\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tMottola (shown here in 2020) and Epstein\u2019s friendship lasted through the convicted sex offender\u2019s final days.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJon Kopaloff\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cMr. Mottola is one of many people who came into contact with Epstein but who had no knowledge about, let alone involvement in, Epstein\u2019s illicit criminal activities,\u201d Mottola\u2019s attorneys, Thomas Clare and Mitchell Langberg of Clare Locke, tell Rolling Stone<\/em>. They add that \u201cnothing in the Epstein files and nothing in any court record has ever suggested that Mr. Mottola had any involvement in Epstein\u2019s wrongdoing \u2026 Mr. Mottola never committed any crime, and he knew nothing about Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cTo Mr. Mottola\u2019s recollection, he never attended any of Epstein\u2019s parties; never flew on Epstein\u2019s plane; and never visited Epstein\u2019s island or ranch,\u201d Mottola\u2019s attorneys go on to say. \u201cThere is not a single email in which Mr. Mottola discusses, references, or in any way indicates awareness of Epstein\u2019s criminal conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMottola has previously acknowledged an association with Epstein but drastically downplayed the depth of their relationship. \u201cMr. Epstein and I shared some mutual acquaintances, and he called me several times to request concert tickets, as many people do,\u201d Mottola told The Daily Beast<\/em><\/a> in 2023. When Bloomberg<\/em><\/a> reported last December that Epstein was offered an opportunity to invest in a Donna Summer Broadway show that Mottola was producing, Joanne Oriti, a senior executive at Mottola\u2019s company, dismissed any suggestion of impropriety. The pitch materials were \u201csent to dozens and dozens of people,\u201d Oriti said, noting that \u201cEpstein did not invest.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhat Oriti didn\u2019t disclose is she helped arrange for Epstein and four guests later described as his assistants \u2014\u00a0a term Epstein used to describe the women he was accused of grooming and abusing \u2014\u00a0to attend a matinee showing of the musical two days after it opened in April 2018. (Oriti did not respond to Rolling Stone\u2019s <\/em>request <\/em>for comment. There is no indication that Oriti was aware of who Epstein was bringing or any impropriety regarding the tickets.)<\/p>\n \n\tIn a review of nearly 1,000 DOJ documents, which include court records, an FBI report, text and email correspondence between Epstein and Mottola, and emails where Epstein, his associates, and alleged victims mention Mottola, Rolling Stone<\/em> found that Mottola\u2019s interactions with Epstein went well beyond fielding sporadic, unsolicited requests from a casual acquaintance.<\/p>\n \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s way too long overdue that we see each other\u201d<\/p>\n Mottola in a 2015 email to Epstein<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tTheir relationship, dating back to at least 2004, spanned the entirety of the prolific predator\u2019s legal troubles. It overlapped with Epstein\u2019s July 2006 indictment for solicitation in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was accused of prowling local high schools in search of teenage girls to abuse. And their ties apparently remained solid throughout the 2010s, following Epstein\u2019s registration as a sex offender and lasting until his final days, with Mottola passing along Nardello\u2019s information a month before Epstein\u2019s final arrest in July 2019.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tMottola\u2019s attorneys say Epstein\u2019s request for that referral \u201cdid not seem suspicious\u201d to Mottola, who, the attorneys stress, \u201chad no knowledge of why Epstein was asking\u201d for Nardello\u2019s contact information. Mottola also had \u201cno knowledge of any impending investigation or arrest,\u201d according to his attorneys. (A spokesperson for Nardello & Co. tells Rolling Stone<\/em> that \u201cunbeknownst to Mr. Nardello, a firm client recommended that Epstein contact [Nardello] about providing assistance with anticipated civil litigation. Mr. Nardello declined to help Epstein, and they had no further contact.\u201d)<\/p>\n \n\tEmails and corresponding court records show Mottola crossed paths with at least three women believed to be among Epstein\u2019s victims, including a foreign model who told the FBI that Mottola was one of Epstein\u2019s \u201cfrequent\u201d visitors while he served a lenient 13-month jail sentence that included work-release privileges. Mottola\u2019s attorneys did not dispute that their client visited with Epstein during this period, but rejected the characterization of Mottola as a frequent visitor and said Mottola \u201cnever visited Epstein in any custodial setting.