Vanity Fair UK - 11.2019

J

erey Epstein once told a billionaire that he’d invented the

derivatives market—a claim that is totally false. But with-

out question, he helped create one of the signal trades of

the last few decades. He came to prominence in the 1990s, as the

modern meritocracy was taking shape in the collision between

the cult of technology and the burgeoning class of billionaires.

Epstein played a role in this marriage. He was one of the people

who gured out how to arbitrage the particular needs, desires,

and vulnerabilities of these groups. He recognized, long before

others, that Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Park Avenue, and the

Academy were converging around a new salon culture embodied

by TED Talks and “billionaires dinners.” Genius wanted to ride

on a private plane—it deserved to travel by private plane. And bil-

lionaires wanted to certify their own genius by conversing with

other geniuses. MIT and Harvard were brand names the super-

rich wanted to associate with, a fact that dropout Epstein under-

stood innately. Science was sexy, a way to beat the markets. He

once told an academic that he gamed the stock market by study-

ing mating patterns of termites. Epstein grasped that, for the new

meritocrats, genius and great wealth were two sides of the same

Davos regulars. The original

Big Tech bad guy now uses tech

and science to attack global

problems: malaria, ebola, polio.

Jobs’s Emerson Collective

(named for Ralph Waldo) aims

to save journalism (buying the

Atlantic) and reform education.

LAURENE POWELL

JOBS

AGE: 55

TOM

STEYER

AGE: 62

PRISCILLA

CHAN

AGE: 34

The wealthiest black man in the

U.S. has stepped up his giving

game with gestures like wiping

out student debt at Morehouse.

ROBERT F.

SMITH

AGE: 56

In 2018, the casino magnate

poured $113 million into

supporting the GOP—and may

spend even more in 2020.

SHELDON

ADELSON

AGE: 86

To the fringe, he’s a lefty villain.

In the real world, his $18 billion

foundation is a critical voice

against the rise of the far right.

GEORGE

SOROS

AGE: 89

The cofounder of LinkedIn

is spending upward of

$200 million to disrupt electoral

politics using tech principles.

REID

HOFFMAN

AGE: 52

THE ROCKEFELLERS

In the age of social capital, philanthropy is

the ultimate power trip

Signed the Giving Pledge soon

after divorcing the world’s

richest man. Wants to combat

cancer and homelessness.

M

    KENZIE

BEZOS

AGE: 49

BILL & MELINDA

GATES

AGES: 63, 55

Jerey Epstein’s

Meritocrat Grift

HE HELPED BROKER THE ’90S MARRIAGE BETWEEN MONEY

AND SCIENCE. AND IN HIS EXTREME ENTITLEMENT

AND HEEDLESSNESS, HE MIRRORED ESTABLISHMENT VALUES

BY GABRIEL SHERMAN

MICHAEL

BLOOMBERG

AGE: 77

LeBron James

$89

Stephen Curry

$79.8

Kevin Durant

$65.4

Credit: Forbes

The perennial presidential

aspirant spent more than

anyone on Democrats in 2018

and could do the same in 2020.

Impeachment enthusiast and

2020 candidate. Promised $50

million to fight Trump but could

spend twice that on himself.

Zuck’s wife is donating their vast

fortune not quite as fast

as they earn it. Structured their

family foundation as an LLC.

NOVEMBER 2019 ILLUSTRATION BY ANDRÉ CARRILHO 89