In July 1996, Alan Dershowitz's phone rang at Martha's Vineyard. The caller was Lynn Forester — now Lady Rothschild. She had a friend she wanted him to meet.
Dershowitz described what happened next in his own affidavit, in his own words, in all caps:
"I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL FROM LYNN FORESTER, NOW LADY ROTHCHILD, TELLING ME A FRIEND OF HERS NAMED JEFFREY EPSTEIN HAD FLOWN TO MARTHA'S VINEYARD TO VISIT HER AND THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO DROP BY AND MEET ME."1
He agreed. They spent a couple of hours together. Epstein told Dershowitz about "the work he was doing at Harvard."
Nine years later, when Palm Beach police began investigating Epstein for sexually abusing underage girls, Dershowitz assembled the defense team. The man Lynn Forester introduced over cocktails at the Vineyard became the man who helped negotiate Epstein's plea deal.
She didn't just introduce them. She delivered him.
1995: The President
A year before the Dershowitz call, Lynn Forester had already placed Epstein at a higher table.
In 1995, she discussed "Jeffrey Epstein and currency stabilization" with Bill Clinton — the sitting President of the United States.2 Not at a fundraiser. Not through a chain of staffers. A direct conversation about a private financier and macroeconomic policy, facilitated by a woman who moved between Wall Street, Washington, and the British aristocracy with equal fluency.
Lynn Forester was already married to the world. In 2000, she married into the name — becoming Lady de Rothschild when she wed Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. But in 1995, she was Lynn Forester of Firstmark Holdings, and she was putting Jeffrey Epstein in front of the President of the United States.
1996: The Defense Attorney
The Dershowitz introduction wasn't incidental. It was the beginning of the most consequential legal relationship in the Epstein case.
Dershowitz's affidavit recounts what followed that summer meeting: within weeks, Epstein invited him to Leslie Wexner's 59th birthday party in New Albany, Ohio. They flew on Epstein's private jet. At the party: Shimon Peres, Senator John Glenn, A. Alfred Taubman.1
Dershowitz began introducing Epstein around Harvard. Epstein funded psychology research, established an office in Brattle Square, became a Harvard fellow, joined the advisory board of the Harvard Society of Mind, Brain, and Behavior. When Lawrence Summers became president of Harvard in 2001, he flew to Palm Beach on Epstein's plane.
All of it traced back to one phone call from Martha's Vineyard. One woman saying: I have a friend you should meet.
2000: The Townhouse
On July 6, 2000, a property transaction cleared in New York City. The seller: Lynn Forester. The buyer: 116 East 65th Street LLC. The price: $4,950,000.3
116 East 65th Street LLC was Ghislaine Maxwell's company.
The FBI investigated this transaction two decades later. Property records — pulled from CLEAR databases by federal agents in May 2020 — confirmed every detail. Lynn Forester sold a Manhattan townhouse to Ghislaine Maxwell's shell LLC for just under $5 million.
Sixteen years later, 116 East 65th Street LLC sold the same property for $15,075,000. A $10 million gain on a building purchased from the woman who had introduced Jeffrey Epstein to the President of the United States and his future defense attorney.
JPMorgan Private Bank held the LLC's account. Maxwell had standing instructions: auto-transfer $50,000 from her personal savings whenever the balance dropped below $10,000.4
Lynn Forester sold a building to the woman who recruited underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein. The building tripled in value.
Martha's Vineyard: The Salon
Martha's Vineyard wasn't just where one introduction happened. It was where all of them happened.
In July 2013, Peter Mandelson — Baron Mandelson, former Labour cabinet minister, former EU Trade Commissioner — was asked about a photograph from Epstein's files. Where was it taken? Mandelson replied:5
"I think it was Martha's, the first time I met Jeffrey, staying with Lynn Forester..."
Lynn's house at Martha's Vineyard was the introduction chamber. Clinton. Dershowitz. Mandelson. Each met Epstein in her orbit, on her turf, through her connections.
This matters because Mandelson became one of the most prolific correspondents in the entire Epstein archive — 4,757 documents bear his name. He reported Bilderberg conference agendas back to Epstein, coordinated private jet logistics, discussed Russian oligarchs, and offered his aristocratic title for board seats: "Need a Lord on the board?"6
That entire relationship started at Lynn Forester's house.
2010: The Leak
By 2010, Epstein had served his 13-month sentence and was a registered sex offender. He was also still plugged into the gossip networks of the global elite — and he was willing to use what he knew.
