A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
By the time Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, he had established an enormous network of wealthy and influential friends. Emails made public this week show the crime did little to diminish the desire of that network to stay connected to the financier.
Thousands of documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday offer a new glimpse into what Epstein’s relationships with business executives, reporters, academics and political players looked like over a decade.
They start with messages he sent and received around the time he finished serving his Florida sentence in 2009 and continue until the months before his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019.
Jeffrey Epstein in March, 2017.New York State Sex Offender Registry/via The Associated Press
During that time, Epstein’s network was eclectic, spanning the globe and political affiliations: from the liberal academic Noam Chomsky to Steve Bannon, the long-time ally of President Donald Trump.
Some reached out to support Epstein amid lawsuits and prosecutions, others sought introductions or advice on everything from dating to oil prices. One consulted him on how to respond to accusations of sexual harassment.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in 2019, and killed himself in jail a month later. Epstein’s crimes, high-profile connections and jailhouse suicide have made the case a magnet for conspiracy theorists and online sleuths seeking proof of a cover-up.
The e-mails do not implicate his contacts in those alleged crimes. They instead paint a picture of Epstein’s influence and connections over the years he was a registered sex offender.
Statues representing President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, a work of protest art by free speech advocates, stand on the National Mall near the Capitol in Washington in September.J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press
Epstein kept a diverse political network
Epstein e-mailed current and former political figures on all sides, sending news clips and discussing strategy or gossip often in short, choppy e-mails laden with spelling and grammatical errors.
In several e-mails in 2018, Epstein advised Bannon on his political tour of Europe that year after Bannon forwarded Epstein a news clip that the German media underestimated Bannon and that he was “As Dangerous as Ever.”
“luv it,” Epstein responded.
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Epstein wrote that he’d just spoken to “one of the country leaders that we discussed” and that “we should lay out a strategy plan. . how much fun.”
Several months later, Epstein sent some advice: “If you are going to play here , you’ll have to spend time, europe by remote doesn’t work.”
“its doable but time consuming,” Epstein continued in a follow-up e-mail, “there are many leaders of countries we can organize for you to have one on ones.”
Just a few months earlier, Epstein was insulting Trump – whose movement Bannon was a representative of – in e-mails to Kathryn Ruemmler, the former White House counsel under President Barack Obama.
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Ruemmler sent a message to Epstein calling Trump “so gross.” A portion of that message was redacted, but Epstein replied, “worse in real life and upclose.”
In other e-mails with Ruemmler, Epstein detailed a whirlwind of well-known people he appears to have been meeting, hosting or speaking with that week, including an ambassador, tech giant, foreign business people, academics and a film director.
“you are a welcome guest at any,” he wrote.
Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, where Ruemmler now works, declined to comment.
Epstein’s crimes, high-profile connections and jailhouse suicide have made the case a magnet for conspiracy theorists and online sleuths seeking proof of a cover-up.John Minchillo/The Associated Press
Epstein’s wealthy social circles
The financier e-mailed often with people in the upper echelons of wealth around the world, brokering introductions and chatting about politics and foreign affairs.
That included Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel, who Epstein sent an e-mail to in 2014 saying “that was fun , see you in 3 weeks.”
Four years later, Epstein asked if Thiel was enjoying Los Angeles, and, after Thiel said he couldn’t complain, replied “Dec visit me Caribbean.” It’s unclear if Thiel ever responded.
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In e-mails with Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, an Emirati businessman, Epstein complimented Bannon, saying in 2018 that “We have become friends you will like him.”
“Trump doesn’t like him,” responded Sulayem.
A year earlier, Sulayem asked Epstein about an event where it appeared Trump would be in attendance, asking, “Do you think it will be possible to shake hand with trump.”
“Call to discuss,” Epstein wrote back.
In January, 2010, biotech venture capitalist Boris Nikolic was attending the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Epstein e-mailed to ask, “any fun?”
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Nikolic replied that he had met “your friend” Bill Clinton, as well as then-French President Nicholas Sarkozy and “your other friend,” Prince Andrew, “as he has some questions re microsoft.”
But then Nikolic said he was getting sick of meetings. Later, he wrote Epstein that “it would be blast that you are here.” He mentioned flirting with a 22-year-old woman.
“It turns out she is with her husand. Did not have chance to check him out. But as we concluded, anything good is rented ;)” Nikolic wrote.
A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Epstein kept in touch with academics
The theoretical physicist and cosmologist Laurence Krauss was among them. In 2017, Krauss reached out to Epstein via e-mail for advice on responding to a reporter writing a story about allegations of sexual harassment against him.
“Is this a reasonable response? Should i even respond? Could use advice,” Krauss asked Epstein.
In an explicit exchange, Epstein asked Krauss if he’d had sex with the person in question and then suggested he should not reply to the journalist.
“No. We didn’t have sex. Decided it wasn’t a good idea,” replied Krauss.
Krauss said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he never hid the fact that he knew Epstein, and interacted with him several times.
“I sought out advice from essentially everyone I knew when false allegations about me were circulated in the press in 2018,” said Krauss. “I was as shocked as the rest of the world when he was arrested” in 2019.
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In an August, 2015 e-mail exchange, Epstein told Chomsky, the famed linguist and social scientist, to only fly to Greece if he feels well, joking he previously had to send a plane for another “lefty friend” to see a doctor in New York.
In the same exchange, which dipped into academic arguments about warning signs on currency collapses, behavioural science models and Big Data, Epstein offered his residences for Chomsky’s use.
“you are of course welcome to use apt in new york with your new leisure time, or visit new Mexico again,” Epstein wrote.
The e-mails also show that Epstein kept up a friendly relationship with Larry Summers, who was the treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and former Harvard University president, and bantered about the 2016 presidential race and Trump.
Other e-mails showed a closer relationship. In 2019, Summers was discussing interactions he had with a woman, writing to Epstein that “I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are.”
Epstein replied, “you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring. , no whining showed strentgh.”
Summers issued a statement saying he has “great regrets in my life.”
“As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement,” the statement said.
Chomsky, Thiel, Bannon and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem did not immediately respond to requests for comment, which were sent through e-mail addresses available on their own or their organization’s websites.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Jeffrey Epstein was not a billionaire.