Alleged connections to intelligence agencies of Jeffrey Epstein

The financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been rumored to have connections to the intelligence agencies of Israel (Mossad), Russia (Intelligence agencies of Russia), and the United States (Central Intelligence Agency).

Epstein was rumored in 2021 by Vicky Ward in Rolling Stone to be associated with intelligence agencies, and bragged to a journalist that he knew the owner of the African port of Djibouti so well that he could use it for contraband.[1]

As U.S. attorney in Florida, the later U.S. secretary of labor Alexander Acosta reached a settlement with Epstein's lawyers in 2008, which allowed him to receive a light prison sentence. Acosta later reportedly stated that he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and that the issue was above his "pay grade". According to Acosta, he was pushed to give him a good deal.[2] Former CIA director and diplomat William J. Burns met with Epstein three times. According to a CIA spokesperson, Burns hoped that Epstein would help him "transition to the private sector".[3][4]

Ghislaine Maxwell told Todd Blanche in his July 2025 prison interview of her, that tales of Epstein's involvement with intelligence agencies during her relationship with him are "bullshit".[5] Previously Maxwell maintained that Epstein's planes were "wire-tapped" for "leverage" and in conversation with Christina Oxenberg she speculated that the audio and video recordings could potentially incriminate co-conspirators and high-profile figures who were associates of Epstein.[6]

Israel

Journalists Dylan Howard, Melissa Cronin and James Robertson linked Epstein to the Israeli Mossad in their book Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales. They relied for the most part on the former Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe.[7] According to him, Epstein's activities as a spy served to gather compromising material on powerful people in order to blackmail them.[8] Epstein's victim Virginia Giuffre alleged Epstein to be an intelligence asset, linking on Twitter to a Reddit page, that alleged Epstein was a Mossad/CIA spy running a blackmail and honey pot ring to entrap elite oligarchs.[9] Several debaters argue that it is unlikely that he worked for Mossad.[10][11]

According to emails that came to light in November 2025, an Israeli intelligence officer stayed at Epstein's apartment in Manhattan several times between 2013 and 2016. In 2016, the Israeli government installed security equipment to a Manhattan building owned by his brother and managed by Epstein, for use by his associates and underage models; former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak frequented the building for extended stays.[12] The emails also showed that Epstein was involved in the negotiation of security agreements between Israel and Mongolia and between Israel and the Ivory Coast. Epstein also attempted to establish a backchannel between the Russian and Israeli governments during the Syrian civil war.[13][14]

Ehud Barak

The Israeli government installed and operated a security system at an apartment managed by Epstein and used frequently by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The installation was coordinated by Lesley Groff, who wrote that Epstein had approved of the system.[15] According to Barak, they first met in 2003,[16] and no evidence of an earlier meeting has been published to date. Barak stayed at Epstein’s apartments in New York several times over the years.[16]

In 2015, Barak invested in Reporty, a tech startup that developed video streaming and geolocation software and later changed its name to Carbyne. A large portion of the funds invested by Barak was supplied by Epstein.[17] For Epstein's 63rd birthday in 2016 a number of letters written for the occasion by high profile individuals were compiled as a birthday gift;[18] among these were a letter from Barak and his wife.[19] In 2023, it was revealed that Barak had visited Epstein around 30 times from 2013 to 2017 and had also flown on his jet. Barak denied any wrongdoing.[20][21][22] Barak stated that on the two occasions he flew with Epstein on private planes, Barak's wife and security guards were with him.[20] Leaked emails (released by the hacker group Handala, which "likely operates out of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence", according to Reuters[23]) show that in one occasion when Barak visited Epstein's private island Little Saint James (in January 2014), Barak was "arranging that the security guys will not come with us to the island," but his wife Nili Priel did accompany him.

