A list of people who have associated with Jeffrey Epstein over the years would take in the world of celebrity, science, politics - and royalty.

Over the years, the casually-dressed, globe-trotting financier, who was said to log more than 600 flying hours a year, has been linked with Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker and Manhattan-London society figure Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late media titan Robert Maxwell.

Epstein reportedly flew Tucker and Spacey to Africa on his private jet as part of a charitable endeavour. Clinton, meanwhile, flew on multiple occasions in the same plane to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St James, between 2002 and 2005 as he developed his philanthropic post-presidential career. It would later be alleged in court that Epstein organised orgies on that same private island in the US Virgin Islands.

Reports in the US media say many of the A-list names broke off any links with the former maths teacher after his arrest and conviction in 2008 of having sex with an underage girl whom he had solicited. His arrest followed an 11-month undercover investigation at a mansion in Florida’s Palm Beach that Epstein owned.

Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Show all 9 1 /9 Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in court Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein attends court as he pleads guilty to solicitation and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, 2008 Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in court Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony solicitation and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail. Epstein, allegedly paid several girls under the age of 18 in return for naked massages at his Palm Beach, Florida estate Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's car Jeffrey Epstein is whisked away from the Palm Beach County jail in a black car shortly after 6am on 22 July 2009. Epstein left the jail through the sally port, where prisoners are brought in, rather than through the main doors where prisoners are routinely released Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's mugshot Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's mugshot, taken after he was indicted for soliciting a prostitute on 26 July 2006. Beginning in mid-March 2005, Epstein became the target of a sexual battery probe conducted by the Palm Beach Police Department, according to the affidavit, which alleges that Epstein paid a series of underage girls to engage in sexual activity with him. In a 2002 New York magazine profile of Epstein, Donald Trump called the moneyman a 'terrific guy' who 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.' Epstein, who reportedly runs a multibillion-dollar investment fund, travels in his own Boeing 727 (upon which he has transported Bill Clinton to Africa) and owns a 45,000-square-foot mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jack Goldberger, Jeffrey Epstein's attorney Jeffrey Epstein's attorney, Jack Goldberger, talks with reporters gathered outside the Palm Beach County jail on 22 July 2009 after Epstein was whisked away from the jail in a black car Zuma/Rex Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein Florida Police department sexual offenders database picture of Jeffrey Epstein taken in 2013 Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's mansion His Palm Beach mansion in Florida Google Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's island The private Caribbean island, Little St James is part of the US Virgin Islands NBC News Jeffrey Epstein: Controversies surrounding paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein's island The private Caribbean island, Little St James is part of the US Virgin Islands NBC News

In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a single charge of soliciting prostitution and was handed a 18-month jail sentence. He served 13 months in jail and was obliged to register as a sex offender. A 2011 report in the New York Post said that he celebrated his release from jail and his return to a property he maintains in New York – a 45,000-sq-foot eight-storey mansion on East 71st Street – with Prince Andrew.

“I’m not a sexual predator, I’m an ‘offender’,” he told the newspaper at the time. “It’s the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel.”

Epstein, 61, was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his father worked for the city’s parks department. He attended Brooklyn’s Lafayette High School and excelled at mathematics. This helped him secure job in his early 20s as a maths teacher at the exclusive Dalton School, a private college located on New York’s Upper East Side.

Among his pupils was the son of Bear Stearns chairman Alan 'Ace' Greenberg. In 1976, after a few years teaching the children of the wealthy, he accepted a job offer from Mr Greenber that allowed him to oversee their money and left to become an options trader at Bear Stearns.

Epstein reportedly flew actor Kevin Spacey to Africa on his private jet as part of a charitable endeavour (Getty)

Four years later he was made a partner, but by 1982 he had left to set up his own boutique investment company, J Epstein and Co. He reportedly only accepted clients prepared to invest a minimum of $1bn, though many profiles of Epstein admit a lack of hard, verifiable facts about his business have added to the air of mystery. It is said, for instance, that Epstein forgoes alcohol and instead prefers Earl Grey tea and does yoga every day.

Among Epstein’s early investment clients were Leslie Wexner, the Ohio-based businessman who is CEO of L Brands, the fashion and lifestyle group whose brands include Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. In 2013, Forbes magazine estimated the 77-year-old Mr Wexler’s wealth to be $7.3bn.

Epstein reportedly flew actor Chris Tucker to Africa on his private jet as part of a charitable endeavour (Getty)

Epstein has always been interested in science, funding scientific projects and investments around the world. In 2000 he established the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, which funds science research and education globally. He has reportedly donated $30m to Harvard University, money the Ivy League institution retained despite his conviction and registration as a sex offender.

Jeffrey Epstein has been also linked to the Manhattan-London society figure Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late media titan Robert Maxwell (Getty)