← The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Chronicles
Bear Stearns and the Birth of Epstein’s Financial Myth
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Jeffrey Epstein’s entry into Bear Stearns in the mid-1970s was unusual from the start, as he was hired despite lacking a college degree and having misrepresented his academic background. He began in a junior role but quickly moved into advising...
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What's up, everyone? And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. Yesterday, the New York Times ran a pretty extensive piece about Jeffrey Epstein and how he was able to put together the kind of fortune that he put together. And one of the parts of the story had to do with Bear Stearns and how he got that job and how he kept it. But like usual, they're missing a gigantic piece. And that piece, of course, is how Jeffrey Epstein was able to avoid getting in trouble when the walls started to close in at Bear Stearns. So in this episode, we're gonna stick to what the New York Times had to say as far as him lying on his resume and as far as him dating the boss's daughter. And in the next episode, we'll get deeper into the weeds on how Jeffrey Epstein was able to avoid legal trouble when just about everybody else wasn't. But first things first. This article was published by the New York Post, and the headline, jeffrey Epstein kept Bear Stearns job despite lying on resume while he was dating the boss's daughter. This article was authored by Ariel Zilber. Jeffrey Epstein managed to keep his job at Wall street giant Bear Stearns after he was caught lying about his resume, thanks in part to his romantic relationship with a daughter of one of the firm's most powerful executives, according to a report. And as you know, if you get caught lying on your resume, that usually means you're not going to get the job. Or if you do get the job, you're going to be fired. But when it comes to Epstein, no big deal. Just some failed ass math teacher that shows up and all of a sudden he's some kind of titan on Wall Street. The whole entire story has stunk from the very beginning. And the fact that people are just catching on is wild as hell. None of this was a secret. Everybody knew about Jeffrey Epstein's job over at Bear Stearns, how he got that job, how he kept that job. But all of a sudden, it's a gigantic story in the New York Times. Where were they five years ago? Oh, that's right, they were in bed with Epstein via Landon Thomas. That's where they were. Instead of doing hard hitting pieces on how this whole entire thing was a gigantic shit show, they were carrying water for not only Jeffrey Epstein, but for the powers that be. Epstein was just 23 when he was hired as a junior trader at Bear Stearns in 1976, despite having no college degree or Wall street experience. Must be nice, huh? Imagine you walked into one of these firms and tried to get a job. I'm sure that they would be very receptive to that. Around the same time he began dating Lynn Greenberg, the 20 year old daughter of Ace Greenberg, a senior executive who would go on to become the firm's CEO two years later. I am sure that everything was on the up and up that Mr. Greenberg had no idea that Jeffrey Epstein was a scumbag. I mean, that's what he'll tell you. And obviously we can't prove any differently. But come on, why are you hiring this dude who has no degree, no background on Wall street, nothing like that. But you're going to give him a job as a junior trader? Is that what I can expect if I park my money in one of these funds? Some jerk off like Jeffrey Epstein managing it? Well, unfortunately, the answer is yes, that's exactly what you can expect. I mean, maybe not handling your money directly, but somewhere in the chain of things, there's some scumbag assuredly handling your money. While Epstein was dating Greenberg's daughter, Bear Stearns employees the discovered that he had falsely claimed on his resume to have earned degrees from two California universities, neither of which had any record of him ever attending, according to the New York Times. And wouldn't that be enough right then and there to can your ass imagine? If you lied on your resume to get a job and then your boss finds out that you lied, you're gonna get fired. I don't care if you're dating the boss's daughter or whatever, you're gonna get canned. Not Jeffrey Epstein. And this is something that would happen time and time again throughout his life. Even when he got caught doing things that were out of bounds, things that were illegal, he was able to skate. And there's only one way that that happens. Especially how many times it happened with Epstein. It's obvious that he was being protected. The question is, by who? Well, in my opinion, this is exactly where it started. I think that Epstein was flipped by the FBI at Bear Stearns and then farmed out to the CIA. And from there, Epstein was