Mega Group

The Mega Group was co-founded in 1991 by Charles Bronfman (Seagram's) and Leslie Wexner (Limited Brands) as an informal network of up to 50 Jewish-American billionaires, originally called the 'Study Group.' The initiative emerged from the Bronfman family's philanthropic vision of creating a coordinated Jewish billionaire network that could pool capital and influence to advance pro-Israel and Jewish community objectives. Members have included Steven Spielberg, Michael Steinhardt, Laurence Tisch, Ronald Lauder, Abramson, Max Fisher, Lester Crown, and Meyerhoff. The group funded major initiatives including Birthright Israel, the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE), and Hillel International.

The Mega Group functions as a coordinating body for the Jewish billionaire network, aligning philanthropic capital deployment and political influence operations across its member base. It serves as the apex social and financial coordination mechanism, linking sovereign capital to political influence through coordinated grant-making and personnel placement. The group connects to the Jeffrey Epstein enterprise through Leslie Wexner, who was Epstein's only confirmed client and provided him with his New York mansion. The Mega Group's funding of Birthright Israel creates a personnel pipeline that feeds into the Shabtai Society and other academic grooming nodes.