Steven Hoffenberg
DERBY — Police believe the body of a man found dead in an apartment in east Derby is Steven Hoffenberg, a former business associate of the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
UPDATE: The Derby Police Department posted a message to Facebook at 11:07 a.m. Friday, Aug. 26 saying the state medical examiner’s office positively identified Hoffenberg.
Original story from Thursday, Aug. 25 follows:
Hoffenberg, 77, knew Epstein for about a decade, having worked together some 30 years ago.
The body was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 23 after police said they received a request for a welfare check at 8:08 p.m. The medical examiner’s office removed the body from the scene, police said.
A welfare check is when someone calls police asking them to check on a person’s wellbeing.
As of 2:56 p.m. Thursday (Aug. 25), Derby police were still waiting for the medical examiner’s office to provide an official identification of the body, a process hampered due to decomposition.
“We cannot positively state that it was Mr. Hoffenberg who was deceased because the medical examiner is unable to make a positive identification at this time due to the state of decomposition of the body,” Derby Police Lt. Justin Stanko told The Valley Indy at 10 a.m. Thursday.
An autopsy has been performed, but the medical examiner is awaiting the results of toxicology tests and a dental records check, police said.
Stanko said items found at the scene, including a driver’s license, a vehicle registration, along with interviews, bolster the belief the body is Hoffenberg — but police are awaiting official word from the medical examiner before declaring it so.
“Every piece of evidence and information points to the fact is Mr. Hoffenberg,” he said.
A medical examiner usually issues a cause and manner of death. The manner of death helps to inform police how to proceed. Stanko said, absent of any new information, it appears Hoffenberg died of natural causes. He said there were no signs of foul play.
Members of Hoffenberg’s family have been notified, police said.
As soon as the medical examiner issues an identification, Stanko said the information will be posted to the Derby Police Department’s Facebook page.
A status posted to the Derby Police Department Facebook page at 2:05 p.m. on Thursday.
Hoffenberg had lived in the Naugatuck Valley since at least 2019.
He served 18 years in federal prison for running a Ponzi scheme connected to a company where he operated where Epstein was a consultant, according to The Washington Post.
Hoffenberg said Epstein was the scheme’s mastermind.
Epstein was not charged in connection to the scheme, which bilked millions from investors.
Hoffenberg was well known in the late 1980s and early 1990s New York City media world and, in the early 1990s, briefly owned The New York Post, the venerable New York City tabloid.
In recent years Hoffenberg participated in a number of documentaries and news stories speaking against Epstein, a notorious predator who rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful despite being a sex offender.
Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls, but was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 before he could answer to the charges. Authorities said he killed himself.
In June, Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to rape minors.
Maria Farmer is credited as the first person abused by Epstein’s crimes to speak out. Her initial story fell on deaf ears, allowing the well-connected Epstein to continue his crimes.
She became close with Hoffenberg in recent years, as Hoffenberg started to work with people looking to file lawsuits to recoup money lost in the Ponzi scheme in the 1980s and 1990s.
Like Hoffenberg, Farmer believed Epstein made money off the Ponzi scheme but was not charged.
Farmer said she spoke to Hoffenberg every day.
“He was one of my closest friends for many years. He was like my dad. He was my father,” she said.
Farmer is an artist. She said she was working on a children’s book with Hoffenberg. He helped her when she was diagnosed with cancer.
“This man had a heart of gold. He asked for nothing but he was always giving to everyone,” Farmer said. “It didn’t matter what religion someone was or what ethnicity, he didn’t care. He was just very Christ-like in his way.“
Farmer said Hoffenberg was living on social security payments and had recently tested positive for COVID-19. He lived simply in Derby, she said.
“He would wake up, do prayer. He was living like a monk. He would go on a walk, and then go to a diner to have breakfast. He’d come home and work on the case (referring to legal action against Epstein’s estate),” she said.
Farmer blamed Hoffenberg’s journey from Manhattan power broker to a Derby apartment tenant on the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Hoffenberg for his financial crimes.
“I just want people to know the good things because the Southern District of New York is a very unethical abusive mob. They convicted Steven when Jeffrey Epstein was the person to blame. He skated,” she said.
On the day of his sentencing for the Ponzi scheme in 1997, a prosecutor called Hoffenberg arrogant and the judge “pounced” on Hoffenberg for not taking responsibility for his crime, according to a report from The New York Times.
Farmer, who does not live in Connecticut, said she became worried after being unable to reach Hoffenberg by cell phone. She said she called the Derby Police Department twice on Saturday, Aug. 20, asking police to check on Hoffenberg. She said that the police were rude and unwilling to help.
“I couldn’t get the Derby police to go get his body. They would not cooperate and they made fun of me,” she said.
Farmer made her statement in a telephone interview with The Valley Indy Wednesday morning, after she was told her a body has been discovered. Derby police denied Farmer’s characterization. The Valley Indy asked police through email on Thursday to be provided with a recording of the call.
A friend who works as a private investigator said he called Derby police on Farmer’s behalf and requested a welfare check on Saturday but police said Hoffenberg did not live at the address provided. He said he called with two new addresses on Monday but did not hear back from police. He said he called against Tuesday and again provided an address — 201 Mt. Pleasant St. — which police ran down and discovered the body after looking into a window.
Stanko, the Derby Police Department’s operations commander, said the accounts from Farmer and her friend are not accurate.
He said police received two calls asking them to check on Hoffenberg.
The first call was Saturday, from Farmer, Stanko said. Officers responded to the address given. People at the address said Hoffenberg had not lived there in two years. Stanko said the officer interviewed a landlord who did not have a forwarding address for Hoffenberg.
Police said they received a second call on Tuesday evening and received an address where the body was discovered.
“We had two calls — one on Saturday at 7:24 p.m. that didn’t line up, and we had one on Tuesday at 8:08 p.m.,” Stanko said.
The Valley Indy reached out to the medical examiner’s office on Wednesday asking for Hoffenberg’s manner and cause of death. A person in the office said there was no one there with that name, even though police had told The Valley Indy an autopsy had been scheduled. However, the medical examiner’s answer makes sense if they had yet to positively identify Hoffenberg. The office will only release cause and manner of death to the press after they have made a positive identification.
