Jeffrey Epstein built his fortune primarily through financial consulting and management work for a small number of ultra-high-net-worth clients, most notably Les Wexner and Leon Black, along with related private investment entities and tax-advantageous structures in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Public reporting indicates that two billionaire clients supplied the majority of his revenue, with Epstein earning hundreds of millions in fees from those arrangements, while investment gains added further income. He also established entities in the U.S. Virgin Islands that benefited from local tax incentives, which significantly reduced his tax liabilities over many years. These elements together produced a wealth estimated near $600 million at his death. Key points, with context and caveats:

• Primary clients: Epstein’s two largest clients were Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner and private equity financier Leon Black. Estimates suggest these relationships accounted for a substantial portion of his fee income during the relevant period. This attribution is based on court filings and investigations, and it remains difficult to reconstruct exact figures due to opaque records.

• Revenue sources: Epstein ran a small number of revenue-generating entities that produced the bulk of his income, with fees from client work constituting the main stream, complemented by investment gains. Public analyses have emphasized the concentration of income in a few firms linked to his clients.

• Tax advantages: He moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands and benefited from local economic development and tax incentives, which reduced his effective tax rate for many years. Analysts describe this as a major tax optimization that dramatically affected net wealth accumulation.

• Net worth estimates: At the time of his death, negotiations and probate documents commonly place Epstein’s net worth around $578–$600 million, though exact totals vary slightly across sources due to incomplete public records.

• Contested narratives: While some broad explanations focus on fee income from a small number of clients, other aspects of Epstein’s wealth remain disputed or opaque because much of the accounting was private and subject to ongoing investigations and civil actions.

If you’d like, I can pull up specific reports from Forbes, CBS News, and other outlets to summarize the evidence point by point, or create a concise timeline showing how the wealth accumulated over the 1990s and 2000s. I can also compare different credible estimates of his net worth and the arguments behind them.