EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein Abused His Own Mom — Pedophile Tried to Finance His Debauched Career by Stealing From Her Account, College Professor Claims
Jeffrey Epstein allegedly stole from his mother's account to finance his pedophile lifestyle.
July 14 2026, Published 6:30 a.m. ET
Jeffrey Epstein's long record of exploiting women appears to have begun at home – by stealing from his own mother, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Years before he launched his sex-trafficking and blackmail business, Epstein wrote a check drawn from his hard-working mother Paula's bank account, according to research done for a book on sex traffickers by City University of New York professor Thomas Volscho.
Fraud Pattern Started With Family
Thomas Volscho said Jeffrey Epstein wrote a check from his mother Paula's bank account that later bounced.
The check bounced, leaving his mom on the hook and revealing, even in his youth, that no woman was off-limits to his schemes – not even the one who raised him.
"When NYU sent a debt collector to his address, his brother answered the door and said he'd gone off to Europe and then coughed up like three or four hundred dollars of the thousand-odd dollars owed," Volscho told the New York University school newspaper.
The check was for tuition at NYU – an institution Epstein never graduated from but claimed he had in order to get a lucrative job at the now-defunct Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns.
NYU took Epstein to civil court in December 1975 over the invalid check. And while Epstein later settled the suit, the betrayal was a sign of the sociopathic pattern of lies and manipulation that followed him to his grave.
Lies Fueled Epstein's Sinister Rise
NYU sued Epstein in 1975 over an invalid tuition check, according to Volscho.
He was somehow able to keep his job at the bank despite being exposed by a background check, which also revealed he dropped out of Cooper Union and falsely claimed to have worked as a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.
The future sex sleaze was later proven to have made donations of more than $100,000 to NYU, according to a Bloomberg analysis and was later claimed to have used his allegedly close relationship to the school to lure prospective victims with promises of admission and tuition payments.
Survivor Lisa Phillips revealed to The Wall Street Journal Epstein arranged for her to visit NYU's campus and paid for her classes while abusing her for years.
Manipulation Followed Epstein To Death
Lisa Phillips said Epstein used promises tied to NYU while abusing her for years.
"He used NYU to groom – it's a transactional promise to create a debt with the potential victim, which he then exploits," Volscho told the NYU paper.
Epstein continued to exploit his mother even after her death.
On Aug. 9, 2019 – the day before he was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell under murky circumstances – he made a call he said was to his mom. But records reveal he was phoning his girlfriend.
Parents' Love Couldn't Stop Monster
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Volscho said Epstein called his girlfriend while claiming he was phoning his late mother.
In reality, Paula had been buried 15 years before, alongside her husband, Seymour, in West Palm Beach, their names later removed from the family crypt to deter vandals.
"The irony," Volscho observed, "is how two loving parents can produce such a monster."
