Jeffrey and Ghislaine: Notes on New York's Oddest Alliance <http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/03/notes-on-new-yorks-oddest-couple-jeffrey-epstein-and-ghislaine-maxwell.html> by Vicky Ward <http://www.vanityfair.com/contributors/vicky-ward> March 8, 2011, 2:30 PM “I’ve got a story idea for you. The rebuilding of Indonesia. Or New Orleans. Or both. Go there. I’ve just been. You will never think the same way about anything again.” So spoke not Bill or Melinda Gates, but Ghislaine Maxwell, the 48-year-old woman being written up everywhere at the moment as the alleged “procurer” of young women for billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein, 57, is the financier who spent a year in jail on charges of soliciting prostitutes—and now there is talk of another investigation because various women, now in their twenties and thirties, have come forward with allegations that he molested them when they were under-age. The allegations first surfaced in British newspapers, which have zeroed in on Epstein’s friendship with Prince Andrew, who has recently tried to publicly disassociate himself from his old pal. I wrote a piece for Vanity Fair in 2003 called “The Talented Mr. Epstein.” It was largely a business piece that focused on his mysterious exit from Bear Stearns in 1981, his close relationships with Jimmy Cayne, Les Wexner, the chairman of Limited Brands, and above all, the man who claimed to be his mentor, Steven Jude Hoffenberg, who is currently serving a 20-year-jail sentence for bilking investors in Towers Financial out of $450 million.