Erin Griffith and Karen Weise, reporting for The New York Times (gift link):
More than he did at any other major tech company, Mr. Epstein
found success boring into the inner sanctums of Microsoft.
Leveraging one connection into the next, he became privy to the
company’s dramas, from its chief executive succession to the
philanthropy of top executives. After Mr. Epstein left prison in
2009 for soliciting prostitution from a minor, his connections to
Microsoft executives aided his attempt to return to society. […][Nathan] Myhrvold, meanwhile, developed a relationship with Mr.
Epstein that spanned two decades and led to more Microsoft
connections for the financier. The two were friendly enough that
in 2003, Mr. Myhrvold, who had left Microsoft but was close to Mr.
Gates, contributed to Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday book.
That’s the same book where Donald Trump’s contribution was a sketch of a naked woman (with his signature serving as pubic hair) and a creepy poem.
“A few years ago somebody at a party asked me, ‘Does Jeffrey
Epstein manage your money?’” Mr. Myhrvold wrote in the book. “I
replied, ‘No, but he advises me on lifestyle.’”Mr. Myhrvold included images that he had taken on a trip to Africa
and that he said “seemed more appropriate than anything I could
put in words,” including photos of lions and zebras mating, and
other wildlife in states of arousal.
Nathan Myhrvold always struck me as a weird man. But what a fucking creep.
Significantly, Mr. Myhrvold vouched for Mr. Epstein to Mr. Gates,
who was debating meeting the financier for the first time,
according to the documents. By December 2010, Mr. Gates had
decided to meet Mr. Epstein and wrote to two employees of
his private office that “Nathan had agreed with you that I would
enjoy meeting with him and that it is a fine thing to do.”
Yeah, maybe not such a fine thing to do.
