Steven Hoffenberg, Epstein mentor & fellow Ponzi criminal found dead

Tina Moore
New York Post
Fri, 26 Aug 2022 10:31 UTC

© Melissa Bunni Elian for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Steven Hoffenberg was found dead in his Derby, Connecticut, home by police during a wellness check.

Steven Hoffenberg, the disgraced businessman and longtime mentor of Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead Tuesday when Connecticut police discovered his rotting corpse during a wellness check, The Post has learned.

Comment: Unusual choice of phrasing.

Authorities discovered Hoffenberg, who spent 18 years in prison for running a half-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, dead in his home around 8 p.m. Tuesday. It is not clear exactly when he died.

Police had been called to the 77-year-old's home in Derby, Conn., at the request of a friend.

© Associated Press

Steven Hoffenberg, who once acted as manager of The Post, is escorted by FBI agents in a Little Rock, Ark., parking garage after turning himself in to authorities in 1996.

No cause of death has been revealed, but police said there were no immediate signs of trauma to his body.

"Every indication is that it is Mr. Hoffenberg," a Derby Police Department spokesman said. "There's nothing to suggest that it isn't. We believe it's him. We're just waiting for dental records."

In a statement posted to Facebook, police said the body was found "in a state where a visual identification could not be made."

Hoffenberg, who was once Epstein's boss, might have been the link to his mysterious fortune.

Hoffenberg had claimed that Epstein was his accomplice in a Ponzi scheme he ran through his Towers Financial Corp.

© Douglas Healey

Hoffenberg’s home in Derby, Connecticut.

He pleaded guilty to the scheme in 1995 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. While Hoffenberg sat locked up, Epstein was allegedly raping teenage girls with the help of his now-convicted madam, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Comment: Epstein and Maxwell were trafficking minors to powerful people, however the government and the media have chosen to not release the list of names.

Tower investors have claimed in an August 2018 lawsuit that Epstein "knowingly and intentionally utilized funds he fraudulently diverted and obtained from this massive Ponzi scheme for his own personal use to support a lavish lifestyle."

"He was my colleague daily, seven days a week," he said of Epstein in a 2019 interview in Quartz.

Hoffenberg was briefly the court-appointed manager of The Post from January to March 1993, rescuing the newspaper from bankruptcy. The news was announced with an iconic Post cover that said "Last-minute deal saves The Paper...Hoffenberg Saves The Post," calling him the paper's "white knight."

© Don Halasy/NY Post

Hoffenberg confronts the New York press in February 1993.

But the staff ultimately rebelled against Hoffenberg, and the paper was briefly handed over to Abe Hirschfeld before being bought for a second time by Rupert Murdoch, the current owner.

A former Trump Tower resident, Hoffenberg was an early backer of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid, but withdrew his support.

He became a born-again Christian in prison, he told Quartz.

Comment: This news is notable because, if Hoffenberg's claims are true, then it's possible he would have had information on Epstein that might have proved useful. However, since Hoffernberg went to jail for his crimes, and early on, and apparently died in relative obscurity might reflect how he no longer served any use to the establishment and was left to fend for himself.