Vanity Fair Photographer Reveals Epstein Sent ‘Massive’ Bodyguard to ‘Intimidate’ Him Into Handing Over Pictures
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
Christopher Anderson, the Vanity Fair photographer whose portraits of top White House officials helped propel the article to viral status last month, revealed on Tuesday that he had been asked to photograph Jeffrey Epstein in 2015 — and shared eyebrow-raising details about the encounter.
The two-part exposé by Vanity Fair reporter Chris Whipple included content from multiple on-the-record conversations with Trump White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, chief of staff Susie Wiles, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
The article itself brought a massive amount of buzz, and Anderson’s photos raised that to a nuclear level, with harsh lighting, unflinchingly close-up views of their faces, and posed photos that seemed clearly intended to communicate critical judgment of these people and the roles they were playing in Trump’s second term. Anderson defended the photos against his critics as photojournalism, as opposed to the retouching and flattery expected in celebrity portraits.
The ongoing controversy over the release of the Epstein files continues to spark speculation about the connections the deceased child sex predator had with President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and numerous other rich and influential men.
“Yes, that’s Jeffrey Epstein,” Anderson began a caption for an Instagram post on Tuesday. In the post, he shared multiple photographs he said were taken when he was assigned to “make a portrait of Epstein to accompany an article” by Michael Wolff for New York magazine.
View this post on Instagram
Anderson added that he “didn’t know much” about Epstein at the time, “other than the fact that he had heavy connections to powerful men,” and described how he had been greeted at the door of Epstein’s residence by a “young woman with an Eastern European accent” who he later saw “setting up a massage table in a room just off one of his offices.”
According to Anderson, Epstein “said he didn’t want anyone else to have the pictures after the magazine published them, and offered me $20k to own them after publication.” New York magazine gave permission and Epstein paid him with a personal check, he added.
But several days after that, Epstein “decided to pull out of the story and started calling me to demand the pictures,” Anderson wrote, and he “reiterated that the pictures were not his until after publication.”
“Then the threats started,” he continued. “He sent his bodyguard/ driver, Merwin, a massive guy in a long black overcoat and black, leather gloves, to my studio to intimidate me (it worked). Epstein succeeded in threatening the magazine, too, and they killed the story. I cashed the check and Merwin came by again to collect the hard drive and make sure I didn’t have any more copies of the photos.”
“Today, I found the copy on a very old hard drive,” Anderson wrote, detailing the black-and-white portrait of Epstein and photos of him working in “two different offices in the house,” pointing out a stuffed tiger in one, and a photo of Epstein’s desk, which included “an email printed out that is an exchange between Epstein and the Royal Government office concerning payment from the Duke and Duchess.”
The email, dated Feb. 17, 2011, was from “nycjos@aol.com” and addressed to Amanda Thirsk, who had served as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s (formerly known as Prince Andrew, Duke of York) private secretary, copied to the then-prince and “Sarah,” presumably Sarah Ferguson, his ex-wife. The subject line read “Settlement – John O’Sullivan,” and the text read as follows:
Dear Amanda,
I have expressed my concern to you that despite all our concerted efforts I still remain unpaid. The financial arrangements have been agreed directly between the Duke, the Duchess and I for some 2 months. Yet from what I understand there is no plan in place to pay me the $59,933 I am now clearly owed. I agreed to reduce the amount I am owed by the Duchess in wages from $72,596 to $59,933 in order to reach an agreement with the Duke and Duchess. The Duchess then emailed me, twice, to say that my offer was to receive this money lightly given the debts incurred as an acceptable to both her and the Duke. I did not waive my right result of this non-payment and resulting struggle I have endured to try and support myself and pay for my MBA course at Columbia.
A July 17, 2011 BBC article reported that Ferguson had admitted to the “gigantic error” of accepting “£15,000 from Epstein, to help pay off her debts,” including money “her former personal assistant, Johnny O’Sullivan” said she owed him “for unpaid wages and other bills” totaling £78,000.
The photographs on Epstein’s desk appear to include former President Clinton, Richard Branson, and Woody Allen.
The photos from Anderson’s post are below:
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
Screenshot via @christopherandersonphoto on Instagram
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