How Did Epstein Become a Billionaire (Is He?)

7/11/19 New York Intelligencer discusses how real hedge fund billionaires have never heard of Epstein's firm, nor do they know of any any customers.  They suggest that whatever money is invested may be under threat of blackmail:

I think he’s engaged in blackmail. The reason I think this is that I read the Palm Beach police report when they did the search warrant. Epstein had advanced warning they were coming, so he scrubbed the place as much as he could, but he left wires and audiovisual cables for uploading video files to computers, and I guess the Palm Beach Police themselves installed some of his audiovisual surveillance equipment in his residence — it’s a service they apparently do, putting in security cameras for residents. And some of his victims, like Virginia Roberts, in her court filings, said that Epstein remarked to her that “information is king,” and mentioned that Bill Clinton was there because “he owes me a favor.” He bragged that that’s how powerful he was. So I suspect, based on that evidence, that’s it’s likely, since that’s the way Epstein operates, is he uses information to his advantage. Does he get investment money for his hedge fund that way? That’s a strong possibility. Does he not have to pay back investors maybe using the blackmail information as a threat? That’s a possibility.

Hint: If you are rich or powerful, or plan to be so, don't do anything that might be criminal or embarrassing in front of a possibly hidden video camera.  Even better:  don't do anything that might be criminal or embarrassing.  The scrubbed Wikipedia page has been unscrubbed.