ATTERSON

-who was also a step-uncle of Ward to drop the story. But Ward came back with was dynamite. re salacious than anything Carter

ting in the hours it would take to incovered, picking the ones they 1 all out in a narrative that would acts it contained.

# CHAPTER 37

## Vicky Ward: October 2002

pstein went out of his way to spin the Vanity Fair story to E his own ends, and soon after she got the assignment, Vicky Ward's phone began to ring off the hook: calls from Ace Greenberg and Jimmy Cayne, the current head of Bear Stearns; from Les Wexner; from academics, scientists, and movers and shakers who counted Epstein among their friends.

Then there were the calls from Epstein himself. He wouldn't go on the record, but despite the rumors he'd spread behind Ward's back, he was happy to talk informally, even give her a tour of his Manhattan mansion and trot out stories that he had dined out on for years. By most accounts, Epstein could be extremely charming-even if it had taken Ghislaine to teach him which forks to use when-and he did his best to charm Vicky Ward. But she was not easily seduced, and she turned out to have a keen eye for Epstein's missteps.

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{"people":["vicky ward","ace greenberg","james cayne","les wexner","jeffrey epstein","ghislaine maxwell"]}