Who is Michael Daffey? Goldman Sachs veteran buys Epstein’s Manhattan mansion for $51M, proceeds go to victims
The mystery buyer of Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan mansion, one of the largest private residences in the city, is reportedly a former Goldman Sachs executive. Michael Daffey bought the seven-story Upper East Side home for $51 million last week, a spokesman told Insider. The sprawling 28,000-square-foot property was listed for $88 million in July. The spokesman added that Daffey had purchased the home with cash and a bridge loan.
"Mr. Daffey is a big believer in New York's future and will take the other side of all the people who say the city's best days may be in the past," Stu Loeser told Insider in an emailed statement.
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Who is Michael Daffey?
Daffey, a former Goldman Sachs executive, had recently made huge profits on an investment in bitcoin, another person with knowledge of his investment activity told Insider. The person said on condition of anonymity that Daffey is a friend of bitcoin evangelist Michael Novogratz and was early to invest in the cryptocurrency. He started looking to invest his profits as bitcoin soared past $50,000.
In March, Daffey left Goldman Sachs after 28 years with the investment banking firm. His departure was reportedly part of a wave of partner exits in recent months. According to Insider, Daffey managed some of Goldman Sachs's most important hedge-fund clients after CEO David Solomon made him chairman of the markets division in September. Prior to that, Daffey served as the global co-chief operating officer of the equities business.
The highflying executive joined the bank in 1994 and became managing director six years later. He was made partner two years later, thereby securing a place on the company's most powerful decision-making body, the management committee, for years, the publication said.
Personal bitcoin investments aren't required to be cleared "through the bank, though an investment in a fund or digital-currency-related product is," per Goldman Sachs' compliance rules. That said, proceeds from Daffey's purchase of Epstein's former home will go to a compensation fund for victims of the late sex offender.
A 'private Xanadu' in Manhattan
According to records reviewed by Insider, the trophy Manhattan property was purchased by an associate of Epstein's on behalf of his longtime client Les Wexner in 1989. Epstein bought the home for $20 million in 1998, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The lavish home, situated between the coveted Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue, was originally built in 1932 for Macy's heir Herbert Straus and was later used as a school. In 2003, when Epstein owned the property, journalist Vicky Ward described it as a "private Xanadu" but "curiously impersonal" in her Vanity Fair profile on Epstein.
As reported by Insider, Epstein's home was full of bizarre artworks and decorations, including taxidermy animals and a painted mural of the hedge fund honcho in prison. His estate has been valued at over $600 million, including a private island in the US Virgin Islands and properties in New Mexico and Paris, in addition to his townhouses in Palm Beach and New York.
