Italian luxury brand Cipriani, growing in South Florida, was in Epstein’s network

As luxury Italian brand Cipriani grows in South Florida, with its name and a related brand set to stamp several high-end condo projects, records place Cipriani in convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit. 

In Department of Justice-released Epstein records, the name “Cipriani” appears 530 times, with some of the emails providing accounts directly placing the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in 2019, at Cipriani venues, running in shared circles of model agents and celebrities and pursuing a business relationship with Cipriani-tied partners for a venture in London, the Miami New Times reported. 

A lengthy 2010 exchange shows discussions for an investment in what appears to be the Rififi private club in London’s Mayfair district, involving Epstein, Giuseppe Cipriani Jr., grandson of Cipriani’s founder, and a third man, Livio Bisterzo, described as an Italian entrepreneur who had recently purchased a London modeling agency. The emails lay out potential financial frameworks, including a possible investment of about 800,000 British pounds. 

At one point of the emailed exchanges, Cipriani Jr. conveyed urgency to Epstein: “No word from your lawyer. Anybody we should contact? We are going to lose the deal if we don’t move fast. Let me know.”

But Girombelli, a spokesperson for Cipriani, told the publication a deal never came to fruition. “As said they were never partners, actually GC never really liked him,” the spokesperson said in a text to the publication. 

Yet, some of the emails show a friendly relationship. 

“giuspeppe, thank you for your hospitality last night.. Great to see you [sic] place and more importantly your sons. I smiled all the way home,” Epstein wrote to Cipriani in 2010, seemingly the day after his visit to the New York Cipriani restaurant. “They could be used to prove the inheritance of traits. stefania could not have been nicer. see you in Lomdon [sic]”

Stefania is a reference to Stefania Girombelli, who previously had exchanged emails with Epstein regarding his visit. 

In South Florida, the Cipriani brand first landed in 2013, opening a restaurant at Icon Brickell. Since then, its growth here has been supercharged. Last year, the brand partnered with 13th Floor Investments and Midtown Equities on Casa Cipriani, a 40-key hotel, private members club and 17-story  luxury condo tower in Miami Beach. It also has stamped its name on several Mr. C projects across the region in various stages, from completed to planned, in Miami’s Coconut Grove, downtown West Palm Beach and Boca Raton. 

Much of the emailed exchanges reference the Manhattan restaurant’s “upstairs,” an area where multiple women have alleged over the years they have been assaulted, including claims involving Harvey Weinstein and Epstein.   

In one September 2010 exchange, Epstein wrote to Giuseppe Cipriani, whose grandfather started Cipriani: “I would like to see how the upstairs works in New York on Sunday,, as you will not be there, is there someone who could coordinate.” Cipriani’s reply came that same day: “Yes for sure.” 

Also that same day, a cryptic message from a redacted email address hit Epstein’s inbox: “Cipriani upstairs… Bheeee… Uffff.”

— Lidia Dinkova