On May 27, 2010, Epstein emailed Landon Thomas, a New York Times financial reporter. The subject line: "off the record."7
"Lady rothschild, Lynn forester, ex husband, Andrew Stein and her financial advisor in the states Kenneth Starr, a different one. indicted for another big ponzi scheme."
The next day, he followed up with more detail:8
"they reported on the ken starr arrest. what they missed was that he was arrested along with andrew stein. starr was the financial advisor and stein was the ex-husband of lady lynn rothschild, her co firstmark holdings. also had conrad black as director. please pass this to them"
Epstein was feeding dirt on Lynn Forester to the New York Times. Her ex-husband Andrew Stein — arrested. Her financial advisor Kenneth Starr (not the Whitewater special counsel — a different Kenneth Starr, later convicted of running a Ponzi scheme). Her company Firstmark Holdings — linked to Conrad Black, the disgraced media baron convicted of fraud.
Thomas replied from Madrid: "Crazy stuff. Thanks for tip."
Note what Epstein specified: "a different one." He knew the reader would confuse the two Kenneth Starrs. He wanted the damage to land on the right person.
This complicates the portrait. Lynn Forester introduced Epstein to presidents and professors. But Epstein knew her secrets too — her ex-husband's arrest, her financial advisor's Ponzi scheme, the names on her corporate boards. He was passing them to journalists, off the record, while she was Lady Rothschild and he was a registered sex offender.
The bridge between worlds runs in both directions.
The Pattern
Five people. One woman. One address book.
| Year | Connection | What Followed |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Bill Clinton | "Currency stabilization" with a future convicted sex offender |
| 1996 | Alan Dershowitz | Epstein's defense team after Palm Beach investigation |
| ~2000 | Peter Mandelson | 4,757 documents, Bilderberg intelligence, oligarch meetings |
| 2000 | Ghislaine Maxwell | $4.95M townhouse via LLC, later sold for $15M |
| 2010 | — | Epstein leaking Lynn's private scandals to the NYT |
Lynn Forester de Rothschild was not Ghislaine Maxwell. She was not procuring girls. She was not, as far as the documents show, involved in any of Epstein's crimes.
She was something arguably more important to his operation: the legitimizer. The woman whose name, whose address book, whose Martha's Vineyard guest list turned a college-dropout financier into someone Alan Dershowitz would take a phone call from. Someone Bill Clinton would discuss macroeconomic policy with. Someone Peter Mandelson would spend a weekend with.
Epstein had many talents. Finding people who would open doors for him was the greatest of them.
No one opened more doors than the woman who became Lady Rothschild.
Sources & Documents
All documents referenced below are from the U.S. Department of Justice Epstein document release, accessed via Unsealed.
- EFTA00796700 — Dershowitz affidavit: "I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL FROM LYNN FORESTER..." July 1996 introduction at Martha's Vineyard, Wexner birthday party, Harvard connections. View →
- EFTA00263405 — Epstein biographical documentation referencing Lynn Forester's 1995 conversation with Bill Clinton about "Jeffrey Epstein and currency stabilization." View →
- EFTA01654636 — FBI investigation: Lynn Forester sold 116 East 65th Street to 116 East 65th Street LLC (Ghislaine Maxwell) on July 6, 2000 for $4,950,000. Property sold in 2016 for $15,075,000. View →
- EFTA01579663 — Standing instruction for 116 East 65th Street LLC: $50,000 auto-transfer from Ghislaine Maxwell's savings when balance drops below $10,000. View →
- EFTA00703220 — Peter Mandelson, July 19, 2013: "I think it was Martha's, the first time I met Jeffrey, staying with Lynn Forester..." View →
- EFTA00924203 — Peter Mandelson to Epstein: "Need a Lord on the board?" See The Bilderberg Dispatches for the full Mandelson correspondence.
- EFTA01811978 — Epstein to Landon Thomas (NYT), May 27, 2010, subject "off the record": "Lady rothschild, Lynn forester, ex husband, Andrew Stein and her financial advisor Kenneth Starr, indicted for another big ponzi scheme." View →
- EFTA02415254 — Epstein to Landon Thomas (NYT), May 28, 2010: "starr was the financial advisor and stein was the ex-husband of lady lynn rothschild, her co firstmark holdings. also had conrad black as director." View →
This article is part of the Secret Societies & Elite Power Networks series. Previously: The Rothschild Router. Next: The Bilderberg Dispatches.