Other emails released by Handala show that Epstein leveraged his relationship with Barak to approach powerful figures like Peter Thiel, a former director of Israeli signals intelligence, and two people in Vladimir Putin's circle (former Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Sergey Belyakov and Viktor Vekselberg). Epstein arranged for Barak to meet Thiel (they had met once, in Davos), presumably to discuss geopolitics, in New York on 9 June 2014. In 2016, Epstein pitched Reporty to Thiel-founded Valar Ventures (in 2015 and 2016, Epstein invested US$40 million into funds managed by Valar), but the proposal got rejected on account of being premature. Valar's McCormack said they would try to reengage when the startup was more developed though. In 2018, the Founders Fund, another firm co-founded by Thiel, joined the $15 million Series B.[24]

While scheduling the meeting with Thiel, Barak also tried to arrange to meet Putin's ally Viktor Vekselberg early in June 2014.[24] An email sent in April 2015 shows that Barak asked Epstein for his opinion on Vekselberg-backed Fifth Dimension, a startup which later shut down after being sanctioned in 2018 by the US for alleged election meddling.[24] This startup's leadership also included Benny Gantz (former Israel Defense Forces' chief-of-staff) and Ram Ben-Barak (former deputy Mossad director).

In a 2013 email chain where Barak told Epstein that Larry Summers withdrew from the Federal Reserve chair race, Epstein scheduled Barak to meet with Ariane de Rothschild and some "kissinger china guy".[25] According to The San Francisco Standard, leaked emails show that, around the same time Barak and Epstein contacted Thiel, other Israeli officials tried to build a relationship with Thiel as well, "jockeying for Thiel's attention", often aiming at a "lucrative" job at Palantir. Among such officials were the diplomat Ron Prosor and intelligence officer Zivan Benisty, although their effort was separate from that of Barak.[26]

Russia

In 2026, Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk announced that he would like to see an investigation into the "likely" links between Epstein and Russian authorities.[27][28] Epstein bragged repeatedly about advising "foreign leaders who included Vladimir Putin, Mohammed bin Zayed, Mohammed Bin Salman, various African dictators, Israel, the British — and, of course, the Americans" in the final decade of his life.[1] In 2020, reportedly his Belarusian "girlfriend" had yet to be investigated by Bill Barr's FBI.[29]

John Mark Dougan was the deputy sheriff of Palm Beach County (where Epstein was first arrested) until his dismissal in 2009. He was then recruited by Russian intelligence and worked as a disseminator of disinformation on behalf of the Russian government.[30][31] According to British media reports, Dougan may have come into possession of some of Epstein's kompromat, which he allegedly copied and handed over to Russia. Other intelligence agencies may also have obtained the material.[32]

