## JAMES PATTERSON

One estranged friend says that he had to loan Epstein money to pay the bill at Epstein's garage, which had seized Epstein's car for nonpayment.

Another estranged friend says that Epstein didn't have two nickels to rub together.

Diana Crane, a former model, says that Epstein always had first-class upgrades he would give to his friends so they didn't have to fly economy class.

"No one knew where or how he got them," Crane recalls. "Sometimes they worked, and other times they didn't. I remem- ber he saw a friend of mine wearing a Concorde jacket. He asked if he could borrow it for a day or so. My friend never got the jacket back. But Epstein would tell people he always flew on the Concorde -a total lie."

But even if Epstein were flush, Les Wexner would have been a big fish to catch.

From the get-go, Meister's wife, Wendy, had her suspicions about Epstein. About the way he presented himself and the way he worked himself into their inner circle.

Before long, Wendy was calling Epstein the virus.

But for Epstein, the Meisters weren't the point. Wexner was. And hard as it is to understand why the billionaire would associate with a man who'd worked with a Ponzi king like Steven Hoffenberg, it turned out that Wexner and Epstein would get along perfectly well.

*

## Ghislaine Maxwell

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{"people":["james patterson","jeffrey epstein","diana crane","les wexner","wendy meister","steven hoffenberg","ghislaine maxwell","robert meister","robert maxwell"]}