Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American financier, human trafficker, child sex offender, and serial rapist. He began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School. After his dismissal from the school in 1976, he entered the banking and finance sector, working at Bear Stearns in various roles, before starting his own firm. Epstein cultivated an elite social circle and procured underage girls who were subjected to repeated rape and sexual violence, by him and his associates.