‘Gaunt’ Steven Hoffenberg spent final days living quietly: Neighbors had no idea about Epstein ties
Steven Hoffenberg, 77, lived out his final days quietly in Derby, Connecticut, but had become ‘gaunt’, according to neighbors. He is shown in 2019
Steven Hoffenberg lived out his final days quietly in a small apartment in rural Connecticut, keeping away from neighbors who had no idea about his criminal past or ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Hoffenberg, 77, was found dead inside his apartment on Tuesday night after a wellness check was requested by Maria Farmer, the first woman to accuse Epstein of abuse.
She and Hoffenberg had become close friends in his final years, she revealed to DailyMail.com. He too felt like he had been victimized by the late pedophile, though in a different way to the many women who have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
Hoffenberg spent 18 years in prison for running a $460million Ponzi scheme that he always insisted Epstein was in on and masterminded.
Epstein, who died in August 2019 in jail, was never charged with the financial crime.
Neighbors near Hoffenberg’s home in Derby, Connecticut, told DailyMail.com that none of them knew about his time in prison or his connections to the late pedophile.
He was in poor health for the last few months and was ‘gaunt’, one said.
‘He kept to himself. I didn’t know who he was, he seemed like a quiet man. He was very thin, very gaunt. He was quiet, he never bothered me.
‘He knew my other neighbor Brian but I don’t think he interacted with him at all,’ she said.
Hoffenberg is thought to have died a week ago. His decomposing body was found on the floor of his bedroom in Derby, and had deteriorated so much that the medical examiner is now combing through his dental records to make a formal confirmation that it’s him.
Hoffenberg, 77, was found dead inside his apartment on Tuesday night after a wellness check was requested by Maria Farmer, the first woman to accuse Epstein of abuse. He had been living in the apartment in Derby, Connecticut, for two years
The small apartment in Derby where Hoffenberg was living when he died. Police found his body on the floor of his bedroom after a friend called asking for them to perform a wellness check
Police remove evidence bags from Hoffenberg’s home on Thursday night after being notified of his death
Hoffenberg in 1996. He went to prison for 18 years for his Ponzi scheme which he insisted Jeffrey Epstein was behind. Epstein, right in 1995, was never charged
Police sources tell DailyMail.com there is nothing to suggest that it is anyone but Hoffman.
Farmer was among those to pay tribute to Hoffman yesterday.
‘Hoff was one of my dearest friends on earth, more like a father than my own father ever was to me. He lived in kindness, always giving what little he had, never asking for anything.
Hoffenberg in 2021. He did not have any family living nearby when he died
‘This man was beyond incredible and a dear friend to survivors of Epstein… as he was also.’
Hoffenberg is a colorful New York character who is best known for trying to ‘save’ The New York Post from bankruptcy in the early 1990s, and for his ill-fated partnership with Epstein.
He spoke in the past of running in the same circles as Trump, telling The Washington Post in 2019 ‘Donald’s crowd was my crowd, you know?’
He leased an entire floor of Trump Tower at one stage, flew on private jets and was a firm fixture in the New York social scene.
In 1993, he invested millions in the flailing Post to stop it from shuttering. The newspaper was sold to him in desperation by Peter Kalikow, another millionaire and fixture on the New York social scene who ran it into disrepair and financial ruin.
In March 1993, after just three months in charge, he was pushed out by Abraham Hirschfeld, who he’d brought in with his deep pockets when the SEC froze his own assets amid an investigation into fraud.
Epstein was never charged, but he is understood to have made millions from it.
Speaking in 2019, Hoffenberg told The Washington Post that it was Epstein who masterminded the scheme that he spent years in prison for.
‘I thought Jeffrey was the best hustler on two feet. Talent, charisma, genius, criminal mastermind. We had a thing that could make a lot of money.
‘We called it Ponzi,’ he said, calling Epstein the ‘architect’ of the scam. He hired Epstein in 1987, paying him $25,000-a-month.
The Ponzi scheme was part of an effort by Hoffenberg to buy the airline Pan Am; Hoffenberg acquired two life and health insurance companies, whose accounts he pilfered to bolster his books.
The airline bid failed but he continued to steal money from the accounts of the insurance companies, stealing money from people who believed they had medical and life insurance when they needed it.
Hoffenberg was writing checks for his daughter’s tuition, and was also paying for a private plane using company money.
They then expanded the fraud to sell bonds promising high returns that never came to fruition.
‘I call it a turnover. You raise a dollar here, you pay a dollar there. Epstein was brilliant at this,’ he said in his 2019 interview.
In 1988, he gave Epstein a $2million loan which was never repaid.
In 1995, he pleaded guilty to defrauding investors out of $420million and went to prison for 18 years. During his incarceration, he relied on his faith.
They had bought bonds from his company, Hoffenberg’s Towers Financial Corp, which Epstein worked for.