off and running. Dude became a free agent and was working for various different groups including CIA, Mossad, GRU over in Russia, probably, you know, the MI6, certainly the Saudis, and the list goes on and on and on. So there's no doubt in my mind that Epstein was being run by some off the book black operation. And if you think that the CIA isn't still engaging in that kind of shit, you're crazy. They most certainly are. Whether it's Epstein, whether it's running drugs, whether it's engaging in color revolutions all over the world, they're up to no good. When confronted by his supervisor, Epstein admitted that he lied about his education, telling the executive that without impressive credentials, nobody would give me a chance. The Times reported. Well, yeah, that's the whole point. If you don't have the credentials, you don't get the job. I mean, it's pretty basic right? Now. Look, I get it. People lie on their resume and their applications for work all the time. But bro, you got caught. And once you get caught, that should be the end of it. For most people anyway. But not for Epstein. And again, folks, look, it wasn't just this one time. It was time and time again. Every time the walls closed in on this dude, he was able to escape unscathed. And we could write off one time, you know, as lucky or him knowing how to maneuver through the legal system or whatever, but time and time again, I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. Despite resume fraud that would typically get a Wall street employee fired, Epstein was allowed to keep his job and was later promoted. A decision that former executive later acknowledged was influenced by his relationship with the boss's daughter, according to the report. So not only was this dude highly unqualified for the gig, but he was using nepotism to get promoted. Isn't that fantastic? No wonder Baron Stearns ended up going bust. You can't run your business like this and expect things to continue to tick off correctly. Eventually you're gonna get clipped. The only question is, who's going to be left holding the bag? And no matter where he was, it was never Jeffrey Epstein. The relationship was reportedly facilitated by Ace Greenberg himself. Now think about that for a minute. You're pimping out your daughter basically to Epstein. Boy Father of the Year award. According to the Times, the Bear Stearns executive seated Epstein next to his daughter and a dinner party. A move that Lynn Greenberg later suspected was intentional playing matchmaker. Over here. What is this, the Fiddler on the roof. Let me sit my daughter next to this weirdo who I know is a liar and try and hook her up. Look, folks, I told you from the jump that the only kind of sin that these people take seriously is the sin of being poor. You can get away with anything else. You can say whatever you want, do whatever you want, act however you want, as long as you have dough. Michael Tannenbaum, Epstein's supervisor at the time, told the Times that the junior trader admitted to fraud when he confronted him. Admitted to fraud when he was confronted. Nothing happened. Continue to work there, got promoted, just kept moving up the ladder. Just a typical day on Wall street, folks. You lied about your education, Tannenbaum told Epstein. Yes, yes, I know, Epstein replied calmly. Without an impressive degree or two. Epstein said, I knew nobody would give me a chance. Tannenbaum later described being disarmed by Epstein's admission and said he agreed to give him a second chance. Well, better you than me. If I had a firm like this and you lied about your qualifications or you lied about anything, I'm firing you. You're handling other people's money, bro. You can't be some scumbag. I know. They all are. But in a perfect world, if I know you're a scumbag and you're handling people's money for my company, you're fired. Not even a question, not a debate. And I don't care who your girlfriend is, that's not going to save you. But at Bear Stearns, well, it most certainly did. Decades later, Tannenbaum expressed regret for not firing Epstein. I didn't realize that I was creating one of the monsters of Wall street, he told the Times. And look, any way you chop it, he most certainly did create one of the monsters of Wall street, or at least helped. Without Bear Stearns, Epstein never is able to do the things that he did. This was the launch point, right? This is how he cut his teeth, made his bones, met everybody that he was going to end up being in business with at some point. And this is where he figured out that he could manipulate the financial system in a way that would bring him great wealth. Even if Tannenbaum wanted to fire Epstein, it's unclear he would have been able to, given that the relationship with Lynn Greenberg gave the junior trader protected status at the firm, according to the Times. Well, yeah, when you're dating the boss's daughter, that usually gives you some sort of