United States

According to a 2025 report by Drop Site News, Les Wexner and Epstein were involved in relocating Southern Air Transport (a CIA front organization with ties to the Iran-Contra affair and alleged CIA drug smuggling) from Miami to Columbus in the 1990s. Southern Air transported goods related to Wexner's businesses, but in 1996, Customs agents found a hidden shipment of cocaine on one of the planes. Southern Air was shut down in 1998 after Wexner had received federal aid for the relocation of the airline, just weeks before the CIA Inspector General released its official findings on Contra cocaine trafficking allegations. In the 1980s, Epstein himself had close ties to key figures in the Iran-Contra affair, such as Stanley Pottinger and Adnan Khashoggi.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b Ward, Vicky (July 15, 2021). "Was Jeffrey Epstein a Spy?". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 27, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  2. ^ Goodkind, Nicole (July 10, 2019). "'No Regrets is a Very Hard Question': Alex Acosta Defends Epstein Plea Deal". Newsweek. Archived from the original on January 7, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  3. ^ Helmore, Edward (May 7, 2023). "'He used people': Jeffrey Epstein scandal rolls on as new names emerge". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  4. ^ Draper, Robert (May 9, 2023). "William Burns, a C.I.A. Spymaster With Unusual Powers". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  5. ^ "INTERVIEW OF: GHISLAINE MAXWELL" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2025. Retrieved August 25, 2025.
  6. ^ Ensor, Josie (July 11, 2020). "Female 'recruiters, groomers and friends' accused of supplying Epstein with girls". The Telegraph.
  7. ^ "The disturbing reason Jeffrey Epstein's homes had a camera in every room". 7NEWS. December 9, 2019. Archived from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  8. ^ McKay, Hollie (June 17, 2020). "Jeffrey Epstein's alleged 'spy' ties under fresh scrutiny in new book". Fox News. Archived from the original on January 7, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  9. ^ Royston, Jack (October 5, 2023). "Prince Andrew's accuser shares Jeffrey Epstein spy theory". Newsweek. Chief Royal Correspondent. Archived from the original on January 7, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  10. ^ "Prince Andrew's accuser shares Jeffrey Epstein spy theory". Newsweek. Archived from the original on December 27, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
  11. ^ Simons, Jake Wallis (February 7, 2026). "One thing we know: Epstein was no Mossad agent". Telegraph. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  12. ^ "Israel installed security at Epstein's Manhattan apartment for ex-PM Barak". Al Jazeera. February 19, 2026. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  13. ^ Grim, Ryan; Hussain, Murtaza (November 11, 2025). "Israeli Spy Stayed for Weeks at a Time at Jeffrey Epstein's Mansion". Drop Site News. Archived from the original on November 30, 2025. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  14. ^ Why the Epstein emails go way beyond Trump. CBC Radio. November 14, 2025.
  15. ^ "Israel installed security at Epstein's Manhattan apartment for ex-PM Barak". Al Jazeera. 19 February 2026. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
  16. ^ a b "What's inside the latest Epstein files released by the Justice Department | CNN Politics". CNN. 2026-01-31. Retrieved 2026-01-31.
  17. ^ "Jeffrey Epstein was Ehud Barak's business partner as late as 2015". The Times of Israel. 11 July 2019. ISSN 0040-7909. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  18. ^ "A Look Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan Lair". The New York Times. 2025-08-05. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
  19. ^ Betts, Anna (5 August 2025). "Epstein scandal broadens as trove of letters from famous figures published". The Guardian.
  20. ^ a b ToI Staff; JTA (4 May 2023). "Ehud Barak met with Jeffrey Epstein dozens of times, flew on private plane — report". The Times of Israel.
  21. ^ Lapin, Andrew (1 May 2023). "Noam Chomsky, Ehud Barak, Leon Botstein and a Rothschild are among the names on Jeffrey Epstein's newly uncovered calendar". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Noam Chomsky, Ehud Barak and Woody Allen all met with Epstein after conviction". The Jewish Chronicle. 2 May 2023.
  23. ^ A.J., Vicens; Satter, Raphael (27 June 2025). "Iran's hackers keep a low profile after Israeli and US strikes". Reuters.
  24. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Reason was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Vazquez, Maegan (November 14, 2025). "Jeffrey Epstein's vast web of powerful friends". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 16, 2025. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
  26. ^ MacColl, Margaux (23 November 2025). "Inside the extended courtship linking Epstein, Peter Thiel, and Israeli officials". The San Francisco Standard.
  27. ^ "Polish PM Donald Tusk announces probe to see if Epstein's "satanic circle" trafficked Polish women or girls - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. February 4, 2026. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  28. ^ Culpepper, Austin; Khurshudyan, Isabelle; Ullah, Zahra (February 8, 2026). "Epstein tried to cozy up to Russian officials, including Putin, documents show". CNN. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  29. ^ "Une "décennie de secrets" : Le mystère Karyna Shuliak, dernière petite amie de Jeffrey Epstein". July 10, 2020.
  30. ^ Poulsen Sr, Kevin (July 12, 2018). "The Saga of 'BadVolf': A Fugitive American Cop, His Russian Allies, and a DNC Hoax". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  31. ^ Myers, Steven Lee (May 29, 2024). "Once a Sheriff's Deputy in Florida, Now a Source of Disinformation From Russia". The New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  32. ^ Davies, Caroline (August 6, 2025). "Key takeaways from explosive claims made in biography of Prince Andrew". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 11, 2025.
  33. ^ Grim, Ryan; Hussain, Murtaza; Berger, Harrison. "Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How the Iran-Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner's Base". Retrieved December 20, 2025.
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