Epstein has been philanthropic since sex plea

All-girls’ school near mansion included in donations

NEW YORK — In the decade since striking a deal that required him to register as a sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein has sought to underwrite all manner of youth causes, such as a baseball program near his retreat in the U.S. Virgin Islands and an all-girls’ school a few blocks from his Manhattan mansion.

The Associated Press found that the wealthy financier’s donations included $15,000 to the exclusive Hewitt School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, $35,000 to the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, and $25,000 to the Ecole du Bel-Air grade school in Haiti — all after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Epstein’s donations through his charitable foundations, though not in violation of his status as a sex offender, were nonetheless awkward for some recipients. They were also, at times, difficult to trace.

It wasn’t until later, when they realized a sex offender was behind the donations, that the school, the tennis center and the Haiti project returned the money.

It’s not clear why Epstein, who taught calculus and physics at Manhattan’s coed Dalton School in the 1970s, singled out the Hewitt School for the 2016 gift. Administrators at the 500-student school responded to questions by saying only that it immediately gave the money back after learning of the Epstein connection several months ago.

In other instances, an Epstein foundation boasted in gushing news releases about his philanthropy and even inflated how much he was giving.

One news release in 2012 trumpeted his “critical funding” for the Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a successful program for kids that has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center and the New Year’s Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. Instead, the only record the orchestra could find of an Epstein donation was a $175 ad he purchased for a brochure.