Steven Hoffenberg

Steven Jude Hoffenberg (January 12, 1945 – August 2022)

Early life Hoffenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family on January 12, 1945, along with a twin brother, Martin. In 1971, Hoffenberg pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree larceny for trying to steal a diamond in New York. Despite later denying reports that he had indicated his involvement, he later admitted in a civil trial that he was once "involved in a theft". Career

Towers financial corporation In the early 1970s, Hoffenberg founded Towers Financial Corporation, a New York City debt collection agency that was supposed to buy debts that people owed to hospitals, banks, and phone companies. He was its chief executive officer, president, and chairman. It was later discovered to be a Ponzi scheme.

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein In 1987, Hoffenberg met Jeffrey Epstein through a British defense contractor named Douglas Leese. Leese was one of the architects, along with Saudi Adnan Khashoggi and Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, in the billion dollar Al-Yamamah arms deal, Britain's biggest arms deal ever concluded, earning the prime contractor, BAE Systems, at least £43 billion in revenue between 1985 and 2007. Leese told Hoffenberg about Epstein: "The guy's a genius, he's great at selling securities. And he has no moral compass." Hoffenberg hired Epstein from about 1987 to 1993 to help with the Towers Financial Corporation, paid him $25,000 a month and gave him a $2 million loan in 1988 that Epstein would never have to pay back. They unsuccessfully tried to take over Pan Am in a corporate raid with Towers Financial as their raiding vessel. Their bid failed, in part because of the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, which ultimately contributed to the airline's bankruptcy. A similar unsuccessful bid in 1988 was made to take over Emery Air Freight Corp. Hoffenberg began using Towers Financial funds to pay off earlier investors and pay for a lavish lifestyle that included a Locust Valley, New York, Long Island mansion, as well as homes on Sutton Place (in Manhattan) and in Florida, and a number of cars and planes. In court documents, Hoffenberg claimed that Epstein was intimately involved in the Ponzi scheme. Epstein left Towers Financial before it collapsed and was never charged for being involved with the massive investor fraud committed.

In 2016, Hoffenberg and some of his victims sued Epstein, seeking restitution. He asserted in court that Epstein had been intimately involved in Tower's financial practices and called Epstein the "architect of the scam". Former Towers investors made similar allegations in a lawsuit filed in August 2018. The lawsuit also alleged that the millions in stolen investments were the seed capital for Epstein's hedge fund, which it valued at $50 billion.

Personal life and death Hoffenberg converted to Christianity during his time in prison. He had been married at least twice before, and had a daughter from a relationship he had been having at the time of his federal prosecution; his daughter met him for the first time at the age of 19 after he was released from prison. Epstein accuser Maria Farmer said she called police to check in on Hoffenberg after she failed to reach him over the phone during the preceding week. His body was in an advanced state of decomposition, and a Derby police officer estimated that he had been dead for roughly a week by the time his remains were found. An initial autopsy found no evidence of trauma on his body and police said they believe he died of natural causes.