When disgraced crypto kingpin Sam Bankman-Fried left court last December, free on $250 million bail, he was escorted to his vehicle by a boulder of a man in a tailored suit, thinning hair slicked back above an impeccably groomed mustache. In the months since, the rock has been practically glued to the former tech wunderkind, showing up in picture after picture escorting Bankman-Fried to and from his many court appearances.
He may be built like a linebacker, but he’s a far cry from a bodyguard. A former N.Y.P.D. detective, Jimmy Harkins, 59, is a legendary private investigator who’s pounded pavement and turned up dirt in some of the most notorious cases in New York criminal history, helping defend Epstein crony Ghislaine Maxwell, mobster John Gotti Jr., and taking on other infamous clients, such as O. J. Simpson. Now the old-school bruiser is working for a guy whose only weapon is a V.P.N. key.
