When and why was Jeffrey Epstein first banned from Mar-a-Lago under Trump's ownership?
Executive summary
Jeffrey Epstein was first reported to have been banned from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in or around 2003 after a Mar-a-Lago spa employee complained that Epstein had pressured her for sex during a house call, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation and multiple outlets that recapped its reporting [1] [2] [3]. The ban, as described by former employees, followed internal complaints—most notably a manager who faxed the allegation to Trump and urged that Epstein be barred—with Trump instructing staff to “kick him out,” though precise dates and some accounts vary [1] [2] [4].
1. How the ban was first reported: the Wall Street Journal account
The most detailed public account comes from the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Mar-a-Lago spa staff routinely made house calls to Epstein’s nearby Palm Beach home and that in 2003 an 18-year-old beautician returned from an appointment saying Epstein had pressured her for sex; a manager then faxed the allegation to Trump and recommended banning Epstein, to which Trump responded that it was “a good letter” and to “kick him out” [1] [2].
2. What “banned from Mar‑a‑Lago” meant in these reports
According to former employees cited by the Journal and relayed by outlets summarizing that reporting, Epstein and his then-companion Ghislaine Maxwell were subsequently barred from the club’s spa and treated as persona non grata at the property—Epstein was not a dues‑paying member but had been given member‑level treatment, including an internal spa account and house‑call services [1] [4] [3].
3. Why the 2003 allegation matters to the timeline
Multiple recaps place the break around 2003 because that is when staff reported a direct complaint that made it difficult for Mar‑a‑Lago management to ignore Epstein’s conduct; outlets note this precedes Epstein’s 2008 state plea and, in some retellings, precedes or coincides with other falling‑out moments between the two men tied to business disputes in the mid‑2000s [1] [2] [5].
4. Alternative dates and competing accounts
Not all reporting pins the ban to a single year: some sources and later retellings cite 2004 or even 2007 as the moment Trump severed ties, and earlier books and articles have attributed the split to different triggers such as Epstein allegedly hitting on another member’s teenage daughter or a business rivalry over a Palm Beach property—showing that public narratives have shifted and that exact dating varies by source [6] [7] [2].
5. Statements from Trump’s camp and official pushback
The White House and Trump allies have pushed back on how the story is portrayed: a number of spokespeople framed the reports as smears or reiterated Trump’s version that he kicked Epstein out for being a “creep” and for poaching staff, with press office responses described in contemporaneous coverage [2] [8]. Fact‑checking outlets note some ambiguity in records when pressed for precise dates [8] [5].
6. Limits of the public record and what remains unverified
Reporting rests largely on the Journal’s interviews with former employees and contemporaneous internal records referenced by journalists; there is no widely published contemporaneous police report or a single public Mar‑a‑Lago memo that incontrovertibly timestamps the ban, and different reputable outlets recount slightly different timelines, so the conclusion that the ban first occurred around 2003 is the best synthesis of available reporting rather than an incontrovertible legal finding [1] [2] [4].
7. Bottom line
The clearest and most widely cited account says Trump banned Epstein from Mar‑a‑Lago after a 2003 complaint from an 18‑year‑old spa worker who alleged sexual pressure during a house call, prompting Mar‑a‑Lago management to urge a ban and Trump to order Epstein “kicked out,” though alternate accounts place the severing of ties in nearby years and the public record lacks a single definitive timestamp [1] [3] [2].