protection, right? Under normal circumstances, depending on what you're getting up to, depending on what you're doing. But Something like this, it shouldn't matter who the boss's daughter is and who's dating her. If you get caught doing something like this, lying, whatever, you're gone. Word spread within the company of Epstein's relationship with Lynn Greenberg. The Times reported the relationship eventually fizzled. Lynn Greenberg later told the Times that she came to the conclusion that Epstein lied about everything. Well, no shit. I don't know if there's ever been a bigger liar on the whole ass planet. Maybe Ghislaine Maxwell, but Jeffrey Epstein certainly in the running. Ace Greenberg died in July of 2014. He was 86. Lynn Greenberg declined to comment when reached by the Post. A representative for the Epstein estate was not immediately available for comment. Epstein escape from punishment would become a pattern. In 1980, Bear Stearns named him a limited partner, one rung below full partner, despite lingering concerns about his conduct. According to the Times. And here is what I'm talking about. They only touch on this. They don't go deeper into why Jeffrey Epstein was able to avoid all this trouble. But in the next episode, we're going to touch on it a bit. The report detailed several instances of alleged misconduct by Epstein while at Bear Stearns, including charging the company more than $10,000 that he spent on jewelry and clothing for a girlfriend in 1980. Well, Jeffrey Epstein loved to use other people's money. We all know that. Despite the fact that Epstein was flagged for improper spending, he was not punished, according to the Times. The report also stated that Bear Stearns executives knew that Epstein gave his girlfriend access to hot stock trades linked to clients just prior to them going public on the stock exchange. A major violation of investment banking rules. Well, how about that? All that going on and Epstein somehow is able to avoid trouble. I guess he's just a real lucky guy. I guess that's the truth of the matter. And you know, everything else is just crazy, right? Right. Epstein also lent $15,000 to a high school friend that also violated federal rules governing brokers. According to the Times, when the company conducted an investigation into the personal loan and the IPO shares, Epstein denied wrongdoing, saying that he was deeply offended at the suggestion that he broke the rules. After management fined him $2,500 and suspended him for two months, Epstein resigned, ending a five year tenure at the company. Bear Stearns ceased to exist after it collapsed in March of 2008. A victim of the crisis that was set off by subprime mortgage securities. Its assets were eventually absorbed by JP Morgan Chase. Oh, well, I'm sure that's A coincidence too, right? Sure. Epstein had nothing to do with that. Epstein would continue to trade on his Bear Stearns pedigree long after his departure. Former colleagues maintained friendships with him and introduced him to new clients, relationships that would prove extraordinarily lucrative. According to the Times, his tenure at Bear Stearns helped him become a wealthy financier pedophile who used his money and connections to oversee a long running sex trafficking operation that preyed on underage girls, recruiting, grooming and abusing dozens of victims over the years. Dozens? Trump's own Justice Department said at least a thousand. Where are you getting dozens from? Epstein was first convicted in 2008 on state prostitution charges in involving a minor after securing a widely criticized plea deal, then arrested again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges to which he pleaded not guilty. Epstein died in August of 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial in a death rule to suicide by hanging. Alright, so this isn't a news story. This is something that we've known for quite some time, but now that the New York Times is running it, maybe more people are going to pay attention and maybe some more people are going to come forward about their dealings with Epstein through this period. Because there's no way in hell that Jeffrey Epstein was just lucky. There's no way in hell that Jeffrey Epstein was able to just keep his head down and avoid trouble. That's not how it works. So that's why when I talk about the Epstein files, I'm talking about things like the 302 reports, things that will give us an idea of who and what Jeffrey Epstein really was and who he was working for. And that's exactly the kind of information they've been trying to keep secret all these years. And that's why they continue to fight tooth and nail to keep the files sealed. So we'll see what we get on Friday. But I have a very funny feeling we're not going to get anything close to the 302s. But that's a conversation for a different time. As far as this one goes, that's going to do it. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.