Screenshot via Bettina Trump/Instagram
Audio By Carbonatix
At a splashy Bahamas wedding this past weekend, Donald Trump Jr. exchanged vows with Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, formally intertwining two of South Florida’s most recognizable elite families.
Anderson, who now goes by Bettina Trump, took to Instagram to document the gilded nuptials, which President Donald Trump infamously missed.
‘“Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is LOVE.’ 1 Corinthians 13:13,” she wrote alongside a video documenting the special day. “So deeply grateful to Yaz, Audrey, and Amy for creating such a beautiful day and making me feel so very loved.”
But as photos and videos from the ceremony and reception flooded Instagram, online sleuths and political commentators fixated on something else entirely: Bettina’s late father, Palm Beach banker Harry Loy Anderson Jr., and his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Anderson, who died in 2013, was a prominent Palm Beach banker who became one of the youngest bank presidents in the country and later led Palm Beach National Bank & Trust Company. According to resurfaced records and viral posts circulating this week, Anderson allegedly wrote a character reference for Epstein in the late 1990s while Epstein was seeking tax incentives tied to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he would later base operations around his private island, Little St. James.
The letter, referenced in a December 2025 New York Times Magazine story, reportedly described Epstein as “a gentleman of the highest integrity” and said he enjoyed “an excellent reputation in our community.”
“Well, there’s another reason Donald Trump wouldn’t go to Junior’s wedding,” one commenter wrote on the post. “He doesn’t want to be seen in public with yet another Epstein conspirator.”
Donald Trump, Jr. did not return a request for comment via Instagram. The White House also failed to return a request for comment via its press inquiry page by the time of this reporting.
The renewed scrutiny arrives as Epstein’s web of South Florida connections continues to reverberate years after his 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell. Palm Beach, in particular, remains central to that story: Epstein owned his infamous mansion there, socialized at Mar-a-Lago, and moved through the same ultra-wealthy circles that overlapped with financiers, developers, politicians, and philanthropists.
Anderson’s name appears in the United States Department of Justice’s Epstein library at least eleven times throughout hundreds of pages, including bank records and someone sending Epstein an obituary referring to the “youngest bank president,” who led the Worth Avenue National Bank at 26, as “Happy Harry Loy.”
None of the resurfaced material suggests that Anderson was accused of criminal wrongdoing. But the connection has fueled backlash online, underscoring how deeply Epstein embedded himself within Palm Beach’s power structure long before his criminal cases became a national scandal.
Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to distance himself from Epstein publicly, despite their well-documented Palm Beach friendship and overlapping social circles in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, in November 2025. “This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats. Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.’ Stay tuned!!!”
Melania, for her part, has also attempted to move beyond associations with Epstein. “The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she said in an impromptu April address to the nation. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect,” she continued, going on to deliver a meandering account downplaying her connection to the convicted sex offender.
But now, another Epstein-linked Palm Beach connection has entered the Trump family orbit — this time through marriage.
