out accusers confidentially. In return, the women would give up their right to litigation and the estate would have no say in which accusers received payments.

Earlier this month, the lawyers asked a judge for "expedited approval" of the fund.

Arick Fudali, an attorney for the Bloom Firm, which is representing five Epstein victims, said the very existence of the 2004 trust raises questions about what exactly is in Epstein's estate. He said it could also point to potential conflict-of-interest issues, since the estate's executors - Kahn and Indyke - were beneficiaries of the 2004 trust, at least as of 2014.

"All the plaintiffs are frustratingly in the dark about the details of this program, what's in the estate, and what it includes," Fudali said. "[The trust] adds to the list of factors we're considering as to what route we'll choose. There's no precedent with a man like Jeffrey Epstein. He's the most prolific predator of our time. He's a real monster and destroyed the lives of countless women."

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