Miami Store Sold Epstein Sweatshirt for $11K. Who the Hell Bought It?

Despite the social media rumors, fashion designer Ian Connor did not buy late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's sweatshirt.

As the Trump administration and Capitol Hill continue to grapple with the ongoing Epstein saga and calls to release the Epstein files, a 30-year-old Miami man sold Epstein's monogrammed navy quarter-zip sweatshirt for $11,000. It is the same sweatshirt that Epstein was photographed wearing at a magazine launch party in New York City in 2002.

Mar, the owner of the Restricted showroom in Midtown, tells New Times that he didn't recognize the sweatshirt when his client first offered it, nor did he know it belonged to Epstein. (Mar requested that he be identified solely by his first name in this story.)

"I don't know how he got it. I don't really ask. You know, what's funny, like, as curious as I was, I normally don't even ask people how they get things. Some things are just better not to know," Mar tells New Times. "It was unbelievable."

His client, who did not wish to be identified, brought the sweatshirt to the showroom for authentication. Mar's authentication process included one-to-one comparisons of the sweatshirt to the photographs of Epstein wearing it and close examinations of the sweater's zipper and stitching. He says the sweatshirt was in good condition, with no stains or noticeable smells. However, he did notice an "old man" stench.

Mar bought the sweater for $5,000. "It was like, older and faded," Mar tells New Times. "And then I feel like nobody would just, like, replicate that out of nowhere, you know, it was pretty random. The kid was from West Palm, and I did research, and I saw that [Epstein] used to live in that area. So I just put two and two together. He also showed me, like, some mail he had, and medicine prescription bottles. It was a bunch of crazy stuff."

The next day, he officially listed it for sale on his Instagram. Given the bad juju, he wanted it out of his store as quickly as possible, Mar says.

"1of1 worn JEFFREY EPSTEIN quarter zip museum piece fr...straight from Mar A Lago," @restricted.lifestyle posted on Instagram. "This piece is very controversial and iconic. 100 percent authentic size M."

The DMs and phone calls started rolling in. Mar says he received more than 5,000 DMs on Instagram. One person, whom he wished not to identify but described as "a known person on the internet," was desperate for the item.

"They had a bunch of people hit me up," he says. "They were really trying to get in touch with me because I wasn't really checking my DMs, and they had like six or seven people reach out, and he was serious like, $100,000 offer."

Despite a significantly lower offer, Mar sold the sweatshirt to a loyal client, who he says is also famous, for $11,000. He adds that this is the first time he has sold a controversial item like this. He typically sticks to selling Hermes, Chrome Hearts, Chanel, and other high-end vintage items at his curated shop.

"I wanted to treat my platform almost like a Sotheby's or like a Christie's, so it was more in a sense, if they would have gotten it, they would have sold it, and I would have been at home watching it sell," he shares. "It's more like being a store owner. At the end of the day, business is business. Like I said, I don't support him or anything he has going on. It was more like an opportunity to grow. It's not like I'm keeping the item and have it framed in my store."