(This story has been updated with new information.)
A Palm Springs businessman did work for the disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein years after Epstein was convicted of child prostitution, according to newly disclosed files released by the United States Department of Justice.
The developer and business owner Peter Mahler helped recruit employees for Epstein in 2013 through the Palm Springs office of Mahler Private Staffing.
Mahler personally emailed Epstein over a period of several months regarding a position for Epstein’s personal assistant. His company also arranged for candidates to interview for positions at Epstein’s Caribbean island and Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, both areas where victims of Epstein have said they were sexually abused.
“I like you a lot and we will get this right for you,” Mahler emailed Epstein in July of 2013 in response to a complaint over the quality of candidates his firm had put forward.
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor in 2008 and served around 13 months in prison. He was arrested again in 2019 and charged in federal court with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
He died by suicide in federal custody a month after his arrest.
All communication between Epstein, Mahler and Mahler’s companies were found by The Desert Sun in the trove of documents recently released by the federal government, commonly known as the Epstein Files.
Neither Mahler nor Mahler Private Staffing responded to requests for comment from The Desert Sun, but Mahler told KESQ in a statement, “knowing what we know now, we would never have worked with him under any circumstances.”
The allegations against Epstein, as well as his criminal convictions, were widely known during Mahler’s work for Epstein in 2013.
Palm Springs connections
According to his online presence, Mahler is a real estate agent and businessman based out of Milwaukee. In addition to Palm Springs, his staffing business has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Milwaukee.
He owns property near downtown Palm Springs that is in the process of being converted into a mixed-use retail and condominium complex.
He is closely associated with the Palm Springs International Film Festival and sits on the board of its sponsor, the Palm Springs International Film Society.
An article in Palm Springs Life says Mahler bought his first home in Palm Springs in 2002.
Work for Epstein
Beginning in late 2012, four years after Epstein’s Florida convictions, Mahler Private Staffing began working on finding an employee to staff Little Saint James, the private island Epstein owned in the Caribbean.
The precise nature of the job is unclear from the files, but the position would report directly to Epstein. It is described by the initials “GM.”
Mahler Private Staffing arranged for a candidate to fly to the island in the fall of 2013 for an in-person visit. It’s not clear how the visit went, but Epstein and Mahler soon stopped working together after the visit.
In addition to the island position, in March of 2013 Epstein also tapped Mahler to hire at least two other employees for him.
One is described in the documents as the “Zorro Ranch Manager” position. Another was for a personal assistant to Epstein.
“I may have found a lady for you,” Mahler told Epstein in one email. “You may need to do some Rex Harrison w=rk (sic) but not much.”
The line could be alluding to the play and film “My Fair Lady,” in which actor Rex Harrison plays a British phonetics professor who teaches a working-class woman, played by Audrey Hepburn, how to pass in high society by hiding her Cockney accent.
From July 2013 through August 2013, dozens of emails passed between Mahler’s and Epstein’s employees to set up interviews for these positions. Mahler and Epstein also personally emailed each other during this time.
“I want someone who says yes sir … what questions can i answer rather than tell me how important they are. sorry,” Epstein said in an email to Mahler in July.
The search, apparently, did not go well for Mahler Private Staffing because Epstein frequently complained about the quality of the candidates the firm put forward.
“her cat kept jumping in front of the messy apt, and in the first 3 minutes she said y’know at least 30 times. this is silly,” Epstein wrote of one of his interviews with a candidate Mahler had provided.
By late July, Epstein had tired of Mahler and appeared ready to move on, according to the emails. However, Mahler pushed to remain connected to Epstein. The two seemed to reconcile after a phone call.
“Jeffrey and I have decided we are better off together than apart ,,,I am on a 2 week leash,” Mahler said in an email to one of his employees in late July.
In early August, Mahler was overseeing the recruitment of a personal assistant, apparently to satisfy a desire by Epstein that the candidate be an Asian woman.
“(She) Is Asian which you told me you preferred If possible,” Mahler wrote in an email to Epstein.
By mid-August, Mahler’s company arranged for a woman to meet Epstein at his New York apartment for an interview to be his personal assistant. The result of the interview is unclear.
Mahler’s staff continued to arrange for interviews of prospective employees through the fall of 2013, but in November, Epstein decided to cut off the business relationship, the files show.
“we appre=iate (sic) the opportunity to work with you ,and we share your disappointment (that) our working together was not more fruitful for both of us,” Mahler sent in an email to Epstein. Later in the email, he said, “I am glad our paths crossed life is long and hopefully we will have another … chance to help you.”
Next steps
Mahler has not been accused of wrongdoing, but his involvement with Epstein comes as prominent figures across the country and world have been revealed to be close associates of the multimillionaire sex offender.
Interest in Epstein has skyrocketed since it became known that people such as Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom and President Donald Trump had close contact with Epstein.
At the time of his death, Epstein had become notorious for repeatedly paying underage girls to have sex with him and seemingly arranging for similar activity to occur for his friends. His private island allegedly became the site for powerful men to cavort with young women, according to women who have come forward as Epstein’s victims as well as his employees.
The reckoning of Epstein’s behavior remains ongoing, as many of the millions of files released by the government remain to be examined.
Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs businessman did work for Jeffrey Epstein after conviction
Reporting by Sam Morgen, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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