—who was also a step-uncle of

TTERSON —who was also a step-uncle of Nard to drop the story. But Ward same back with was dynamite. e salacious than anything Carter ing in the hours it would take to acovered, picking the ones they CHAPTER 37 all out in a narrative that would cts it contained. R _ Vicky Ward: October 2002 4 pstein went out of his way to spin the Vanity Fair story to his own ends, and soon after she got the assignment, Vicky .dWard’s phone began to ring off the hook: calls from Ace Greenberg and Jimmy Cayne, the current head of Bear Stearns; from Les Wexner; from academics, scientists, and movers and shakers who counted Epstein among their friends. Then there were the calls from Epstein himself. He wouldn't ' go on the record, but despite the rumors he'd spread behind | Ward’s back, he was happy to talk informally, even give her a _ tour of his Manhattan mansion and trot out stories that he had ' dined out on for years. By most accounts, Epstein could be ' &xtremely charming —even if it had taken Ghislaine to teach "him which forks to use when—and he did his best to charm Vicky Ward. But she was not easily seduced, and she turned out to have a keen eye for Epstein’s missteps. 145 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022001