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTHROUGHOUT THE EIGHTIES, Nineties and early aughts, fewer names in the music industry were bigger or more intimidating than Mottola. He served as the manager for Hall & Oates, Carly Simon, and John Mellencamp before taking the helm of Sony Music Entertainment in 1988. Under his stewardship, Mottola expanded Sony\u2019s global reach in more than 60 countries, tripled the company\u2019s revenue, and signed Shakira, New Kids on the Block, the Dixie Chicks, Ricky Martin, and Marc Anthony, among many others, to the company\u2019s labels. Known for being flashy and a workaholic, he was rewarded handsomely for his efforts, earning multimillion yearly bonuses on top of eight-figure contracts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tYet, some of the methods Mottola used to achieve that success were questionable. Industry associates whispered to Vanity Fair<\/em> in 1996 about Mottola<\/a> adopting shady mobster tactics in his running of Sony, demanding loyalty and allegedly keeping a gun in his briefcase. He made an enemy out of his former mentor and boss, Walter Yetnikoff, who called him \u201cScumola.\u201d Michael Jackson once called him \u201ca devil.\u201d (Mottola largely brushed off his critics and defended his business practices.) And Mottola\u2019s high-profile marriage to Carey, 20 years his junior, was marred by his explosive temper and abusive and controlling behavior, leading to their divorce in 1998. Mottola later apologized to Carey in his 2013 memoir, Hitmaker: The Man and His Music<\/em>, acknowledging the relationship was \u201cabsolutely wrong\u201d and that he had been \u201cobsessive.\u201d Still, he rationalized that his intensity \u201cwas also part of the reason for her success\u201d and chalked up their issues to him being \u201cthe chairman of Sony and her husband at the same time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2003, he resigned from Sony after nearly 15 years to launch his own venture, the Mottola Media Group, which currently serves as an artist-management company and production arm for live-theater performances (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical<\/em> and Jersey Boys<\/em>) <\/em>and television shows. He is also the co-founder of Ntertain, a Latin-focused entertainment and multimedia company.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnited States Department of Justice<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tIt\u2019s not clear how Epstein and Mottola became acquainted, though both had connections to Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal and were friends with Eva Andersson-Dubin, a former Swedish model who dated Epstein in the Eighties and remained one of his closest confidantes. <\/strong>(A representative for the Dubin family declined to comment.) <\/strong>Mottola and his current wife, Thal\u00eda, the Mexican singer and actress whom he married in 2000, were listed as members of the benefit committees tied to fundraisers for the Dubin Breast Center, the esteemed medical facility that Andersson-Dubin founded at New York\u2019s Tisch Cancer Center.<\/p>\n \n\tHowever they first connected, by November 2004, the lines between the men were open. Phone records show that Epstein was placing calls to two phone numbers listed in Mottola\u2019s email signature \u2014 an office and personal line \u2014 during that time period. Between late 2004 and 2006, Epstein made calls to Mottola\u2019s numbers more than 80 times, according to phone records.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMottola\u2019s name first surfaced in the emails in spring 2009 \u2014 a few months before Epstein completed his lax jail sentence \u2014 when it appeared the two had a meeting at Epstein\u2019s office in a Palm Beach high-rise. As part of his plea deal, Epstein was allowed to spend the majority of his incarceration working out of the plush personal office, returning to the county jail each night. Emails over the years show that Epstein and Mottola regularly exchanged scheduled phone calls, with Epstein\u2019s long-term executive assistant, Lesley Groff, flagging for her boss whenever he had missed one of the music executive\u2019s calls.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to emails between them, the tenor of the men\u2019s relationship over the years appears friendly and casual. Mottola picked Epstein\u2019s brain on home-renovation plans, possible business deals, and board role offers. He asked Epstein for recommendations on people he should meet while visiting South Africa in 2011. In return, Mottola sent Epstein gift baskets of Bridgewater chocolate and Italian bread and offered to let Epstein use his discount at the pricey furniture store Restoration Hardware.<\/p>\n \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cYes, [I\u2019m building] houses. And an extra massage room for you, in bulletproof glass\u201d<\/p>\n Epstein in a 2017 email to Mottola<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tEpstein invited Mottola to visit him for business meetings and parties, records indicate. \u201cTommy Mottola coming to party!