Jeffrey Epstein, the registered sex offender, met with many powerful people in finance and business during his career, but the financier invested with only a few of them.
One of those people was Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire.
In 2015 and 2016, Mr. Epstein put $40 million into two funds managed by Valar Ventures, a New York firm that was co-founded by Mr. Thiel. Today that investment is worth nearly $170 million, according to a confidential financial analysis of the late Mr. Epstein’s estate reviewed by The New York Times and a statement provided by a Valar spokesman.
The investment in Valar, which specializes in providing start-up capital to financial services tech companies, is the largest asset still held by Mr. Epstein’s estate, some six years after he died by suicide in federal custody while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Mr. Epstein’s investment with Mr. Thiel’s firm has not been previously reported or publicly disclosed.