Donald Trump Jr married Bettina Anderson on 21 May at a private ceremony in West Palm Beach, Florida, but the wedding has resurfaced something the celebrations can't paper over. Anderson's late father ran the bank where Jeffrey Epstein held accounts for over a decade, and the Trump family's own ties to the convicted sex offender go back even further.
Donald Trump Jr has married the daughter of Jeffrey Epstein's personal banker, H. Loy Anderson, who once called Epstein "a gentleman of the highest integrity."pic.twitter.com/WmDA2ZjQWV
Anderson's father, Harry Loy Anderson Jr, served as president of Palm Beach National Bank & Trust Company. According to aSnopes review of unsealed Department of Justice files, internal customer profiles from June 2002 revealed that the financier held at least six accounts at the bank totalling around $2 million (£1.5 million), with the first account opened in March 1991.
The documents listed Anderson Jr as the 'primary officer' on Epstein's accounts, cementing a financial relationship that spanned more than a decade in South Florida's tight-knit banking circles.
Anderson Sr became one of the youngest bank presidents in the country at age 26 in 1970. He co-founded the Academy of the Palm Beaches, now known as Palm Beach Day Academy, and was recognised as a prominent community philanthropist before his death in 2013.
As part of a late 1990s application to the U.S. Virgin Islands Industrial Development Commission, Anderson Sr.wrote a recommendation letter on Epstein's behalf. In it, he described Epstein as 'a gentleman of the highest integrity' with an 'excellent reputation' in the Palm Beach community.
That endorsement helped Epstein obtain tax breaks in the territory where he owned Little St James, the private island that later became the centre of his sex-trafficking operation. No evidence has surfaced that Anderson Sr had any knowledge of Epstein's criminal conduct at the time.
The Trump family's proximity to Epstein's orbit didn't begin with this wedding. Trump and Epstein moved in the same Palm Beach social circles from the late 1980s through the 1990s and early 2000s.
In a2002 phone interview with New York Magazine, Trump spoke favourably of Epstein. 'I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,' Trump told the publication. He added that Epstein 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.'
Trump distanced himself years later. In July 2019, after Epstein's arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges, Trump told White House reporters he hadn't spoken to Epstein in 15 years and described a falling out. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell the following month. His death was ruled a suicide.
Source: International Business Times UK
