Do the Epstein files show he was working for Russia?

The latest tranche of the Epstein files has raised questions about the disgraced financier’s ties to the world of intelligence, prompting mass online speculation about his links to the US CIA, Israel’s Mossad, and Russia.

Following the release of the documents, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a wide-ranging investigation into child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including a probe into his possible links to Russian intelligence.

While the files offer an insight into Epstein’s contacts with high-level Russian figures — some of which have intelligence ties — and show that he tried to arrange a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, they do not contain any direct evidence that he worked for a foreign government.

However, Epstein’s behaviour and actions, which included setting up video cameras in his home to record people in compromising situations, have raised parallels with the methods employed by Russian intelligence.

This led to mounting theories that he collected material on the rich and powerful to blackmail them, material known as “kompromat” in Russian.

Euronews’ fact-checking team, The Cube, breaks down exactly what the Epstein files reveal about his connections to politicians and officials.

Russia emails: What the files show

The files show that Epstein sought to cultivate ties with influential Russian figures, including Sergei Belyakov, a graduate of Russia’s Academy of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and a former deputy economy minister.

In 2014, Belyakov became chairman of the annual Russian business forum known as the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

According to journalist and author Craig Unger, who has extensively researched the links between Russia and certain US figures, the event can be described as “Russia’s Davos”, in reference to the World Economic Forum.

“It was considered the ‘Super Bowl’ of honey traps,” Unger, who also believes that President Donald Trump is a Russian asset, told The Cube. “A lot of billionaires and world leaders would show up there, and so would a lot of young women who were there to participate in the honey trap. Epstein was tied in with that.”

There is little evidence in the files that Epstein attended the St Petersburg forum when Belyakov was chairman. However, one email from 2015 reportedly shows former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak — who Epstein knew well and who served from 1999 to 2001 — detailing his meetings at the forum, including with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov.

A follow-up email shows Barak thanking Epstein for “setting the whole thing together”.

In one exchange from 2015, Epstein asked Belyakov to collect information on a Russian woman he alleged was trying to blackmail a prominent US businessman.

Belyakov provided Epstein with a description of the woman’s background, detailing her “sex and escort” activities while highlighting her “business problems”, which he speculated could be behind her blackmail attempts.

In another email, which Epstein appears to have sent to himself and in what could be a draft response to the woman, the disgraced financier told her that he had consulted “some friends in the FSB” who said she would be “dealt with extremely harshly” if she continued to threaten US businessmen.

In other instances, Belyakov and Epstein also discussed women, with Epstein suggesting that Belyakov look into hiring “pretty women” as English-speaking editors for his business proposals in 2016.

Epstein also appears to have introduced Belyakov to powerful figures, including US businessmen Peter Thiel and Thomas Pritzker.

Belyakov was not the only high-profile Russian in Epstein’s orbit. Other documents show that Epstein met with Vitaly Churkin, a former Russian diplomat who served as the country’s representative to the United Nations. Epstein also appears to have arranged an internship for Churkin’s son.

It wasn’t just male contacts that he targeted, either, according to Unger.

“You also have to look at the women who worked for Epstein, many of whom were tied to Russia,” he told The Cube. “Maria Bucher [née Drakova], a Russian woman who had been the head of Nashi, Putin’s Youth Movement, worked as a publicist for Epstein when she moved to the US.”

“Vladimir Putin has previously said that whoever runs artificial intelligence will run the world,” Unger added. “Epstein was reaching out to a lot of figures in that world, such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, for whom she was one of the intermediaries.”

Nevertheless, there is no evidence that Bucher was a spy for Russia.

In pursuit of Putin

Alongside his contact with Russian officials, the files largely show that Epstein repeatedly attempted to get in touch with the Russian government and Vladimir Putin, whose name appears in the files more than 1,000 times.

Epstein attempted to contact Putin through a string of different contacts, who included Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland.

In May 2013, Epstein told Ehud Barak that Jagland was “going to see putin in sochi.” [sic]

Epstein said that he had never met Putin but that he had been asked to meet him “to explain how russia can structure deals in order to encourage western investment.”

In a separate email, Jagland told Epstein that he would inform Putin that Epstein was a useful contact.

In 2018, Jagland emailed Epstein about arranging a stay at his Moscow residence, where he planned to meet Putin and Lavrov.

“I’m just sorry I’m not with you to meet the Russians,” said Epstein.

There is no evidence in the documents that suggests that Epstein successfully managed to meet Putin in person.

In response to the mass of allegations, including that Epstein was some sort of Russian asset, the Kremlin stated that it did not want to waste time answering questions on the matter, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating in February, “I would like to joke about such versions, but let’s not waste our time.”

‘Asset, not spy’

Nevertheless, despite a lack of evidence that Epstein was a spy, some say there are grounds to believe that he was indeed a Russian asset.

“I would think he’s an asset, not a spy,” Unger told The Cube. “An agent or spy is employed by an intelligence agency. He or she would receive a regular pay cheque. They could be tasked with specific operations.”

“An intelligence asset is someone who’s a trusted contact, you do favours for them, they do favours for you,” he added. “Epstein had ties to Russian intelligence, he had ties to Israeli intelligence, and he worked with them, but in the end, I think he was serving himself.”

US lawmakers have also weighed in on the speculation with a range of contradicting claims. Some believe that Epstein was a spy, with Republican Congressman Thomas Massie alleging that the reason the Epstein files have not been released in their entirety is due to his ties with US and Israeli intelligence.

Speculation about Epstein’s Mossad ties was fuelled by an FBI memo from 2020 included in the files, which said that a source was convinced Epstein “was a co-opted Mossad agent” who “trained as a spy” for Israeli intelligence.

Epstein’s long-term friendship with Israel’s former Prime Minister Barak, the details of which became clear in the files, also raised questions.

The pair maintained regular contact, while Barak visited the disgraced financier’s Manhattan apartment multiple times and travelled to Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands once. The documents also reveal that Epstein was in touch with Barak’s long-term aide Yoni Koren.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly rejected theories that Epstein worked for the Mossad, instead suggesting that the revelations prove “the opposite” and accusing him of working to “undermine Israeli democracy” to “overthrow the elected Israeli government”.

Netanyahu’s comments were sparked by exchanges in the files, which showed that Barak consulted Epstein during his 2019 campaign for Israel’s parliamentary elections.

Theories about Epstein working for intelligence agencies may have blown up with the release of the files, but they are, in fact, long-standing.

Speculation has been fuelled by suspicious and conflicting reports about his 2008 plea deal, longstanding questions about how he amassed his vast wealth despite his humble origins, as well as his connections with convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, whose father, Robert Maxwell, has been allegedly tied to Israeli intelligence.