The Palm Beach lakefront mansion once owned by the convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein — and demolished about eight months after his death — is back on the radar of news organizations, as questions continue to mount about whether U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will release the so-called “Epstein files.”
Bondi’s Justice Department issued a statement July 7 confirming Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 in a New York jail cell and saying no further records would be released. The Justice Department and the FBI at the time also said there was no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” of people who took part in what prosecutors have described as a multi-year sex-trafficking scheme that included Epstein’s sexual assault of underage girls and young women.
Epstein’s Palm Beach residence was a key site where many of crimes committed by the self-styled financier occurred, investigators said. Underage girls from Palm Beach County told investigators they were assaulted at the Palm Beach mansion as well as Epstein’s homes in New York, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
When he died, Epstein was facing federal charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking. In 2008, Epstein had pleaded guilty to two Florida felony counts that included solicitation of a minor. He served nearly 13 months in the Palm Beach County jail before being released for a year of probation on house arrest until August 2010.
His accomplice and former girlfriend Ghislane Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Although President Donald Trump has publicly downplayed the importance of the files, the controversy continues to brew, not only in courts of law but in the court of public opinion. Among those calling for the files’ release are members of Congress and Trump supporters who identify with his “Make America Great Again” movement.
Here’s a look back at the infamous house that in 2021 was sold for millions of dollars and then promptly demolished.
When did Epstein buy the property and what did the house look like?
The residence had stood since 1952 on three-quarters of an acre facing 170 feet on the Intracoastal Waterway at the end of a quiet dead-end street in the Estate Section. With a total of 14,223 square feet, the compound included the main house, a cabana building by the swimming pool and a separate building used by household staff.
With Bermuda-style architecture, the house had been designed originally by society architect John L. Volk but had been extensively remodeled. The house had a white-stucco exterior, a gray roof, simple balcony railings and an exterior spiral staircase leading to and from the pool deck.
Epstein had paid $2.5 million in 1990 for the house, which was at the time carried the address of 358 El Brillo Way. In 2011, he transferred its ownership from his name to an entity named Laurel Inc., a company registered in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Who bought and demolished the house?
A company affiliated with Palm Beach and Miami developer and real estate investor Todd Michael Glaser paid $18.5 million for the house in March 2020, and crews demolished residence the next month.
Workers used heavy equipment to pull down the walls of the mansion. They tore into it again and again, starting on the east side — where vines still clung to the walls, blooming with flowers that were soon crushed — and eating through the house toward the waterfront.
Before he purchased the house, Glaser had told the Daily News that it would be personally satisfying to see the house knocked down. That sentiment was shared by his real estate broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates, who helped put together the sale.
“I only got involved in the sale of Jeffrey Epstein’s residence to ensure it would be wiped off the map of Palm Beach,” Moens told the Palm Beach Daily News.
What happened to proceeds from the sale of the house?
Executors for Epstein’s estate sold the house, and proceeds went to the estate, according to published reports. A compensation fund had been established for his alleged sexual-abuse victims. An attorney for the estate told the Wall Street Journal that proceeds from the house sale and Epstein’s other properties would be subject to claims on the estate, such as taxing authorities, creditors and claimants.
How did the local community and others view the demolition?
In informal conversations with the Palm Beach Daily News at the time of the demolition, several residents said they were thrilled that house, which represented such a dark chapter in the town’s history, was gone.
Fort Lauderdale attorney Brad Edwards, who has represented — in various legal actions — dozens of clients who said Epstein sexually abused them, said the demolition could be viewed in some ways as cathartic.
“I think that the symbolic power of destroying the house of horrors cannot be overstated,” Edwards told the Palm Beach Daily News when the house was razed. “I can imagine there is going to be some amount of relief that the nightmare of what went on at the house has been buried to some degree.”
What ended up happening to the property?
Although Glaser had announced he would develop a new house on speculation on the property, those plans never came to fruition. In July 2021, the Palm Beach Architectural Commission rejected the design of a house Glaser had proposed to build on the property.
Two months later, Glaser’s company sold the vacant lot for a recorded $26 million. As of the end of July 2025, a new custom home was nearing completion on the property, which has been assigned a new address.
Reporting by Bart Jansen and John Kennedy of USA Today and by Kristina Webb of the Palm Beach Daily News contributed to this report.
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Emaildhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Whatever happened to Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘house of horrors’ in Palm Beach?
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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