INVESTIGATION
David Fiszel, Bear Stearns, and Epstein: $85 Million Traced Across 6 Accounts to a Virgin Islands Shell
Jeffrey Epstein held at least $85 million across six Bear Stearns accounts — all managed by a single broker, all routed through a Virgin Islands shell company. Years after Bear Stearns collapsed, hedge fund manager David Fiszel contacted Epstein about a new investment through the same financial trustee who had managed those accounts. The David Fiszel–Epstein financial relationship, documented across seven DOJ files, reveals how Epstein's network recruited new fund managers. DOJ documents trace the money pipeline from Bear Stearns to Deutsche Bank, and the intermediary network that connected Fiszel's Honeycomb Asset Management to Epstein's inner circle.
$67 Million in a Single Shell: Financial Trust Company at Bear Stearns
The largest concentration of Epstein's Bear Stearns wealth sat inside Financial Trust Company Inc., registered at 6100 Red Hook Suite B-3, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. A December 2001 statement shows the account held a staggering portfolio:
"TOTAL VALUE OF SECURITIES THIS PERIOD 29,406,395... MONEY MARKET FUND BALANCE 37,523,003... NET EQUITY LAST STATEMENT 89,939,338"
That is nearly $67 million in securities and cash equivalents — managed by account executive Ira Zicherman at Bear Stearns' 383 Madison Avenue headquarters Bear Stearns statement for Financial Trust Company Inc., December 2001.
Epstein also held personal accounts at Bear Stearns under his own name, routed through the same Financial Trust Company address. A December 2002 statement shows $9.5 million — $6 million in equities and $3.4 million in a Dreyfus Tax Exempt Cash fund:
"JEFFREY EPSTEIN C/O FINANCIAL TRUST COMPANY ATTN JEANNE BRENAN 6100 RED HOOK QUATER B-3 ST THOMAS VI 00802"
Bear Stearns statement for Jeffrey Epstein, December 2002
<div class="newsletter-cta" data-position="mid"> <p><strong>Follow the money trail.</strong> Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter — document-backed investigations delivered to your inbox.</p> </div>The Collapse and the Migration: Bear Stearns to Deutsche Bank
Bear Stearns collapsed in March 2008, absorbed by JPMorgan Chase in a fire sale. Epstein's financial infrastructure had to move. By December 2017, a Deutsche Bank statement shows Southern Financial LLC — another entity registered at the same 6100 Red Hook Quarter B-3 address in St. Thomas — held $97 million:
"BEGINNING ACCOUNT VALUE $97,289,150.71... Estimated Annual Income $3,439,222.33"
The account was managed by investment specialist Joshua Shoshan at Deutsche Bank. The portfolio included $60.9 million in equities, $26 million in fixed income, and $3 million in mutual funds Deutsche Bank statement for Southern Financial LLC, December 2017.
The pattern is unmistakable: same Virgin Islands address, same shell company structure, different bank. When Bear Stearns disappeared, Epstein's financial architecture simply migrated — from Zicherman at Bear Stearns to Shoshan at Deutsche Bank, from Financial Trust Company to Southern Financial LLC.
Enter David Fiszel: The Honeycomb Pitch
On February 2, 2016, David Fiszel — founder of Honeycomb Asset Management — emailed Jeffrey Epstein. The introduction came through Eva Dubin, wife of hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin:
"Hi Jeffrey, I hope you are well. Eva Dubin gave me your email address as I hoped to follow up on the Peter Thiel meeting we briefly discussed and I wanted to share our investor presentation."
Epstein responded the next morning: "great come at 9. thiel should be here around 930." Email exchange between Fiszel and Epstein, February 2016
Epstein's internal schedule for February 4, 2016 places Fiszel in a sequence that reveals the scale of Epstein's financial operation:
"9:00am Appt w/David Fiszel"
"9:30-11:30pm Appt w/Peter Thiel"
"12:00pm Appt w/Leon Black at Leon's ofc — 9 West 57th Street, 43rd Floor"
Three financial power players in a single morning. Fiszel pitched first, Thiel arrived next, then Epstein traveled to Leon Black's Apollo Global Management offices Daily schedule for February 4, 2016.
Richard Kahn: The Broker Between Worlds
By May 2016, the relationship had progressed from pitch to active negotiation. Richard Kahn — principal at HBRK Associates Inc. and one of Epstein's financial trustees — emailed Epstein about Fiszel:
"I spoke with him today and he told me you were tough and he felt bad for the miscommunication over side letters. David was going to have his attorney draft a most favored nations provision for you tomorrow am."
A "most favored nations" clause guarantees an investor receives terms at least as favorable as any other investor in the fund. Epstein was not passively considering Fiszel's pitch — he was negotiating preferential terms through the same financial trustee network that managed his shell company empire Richard Kahn email re: David Fiszel, May 2016.
Kahn's role is the connective tissue. The same man who brokered Fiszel's hedge fund deal would later be named co-trustee of the Jeffrey E. Epstein 2019 Trust — alongside attorney Darren Indyke — responsible for managing Epstein's estate after his death. Kahn sat at the intersection of Epstein's investment activity and his posthumous financial legacy.
April 2019: Still Meeting, 90 Days Before Arrest
The most striking document in the Fiszel trail is a schedule from April 2019. On Friday, April 5, 2019, Fiszel had a 5:00pm appointment with Epstein — the same day Epstein met with Anthony Scaramucci, former Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, and Steve Bannon at 2:00pm:
"2:00pm Appt w/Mooch, Ruemmler, Bannon"
"5:00pm Appt w/David Fiszel"
This meeting took place approximately 90 days before Epstein's arrest on July 6, 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. The financial relationship that began with a hedge fund pitch in 2016 was still active three months before indictment.
The Pipeline: What 7 Documents Reveal
The document trail draws a line through Epstein's financial infrastructure:
- 2001: $67 million at Bear Stearns through Financial Trust Company, managed by Ira Zicherman
- 2002: $9.5 million in Epstein's personal Bear Stearns account, routed through the same Virgin Islands address
- 2008: Bear Stearns collapses; JPMorgan absorbs it
- 2016 February: David Fiszel pitches Honeycomb Asset Management to Epstein, introduced by Eva Dubin
- 2016 May: Richard Kahn brokers a most favored nations clause for Epstein's potential Honeycomb investment
- 2017 December: $97 million sits in Southern Financial LLC at Deutsche Bank — same Virgin Islands address, different bank
- 2019 April: Fiszel still meeting with Epstein, 90 days before arrest
The architecture stayed constant: Virgin Islands entities, a single trusted broker at each bank, and financial intermediaries like Richard Kahn who connected new fund managers to Epstein's capital.
What's Still Missing
- No executed investment: The documents show negotiation of a most favored nations clause, but no signed subscription agreement confirms Epstein invested in Honeycomb.
- Fiszel's Bear Stearns tenure: Public records indicate Fiszel worked at Bear Stearns early in his career. The DOJ documents do not address whether he overlapped with Epstein's Bear Stearns accounts or knew Ira Zicherman.
- The Dubin network: Eva Dubin introduced Fiszel to Epstein, but no documents explain the Dubin-Fiszel connection or Glenn Dubin's involvement.
- Post-arrest silence: Nothing in the archive addresses what happened to any Epstein-Honeycomb relationship after July 2019.
Cited Documents
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This analysis references publicly released documents from the Epstein case archive. All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless convicted in a court of law. Language such as “documents indicate” reflects what appears in source materials, not conclusions of guilt. Readers are encouraged to review the cited source documents directly.