James' World 2

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When Jeffrey Epstein wanted his favorite Zweigle’s Pop Open hot dogs ferried from his townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to his sprawling Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, he did what any exceedingly rich person might.

He had his staff reach out to a close friend with a private jet. Stephen Hanson, then head of a Manhattan restaurant empire that at its peak served more than 20,000 people a day at 25 theatrical, high-volume restaurants like Blue Water Grill, Dos Caminos, and Ruby Foo’s, was happy to make the delivery himself.

“In the white freezer in downstairs kitchen of 71st street, there are packages of frozen hot dogs,” Mr. Epstein’s private chef emailed an assistant. “JE would like to have hot dogs for lunch tmrw and these are the new dogs he likes.”

There was one other favor Mr. Epstein wanted on that August weekend in 2012. He asked Mr. Hanson to make room for a woman who would be bringing a wallet he’d left behind, according to documents the Department of Justice collected as it investigated Mr. Epstein. She was later paid settlements from funds established for Mr. Epstein’s victims.

The Justice Department files attest to Mr. Epstein’s transactional relationships with many powerful men. Billionaires like the Victoria’s Secret magnate Les Wexner and the private equity investor Leon Black helped build his fortune. Boldfaced names like Woody Allen and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former British prince, provided cachet and social access.

What Mr. Hanson offered, a review of the thousands of emails and texts the two men exchanged over a decade, shows was access to the world of food and hospitality — as well as a wingman who enjoyed the company of attractive women, and had the means to help manage and entertain them.

Mr. Hanson got the young women tables in his dining rooms. He arranged cooking classes for them. When Mr. Epstein asked him to help women land visas or find jobs in his restaurants, the answer was almost always yes.

During their long friendship, Mr. Hanson became one of the most powerful people in the restaurant business. In 2003, Bon Appétit magazine named him restaurateur of the year, and he expanded his reach to Las Vegas. By 2007, his company, BR Guest Hospitality, was valued at $300 million.

Mr. Hanson still found time, the files show, to aid his friend in all kinds of ways. He recruited people to manage Mr. Epstein’s private Caribbean island compound and set up tastings to help him hire the perfect private chef. No errand was too small. When the beef jerky that fueled one of Mr. Epstein’s odd dietary binges didn’t taste quite right, Mr. Hanson worked on the recipe. He even had his executive assistant send a sample to a laboratory to test its nutritional value.

Nothing in the files or other public records indicates that Mr. Hanson had sex with minors, as Mr. Epstein did. In a video interview in 2021, a victim of Mr. Epstein’s told the F.B.I. that a decade earlier, when she was in her early 20s, Mr. Epstein had sent the restaurateur to her New York City apartment, where Mr. Hanson paid her for oral sex at least a dozen times.

The woman, who first met Mr. Epstein when she was 17, said she had become dependent on Mr. Epstein and did whatever he requested. Her name was redacted in the files, and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, declined to comment. A Justice Department spokeswoman would not say whether the agency had investigated further, but Mr. Hanson has never been charged with a crime.

In response to questions for this article, Mr. Hanson did not address the woman’s allegations, but issued a brief statement through his lawyer, Gerald B. Lefcourt, a former attorney for Mr. Epstein. “Mr. Epstein knew and relied upon Mr. Hanson for advice on certain matters given Mr. Hanson’s hospitality industry experience,” it read in part. “Mr. Epstein was adept at deception and manipulation. He pulled the wool over the eyes of leading academics, scientists, and titans of business. The suggestion, assumption, or insinuation that there was anything untoward about, in relation to, or concerning, any connection between Mr. Hanson and Mr. Epstein is untrue.”

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The bond between Stephen Hanson, left, and Jeffrey Epstein stretched over decades, a review of Department of Justice files shows. It included vacations like this 2013 trip to Las Vegas. Credit…U.S. Department of Justice

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