John Phelan, a prominent art collector and the current U.S. Secretary of the Navy, flew on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane in 2006, according to newly released flight logs. The trip from London to New York occurred four months before Epstein's first indictment, and a friend of Phelan's confirmed the flight but stated it was his only interaction with the convicted sex offender.
The revelation connects a major figure in the contemporary art collecting world to a notorious criminal, raising questions about associations within elite circles. As a couple featured on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list, the Phelans' significant patronage of institutions like the Aspen Art Museum and their collection of blue-chip contemporary artists places this news squarely within the art world, potentially impacting perceptions of donor relationships and institutional ethics.