\u201d Epstein\u2019s chief assistant emailed her boss in September 2010. (Records show Epstein was hosting a Yom Kippur dinner at his New York City townhouse at the time.) \u201cTommy and his wife changed their plans and will be in town to attend the party on Saturday night,\u201d Epstein\u2019s assistant added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMottola\u2019s attorneys say the records show that \u201conly ten meetings\u201d were ever \u201ccontemplated\u201d between the pair and that Mottola doesn\u2019t recall whether all those meetings took place. \u201cRegardless, by any reasonable measure, the documents show that there were not \u2018frequent\u2019 visits,\u201d the attorneys add. \u201cThe relevant scheduling documents reflect the kinds of meetings that would be expected of high-net-worth acquaintances who maintained an intermittent relationship primarily based on networking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tEmails show that Epstein would curry favor within his circle of close friends by name-dropping Mottola. <\/strong>In April 2009, Epstein wanted the late French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel and former Colombian president Andr\u00e9s Pastrana Arango to meet Mottola. (Brunel was accused of transporting foreign teenage girls and young women to Epstein. He was arrested on charges of sexual assault, rape of a minor, and human trafficking in 2020 and died by suicide in 2022. Pastrana has not been accused of any wrongdoing.) \u201c[Mottola] used to be married to Mariah Carey,\u201d Epstein emailed Brunel. \u201cTell Pastrana that Tommy is going to attempt to be the entertainment czar of Cuba. He, you and Tommy should meet.\u201d (It doesn\u2019t appear that any meeting took place.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMichael Jackson (in 2002) accused Mottola of exploitative business practices and once called him \u201ca devil.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEvan Agostini\/ImageDirect\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThat July, Epstein told then-Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson that he had run one of her business ideas by Mottola. The music executive \u201cloved the idea,\u201d Epstein claimed, and was \u201cworking on the goals of how it lasts and generates a long-lasting stream of revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tEpstein worked to bring Mottola closer into his orbit by trying to carve out a role for Mottola in his business dealings. While considering making a sizable investment in the now-defunct music company, EMI, Epstein told an associate in February 2010 that his \u201cfriend\u201d Mottola should be brought on board to \u201cfix\u201d the struggling British music company.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe power broker also tried to facilitate working relationships between Mottola and his longtime friends. In 2010, Mottola considered working in some capacity with Next Model Management, which was owned by Epstein associate Faith Kates. While Mottola did appear on an Advertising Week<\/em> panel discussion with Kates<\/a> in 2013, an attorney for Kates tells Rolling Stone<\/em> the two never went into business together. (\u201cThey would\u2019ve been fortunate to be in business with someone as talented and successful as Mr. Mottola,\u201d Kates\u2019 attorney adds.)<\/p>\n \n\tIn August 2011, Mottola enthusiastically lobbied for an executive role within one of billionaire Leon Black\u2019s companies after Epstein relayed enticing information to Mottola about Black\u2019s recent entertainment acquisitions. \u201cThere would be no one better qualified in this space in the universe than myself to run the whole operation day-to-day or to be involved on the Apollo side, as their man inside the operation,\u201d Mottola wrote to Epstein.<\/p>\n \n\t(Black \u2014\u00a0who hired Epstein as his financial planner \u2014\u00a0is currently facing a civil lawsuit from a woman who claimed Black raped her at Epstein\u2019s Manhattan townhouse in 2002. At least three women Epstein introduced to Black have made claims of rape or sexual assault against Black, according to The<\/em> New York Times<\/em><\/a>. In response to a request for comment, Black denied all allegations of sexual assault and vehemently denied having any knowledge of Epstein\u2019s crimes.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tEpstein and Mottola\u2019s relationship seems to have hit a lull after 2011, with only a handful of emails exchanged between them over the next four years. But, there was a noticeable uptick in their correspondence following a December 2015 email from Mottola to Epstein: \u201cIt\u2019s way too long overdue that we see each other,\u201d Mottola wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe men resumed their routine correspondence by phone and email, and Epstein asked Mottola\u2019s opinion on the best Italian restaurants in Palm Beach and sought guidance on replacing his aging household staff. The men also discussed whether Mottola should buy the rights to a book about Epstein that the late investigative journalist John Connolly was trying to sell.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNo one wants it, should you approach him [and] tell him you wanted to buy the rights for my birthday,\u201d Epstein asked Mottola in January 2016. \u201cGot to think about it,\u201d Mottola responded. \u201cThis guys [sic] dangerous \u2026 Bad Guy.\u201d (It does not appear that Epstein and Mottola discussed Connolly\u2019s book again by email. The book, Filthy Rich: The Jeffrey Epstein Story<\/em>, which Connolly would go on to co-author, was published in 2017.)