The convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein built his finance career through connections with the world’s most powerful people, from Apollo’s Leon Black to former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak. But newly released documents from the Department of Justice reveal that before his 2019 suicide in federal prison, Epstein also cultivated ties with the still-emerging crypto industry, with early investments in U.S crypto exchange Coinbase as well as Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream. The investment in Coinbase represented less than 1% of the company’s equity, and Epstein’s stake in Blockstream through another fund was not disclosed.
It’s not clear how or when Epstein first developed an interest in crypto, but his investments in two of the industry’s most prominent names underscore his ability to cultivate ties in various pockets of tech and finance—even after his first conviction in 2008 on state charges for solicitation of prostitution with a minor.
