‘New one for you’: Inside Steve Tisch’s transactional friendship with Jeffrey Epstein

In late 2011, a Russian model sent a pleading email to Jeffrey Epstein.

“We had sex, I did massage for u non-stop,” she wrote. “I took a bath with u and your girls even if I don’t like it..served u a tea, danced, even if I didn’t feel like to dance or wasn’t in the mood..I went to flea market, even if I hate all these furniture stores..I’ve been only for u.”

The woman — whose travel, doctor appointments and haircuts had been paid for by Epstein — didn’t believe he had held up his end of a pledge to introduce her to famous and well-connected individuals. The next year, she pleaded with him again: “If u would introduce me to someone from Victoria’s Secret (owner, casting director, etc) or some big movie producer.”

In April 2013, Epstein gave the woman’s email address to Hollywood producer and New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch. After the model met Tisch, she reported back to Epstein: “He’s really great man!! Thank you.”

Since the Department of Justice released more than 3 million emails last month, powerful individuals have had their dealings with Epstein scrutinized. But the Tisch-Epstein dynamic — revealed in dozens of unguarded emails exchanged between them in 2013 — stands out for how singularly focused it was on Epstein’s ability to connect Tisch with young women. There was scant talk about philanthropy or business opportunities present in many other Epstein relationships. Rather, Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was charged with sex trafficking before his death in 2019, merely plucked women from his orbit and delivered them to Tisch.

On Wednesday, the Tisch-Epstein relationship was highlighted during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. “Do these emails constitute credible evidence, not proof, but credible evidence warranting further investigation into whether Steve Tisch was involved in Epstein’s criminal conduct?” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., asked Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Do you think yes or no?”

Bondi responded: “I’m not gonna play a yes-no game with you, but I will answer the question to the best of my ability. As I said, we will look and investigate any case involving any victim. I’m not familiar — there were 3 million pages of course — with that email, but of course we will look into anything.”

After The Athletic first reported the Tisch-Epstein connection last month, the Giants issued a statement from Tisch that characterized their association as “brief,” emphasized the women discussed were adults and said, in part, “As we all know now, (Epstein) was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.” On Wednesday, a Giants spokesperson said the team would have no further comment. An NFL spokesperson referred to commissioner Roger Goodell’s comments last week that the league would “look at the context of (the emails) and try to understand that.”

Emails suggest Tisch was introduced to Epstein through a mutual acquaintance, Todd Meister, an Upper East Side hedge fund manager and son of insurance mogul Robert Meister, who much earlier forged one of Epstein’s most valuable contacts, billionaire Les Wexner. (Meister did not respond to multiple messages.)

In April 2013, Epstein emailed an invitation to Tisch to join him for breakfast, and 22 minutes later, Tisch responded: “Absolutely.” Epstein’s schedule showed a meeting the next morning. Meister later wrote Epstein that Tisch “was blown away by you in a positive way!” and that he “thinks you are wonderful and interesting etc!”

At the time of that meeting, Epstein had been sued repeatedly by sex abuse victims, served 13 months of work-release custody, registered as a Level 3 sex offender — the highest risk to reoffend — and been dubbed a “billionaire pervert” and “child-sex creep” by a New York tabloid.

Tisch, meanwhile, was a well-known lothario. In 2008, TMZ published a video captioned “Tisch is a tush guy.” It showed him outside a Hollywood club with two young women. He hugged them and ran a hand over one of the women’s buttocks. A New York gossip column claimed Tisch was overheard “boasting that he’s been dating on both coasts.”

Within three weeks of that breakfast, Tisch and Epstein began exchanging emails about women in ribald terms. Pulling from his catalog of candidates, Epstein provided Tisch options: an aspiring actress with a “10 ass,” a microbiology major at a university, an “exotic” Tahitian woman, who Epstein reassured Tisch was not a “working girl.” During one exchange, Epstein appeared to have a moment of hesitation. He wrote: “send me a number to call I don’t like records of these conversations.” But the two men continued emailing extensively.

