They are/were both financiers. Lots of people will have met with Epstein. Probably a good proportion of people he entertained on his island never were involved in his sexual endeavors. While I'm not a Thiel fan in any way, just meeting a dude seems like thin gruel, a way to say "seems suspicious" without any reason for suspicion at this point. It's not like Thiel and Epstein were fishing in the same pond.

Maybe the story really is that Epstein met with Thiel.