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How Jeffrey Epstein Made Millions From His Connections

March 26, 2026·25 min·2 clips

Epstein bought 25,000 shares of Foundation Medicine after getting insider tips from Bill Gates' advisor.

1. The Journal covers Wall Street Journal reporter Emily Glazer's findings from the Epstein court files, focusing on how Epstein built a network of insiders sharing confidential financial information. 2. Host Ryan Knudson interviews Emily Glazer, a WSJ reporter who covers the rich and powerful and who spent weeks after the January Epstein file release searching records, building a timeline each night after her son went to sleep. 3. The episode examines what Epstein was actually doing with the confidential information he received — specifically, whether and how he traded on it. 4. Epstein's estate was valued at least $577 million at his death; much of his wealth came from advising billionaires Leon Black (Apollo Global Management) and Les Wexner (L Brands/Victoria's Secret), though the reason he was paid so much for those services remains contested. 5. Boris Nikolic, Bill Gates's senior investment advisor who managed tens of millions of dollars in Gates's healthcare and biotech holdings, exchanged hundreds of emails with Epstein including documents about Foundation Medicine, a molecular diagnostic company Gates invested in. 6. In January 2014, approximately two months after Foundation Medicine went public, Epstein directed his finance team to buy 25,000 shares at just over $27 per share. 7. Two days later, Nikolic emailed Epstein: 'Did you see Foundation Medicine? You probably made around 30% in last two days!' with an exclamation point, which Glazer describes as 'very telling.' 8. By 2015, Epstein had doubled his Foundation Medicine holdings to 50,000 shares; Swiss drugmaker Roche eventually bought the remaining stock at $137 per share, though it's unclear when Epstein sold. 9. Nikolic stated he did not share material non-public information and that anything he passed along was either public or information he was authorized to share; Epstein later served as Nikolic's negotiating representative during a multi-million dollar separation from the Gates private office, reportedly leveraging knowledge of Gates's extramarital affairs. 10. Leon Black's family office CFO sent Epstein an email in March 2015 marked 'confidential material non-public info' projecting Apollo's first-quarter 2015 cash distribution at approximately 34 cents per share; Apollo's actual announced figure was 33 cents. 11. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak forwarded Epstein the board meeting minutes from Reportee, a tech startup where Barak was chairman, showing the board had authorized the CEO to seek $10 million in venture capital funding. 12. Glazer explains that board minutes are considered 'sacred' documents not normally circulated outside the boardroom, covering the most sensitive financial and strategic information a company holds. 13. J.P. Morgan executive Jess Staley exchanged hundreds of emails with Epstein and in December 2009 shared internal deliberations including that 34 people were expected to earn over $10 million that year and information about CEO Jamie Dimon's compensation; Epstein subsequently bought JPMorgan preferred stock. 14. In 2010, Staley forwarded Epstein details of an upcoming undisclosed JPMorgan deal involving the Pritzker family; the deal closed less than three weeks later — Glazer said she and her team could not directly confirm Epstein traded on it but could not rule it out. 15. In the UK, former Prince Andrew was arrested for forwarding Epstein an email from a UAE-based investment banker with details on Royal Bank of Scotland restructuring while Andrew served as UK Special Representative for International Trade. 16. Former UK politician Peter Mandelson, when serving as Business Secretary, forwarded Epstein a confidential government email advising the prime minister to sell approximately £20 billion in UK assets to draw down national debt. 17. The episode uses a back-and-forth interview format between host Knudson and reporter Glazer, structured around successive case studies that build from financial tips to government secrets. 18. Tone is fact-forward and methodical, with Glazer delivering specific email quotes and Knudson probing implications — the reporting remains careful to distinguish what can and cannot be proven. 19. Best for listeners interested in financial crimes, political corruption, and how elite networks operate outside formal rules. 20. Listeners expecting revelations about Epstein's trafficking network rather than his financial activities may find this episode tangential to their primary interest.

As heard by us

A sharp look at how Epstein used elite access, information, and proximity to financial power.

Jeffrey Epstein's money story here is less about investing genius than access: proximity to powerful people, sensitive information, and the leverage that could come from being useful at the right moment.

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Why you'd press play

The man whose email signature read 'contents may be inside information' was not a lawyer.

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