One year before his death, Jeffrey Epstein boasted about putting Core Club’s founders on the map.
Within the financier’s tangled social web were the private club’s founders, according to messages in the 20,000-page trove of documents recently released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Core Club, founded in 2005, is an invite-only members’ organization that first opened in 2005 at 66 East 55th Street (also known as 711 Fifth Avenue). Founders Jennie and Dangene Enterprise developed partnerships with real estate bigwigs to build out the social club for millionaires and billionaires. RFR’s Aby Rosen, for example, was a founding member, investor and landlord, according to the Commercial Observer.
Epstein, the late financier accused of sexually abusing underage girls, had his own expansive maze of connections to the rich and powerful, the same kind of people Jennie Enterprise worked to cultivate.
“I helped put them in biz,” Epstein wrote in a personal message to an unknown recipient in 2018. The context was about former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, whom Epstein wrote was “friends with the current female owners of the core club, 50 yr old lesbians.”
Epstein died in 2019. The latest papers have emerged following the House’s review of the federal government’s investigation into Epstein before his death.
A Core Club spokesperson, in an email, refuted the idea of Epstein’s involvement. “[I]n no way, shape, or form did this individual play any business development role in the company, and any suggestion to the contrary is baseless,” said the spokesperson, who did not offer a name.
Scaramucci did not respond to a request for comment, but as of 2018 had been a Core Club member since the brand opened in 2005, according to ELLE magazine.
Core Club has become both a meeting point for powerful people in real estate and finance. Private clubs are a sought-after tenant because they can bring cachet — and amenities — to an address and are often tied to trophy real estate assets.
Somewhere between Core Club’s founding and 2016, Enterprise and Epstein appear to have developed a personal relationship whose chumminess is evident in emails sent after the election that year.
On Nov. 27, 2016, Epstein emailed the Enterprises:
Epstein: What is the relaxation machine in waiting area
Jennie Enterprise: soma dome …. How was your thanksgiving ? Love u
Epstein: really fun, im in palm with the trump crowd
Enterprise: cool ! Lets go to the inauguration together !!!
On Feb. 19, 2016, Enterprise sent Epstein an email with the subject line, “TRUMP / POPE SCORECARD …..”
“TRUMP 1 POPE 0,” Enterprise wrote in large red text. Earlier that week, Pope Francis and Trump had exchanged jabs online and to reporters.
In March 2018, Enterprise contacted Epstein again, this time to share a New York Post article about Donald Trump Jr.’s divorce.
The Core Club spokesperson did not address the personal emails between Enterprise and Epstein.
Core Club, which has boasted powerful clientele like Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, attracted other members of the Trump circle beyond Scaramucci. Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, dipped into shell company funds to pay initiation fees and dues to the club, according to the New Yorker.
In recent years, Core Club and its founders battled with developer Michael Shvo. Enterprise and Core sued Shvo for $600 million over his failure to deliver on three lavish expansion locations. Shvo countered that Core Club defaulted on its San Francisco lease for $178 million.
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