<\/p>\n \n\tWHILE MOTTOLA MIGHT HAVE sometimes leaned on Epstein for general advice and business contacts, Epstein\u2019s motive for cultivating a friendship with the powerful music executive seems clear: <\/strong>dangling Mottola\u2019s name as an incentive to young women, more than one of whom he\u2019d later be accused of grooming and abusing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSome of those women were eager to break into the entertainment industry. A French woman sent Epstein a desperate plea about feeling stuck in her current job and begged for his help, according to emails obtained by Drop Site News. \u201cAm I crazy to think that it\u2019s possible and I finally will achieve my goal and set up in a record company or management company or tour agent company in the States,\u201d the woman asked in June 2008. \u201cDo you think you could pass [my resume] onto your connections <\/strong>(Tommy Motolla [sic])?\u201d (The woman, whose name Rolling Stone<\/em> is choosing to withhold, declined to speak on the record for this article, but alleges she was a victim of Epstein\u2019s.)<\/p>\n \n\tA source close to the family of Paula Heil Fisher, a former Miss Indianapolis beauty queen who dated Epstein in the early Eighties, recalls Mottola being a frequent topic of conversation among Heil Fisher and her two aspiring-singer daughters, who were in their early twenties, after Epstein routinely flexed his relationship with Mottola to the family. \u201cIt was like Waiting for Godot<\/em> \u2014 \u2018You\u2019re gonna meet Tommy,\u2019\u201d the associate tells Rolling Stone, <\/em>who says the family spoke about Mottola and their hopes he\u2019d bolster the young women\u2019s careers. \u201cIt was an obsession.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn a series of emails from April 2009, Epstein instructed Heil Fisher to bring her daughters to his office so they could bump into Mottola, who he said was stopping by. \u201cPut [one of the daughters] in a sexy outfit and meet Tommy,\u201d Epstein instructed Heil Fisher. \u201cPut [her in] a white button down shirt with white bra if [she] has it.\u201d (There is no indication that Heil Fisher complied with Epstein\u2019s wardrobe suggestions nor that the daughters ended up meeting Mottola. Attorneys for Mottola say he has \u201cno memory of Ms. Fisher or her daughter[s]\u201d and \u201cthis was not a meeting Mr. Mottola arranged, anticipated, or had any role in organizing.\u201d They add that \u201cthe instructions in these emails reflect Epstein\u2019s conduct, not Mr. Mottola\u2019s.\u201d)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMottola with then-wife Mariah Carey in 1995. He admitted to being controlling and \u201cobsessive\u201d during their marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRose Hartman\/Archive Photos\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAs Epstein continued to play benefactor to one of Heil Fisher\u2019s daughters, he also claimed that Mottola would help the young woman get onstage at the Bitter End, a live-music venue in New York\u2019s Greenwich Village. \u201cCall me. re paris. bitter end. tommy motolla,\u201d Epstein messaged the young woman in July 2010. \u201cI don\u2019t think you should spend money on [going to] Paris. Tommy agreed. He will get you a session at open mike at the bitter end. He said thats where the record cos go.\u201d (Mottola ultimately never played a role in either young woman\u2019s career, <\/em>the source close to the family says. Neither Heil Fisher nor her daughters have made allegations against Epstein or Mottola. They did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)<\/p>\n \n\tAt least three women among the hundreds of Epstein\u2019s alleged victims seem to have met Mottola directly. Emails show that Mottola was scheduled to visit Epstein in the first week of January 2010. That same week, in an email dated Jan. 4, 2010, an unnamed woman expressed her frustration at Epstein\u2019s demands of her, listing the tasks she had completed that week at his behest. She was expected to wait on Epstein hand and foot, and even offered to watch a \u201csex DVD\u201d with him. \u201cI got up at 5am to serve you breakfast, after rubbing your head and scratching your back to sleep, at 10am I went to buy groceries while you were busy, offered you and Tommy snacks,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tEpstein scolded a different woman, a model, in November 2013, rattling off a laundry list of things he believed he had done to benefit her life and potential career, including \u201cintroduc[ing] you to Tommy Mottola.\u201d (The woman declined to speak for this article but has previously been identified as a victim of Epstein\u2019s.)<\/p>\n \n\tAnd in an eight-page FBI report detailing an agent\u2019s interview with another unnamed victim from October 2019, the woman <\/strong>listed Mottola, along with Brunel and Epstein\u2019s personal trainer, as a frequent visitor of Epstein\u2019s in 2008 and 2009 while he was serving his jail sentence with work-release privileges in Palm Beach. (It is unclear from the documents where the woman alleged the visits took place. Mottola denies being a frequent visitor of Epstein\u2019s.)