“I am happy to have you as a new but obviously shared interest friend,” Epstein wrote Tisch.

In the weeks and months that followed, Epstein introduced Tisch to at least four women. None of the women responded to messages from The Athletic. An attorney representing one of the women wrote in an email that her client “endured substantial abuse at the hands of Epstein.”

In at least one instance, Epstein expected a woman he introduced to Tisch to return the favor. “You still need to find me a girl,” he wrote the Russian model. She responded: “Well, if I meet someone, I’ll introduce you, even if it’s ‘Mission Impossible.’” After introducing another woman to Tisch, Epstein asked a friend to convey a message to that woman to “look for other of her friends in Kiev that can be part of the family.”

A different woman, described by Epstein as Tahitian, connected with him around 2010, worried about career possibilities and hopeful he – and his contacts – could help. Epstein paid some of her expenses, and she spent a month in 2013 at an apartment of his in New York.

Epstein introduced her to Tisch and, after they met, Tisch reported back to Epstein: “She is adorable. Thank you.” He replied: “glad to help.”

A few days later, Epstein emailed the woman and asked how things were going with Tisch. She responded that she and Tisch had drinks, discussed his role as a guest judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and that he had invited her to a football game.

The name in that email exchange matches that of a woman who told Radio France One in an interview this month that she met Epstein in 2010 and he promised to help her career. She viewed him as a savior. Instead, she said, Epstein controlled her life. The woman told the outlet that Epstein introduced her to an “American producer” in 2013, and one evening they went to his New York residence on the top floor of a building with a sprawling view of the city.

Public records show Tisch was renting a $60,000 a month, 13-room penthouse in the Trump Park Avenue building in 2013.

“(The producer) asked what I hoped to make of my life,” the woman said. “I told him about my plans … I could see he was watching me talk, but he was not truly listening. … We sat down on a leather couch, a screen came down, and he showed me a (bike) race. I didn’t really understand what I had to do with that story. Then he starts to put his hand on the inside of my thighs. I threw out my hand and I said no. … He said to me: ‘You are a very smart girl.’ … I ran. I rushed into the elevator. I don’t even know how I got myself home.”

The next day, the woman said, Epstein called her: “He told me that I was an idiot, that I was never going to make anything of my life.”

In May 2013, Epstein emailed Tisch: “New one for you.” Tisch tried to meet that woman — he repeatedly invited her to Boston, where NFL owners were scheduled to meet — but the emails indicate they didn’t connect.

The woman whom Epstein wanted to find “friends in Kiev that can be part of the family” was another model and aspiring actor who sought help from Epstein. She emailed him about visiting his island, medical appointments he paid for, housing prospects, and ways to further her career, even sharing the hope that she might someday win an Oscar.

Epstein introduced her to Tisch. “He said that he gonna work on 3 movies starting June. So I’ll ask if I can read scripts and maybe audition for some part,” the woman wrote to Epstein. In an apparent reference to the woman, Tisch asked Epstein several days later if she still liked him. Epstein replied: “thinks you are great. wants to prepare for her reading, hasnt stop working toward that goal since you and her parted.. you are good.”

But something seemed to go awry. The woman emailed Epstein that “Steve” has “been so weird.” He wanted their relationship to be more than friends, she wrote. She expressed that she did not feel the same way. “I won’t forgive myself… he’ll just suck my youth without helping me,” she wrote.

Epstein’s matchmaking for Tisch withered after that. The last exchange between the two men in the recently released documents came in August 2017.

“We were talking very fondly about you,” Tisch wrote Epstein after lunch with Meister. “I hope you are having a great Summer.”

“Come visit,” Epstein responded.

“Are you in the city?” Tisch asked.

“Thurs now Caribbean,” Epstein replied.

“Ok,” Tisch wrote, “Let’s stay in touch.”

— The Athletic’s Alex Andrejev contributed to this report.