\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tMottola\u2019s name also briefly surfaced in early litigation surrounding Epstein. Attorneys associated with litigation against Epstein sought to subpoena and take Mottola\u2019s deposition in 2009, according to Epstein\u2019s calendar reminders and a court case he pursued against Brad Edwards, a prominent Epstein-victim attorney. Epstein\u2019s legal team accused Edwards and other attorneys of trying to \u201charass and intimidate\u201d some of Epstein\u2019s \u201cfriends and acquaintances\u201d by seeking information related to the victims\u2019 cases. (Edwards did not respond to Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s multiple requests for comment.)<\/p>\n \n\tAttorneys for Mottola say the music executive was never subpoenaed or deposed. They point to an affidavit given by Edwards in 2010, where Edwards stated his team had found \u201cno information\u201d that Mottola had \u201cspoken to Mr. Epstein about [a Jane Doe victim] or any of the other specific victims of Mr. Epstein\u2019s molestation.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAS THE HOLIDAYS APPROACHED in December 2017, an incident at a high-end Florida hotel sent Mottola into a tailspin, allowing Epstein to position himself as a savior. It began around\u00a0 Dec. 23, when Mottola was informed that he and his wife were no longer welcome at the hotel\u2019s spa following their treatments with a licensed massage therapist for what Mottola\u2019s attorneys described as \u201cchronic neck and back pain.\u201d It\u2019s unclear what exactly led to the hotel\u2019s decision to ban Mottola and his wife from the spa. (There is no indication there were any allegations of misconduct.) Confused, Mottola reached out to Epstein for help. \u201cCall me,\u201d Epstein instructed Mottola the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDocuments do not illuminate what the men discussed, but according to Mottola\u2019s attorneys, Epstein seized on a simple \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d between Mottola and hotel employees and used it to his advantage. Epstein \u201cinject[ed] pure speculation into the situation,\u201d the attorneys say, whipping up a \u201cphantom problem\u201d that he could swoop in and solve for Mottola.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnited States Department of Justice<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe two appear to have spoken by phone in the immediate aftermath, with Epstein seemingly having offered some comfort or counsel. \u201cThank you, I love you man!!\u201d Mottola later texted, adding that he\u2019d been so on edge, he \u201cfelt like I was gonna have to go back into the hospital\u2026. That\u2019s how high my BP went.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLater that night, Epstein seemingly raised the issue again and told Mottola to call him. Mottola canceled his Christmas Eve plans with Eva Andersson-Dubin, and as the night bled into the early hours of Christmas morning, emailed Epstein a string of anxious-sounding questions. \u201cI don\u2019t have to do anything, just shut up and lay low [?]\u201d he wrote at one point.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are safe,\u201d Epstein reassured him twice.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAn attorney for Mottola says his concern about the situation was \u201cpractical and reputational\u201d and \u201cnot knowing what was being said about him, he risked embarrassment\u201d and therefore \u201cthought Epstein could be a resource to help set the record straight (whatever it was).\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe hotel situation seemed to quickly dissipate, and by Dec. 27, Epstein and Mottola were discussing renovation plans for Epstein\u2019s private island, Little St. James. \u201cDo you need to build a new house on the island as well?\u201d Mottola asked. Epstein replied, \u201cYes, houses. And an extra massage room for you, in bulletproof glass.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIn what would be the final two years of their friendship, Mottola sent Epstein press roundups of the Donna Summer Broadway show, checked whether Epstein wanted to buy a new Bentley Mulsanne from him, and discussed construction plans for their respective homes. Mottola was helping Epstein with a renovation project on Little St. James, sending architects and project managers his way.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThey gossiped about former CBS CEO Les Moonves, who was accused of sexual harassment and intimidation in July 2018. \u201cTOAST,\u201d Mottola wrote to Epstein. When more women came forward with similar accusations against Moonves that September<\/a> \u2014 including massage therapists who made allegations of sexual misconduct \u2014 Epstein flagged the piece to Mottola.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDid you see the massage section in the monves piece?\u201d Epstein wrote. \u201cWe should thank our lucky stars.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mottola-email-2.jpg?w=1024\")
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