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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- AdrianaRoss
- JeffreyEpstein
- NonProsecutionAgreement
- Immunity
- PrinceAndrew
- Poland
alias:
- Adriana Mucinska
summary: "Polish former model employed at Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach house from 2002, named and immunized as a potential co-conspirator in his 2007 non-prosecution agreement, who invoked the Fifth Amendment when questioned about Prince Andrew."
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "household employee, Palm Beach"
start: 2002
fn: 2
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]]"
role: "named potential co-conspirator, immunized"
start: 2007-09-24
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Adriana Ross, born Adriana Mucinska, is a Polish former model who moved to [[Florida]] in 2002 and was hired to work at [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s house in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]]. She is one of the four women named in the co-conspirator clause of Epstein's September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]], under which the [[United States]] agreed that it "will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to [[Sarah Kellen]], Adriana Ross, [[Lesley Groff]], or [[Nadia Marcinkova]]." She has never been charged.[^1][^2]
### Palm Beach and the Deposition
Ross appears in the flight logs of Epstein's aircraft. When she was questioned under oath in 2010, she repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, including in response to questions about whether [[Prince Andrew]] had been involved in the abuse. Andrew has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct connected to Epstein.[^2]
### The Immunity Clause
The clause bearing her name was agreed in September 2007 by the Southern District of Florida under U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta|R. Alexander Acosta]] in exchange for Epstein's guilty pleas to two Florida state charges and an agreed eighteen-month sentence. In 2024 the [[Second Circuit]], rejecting [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'s argument that the clause barred her own prosecution, held under United States v. Annabi (1985) that it bound only the Florida office. No federal district has charged Ross. The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] found in November 2020 that Acosta had "agreed to several unusual and problematic terms in the NPA without the consideration required under the circumstances," and that his decision to resolve the case through the agreement "constitutes poor judgment," but found no professional misconduct.[^1][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 5-6, 9-12 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices: Where Are Sarah Kellen, Nadia Marcinkova, Adriana Ross and Lesley Groff?," *The Daily Beast.* https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-accomplices-where-are-sarah-kellen-nadia-marcinkova-adriana-ross-and-lesley-groff/
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Executive Summary of Report: Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20260623200353id_/https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- AlfredoRodriguez
- JeffreyEpstein
- BlackBook
- Obstruction
- PalmBeach
- FBI
alias:
- Alfredo Rodriguez
summary: "Former house manager at Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach residence who withheld a copy of Epstein's contact book, offered it to an undercover FBI agent in 2009, and served eighteen months for obstruction."
location: "Palm Beach County, Florida"
relations:
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009-10-29
end: 2009-12-08
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]"
reverse: true
start: 2009-12-01
end: 2010-06-21
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Alfredo Rodriguez was a former house manager at [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s residence in [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] who kept a copy of Epstein's contact directory, the "little black book," withheld it from investigators and from the civil lawyers suing Epstein, and in late 2009 offered it to a man who was in fact an undercover agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. He pleaded guilty in March 2010 to obstruction of an official proceeding under 18 U.S.C. section 1512(c) and was sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison.[^1]
### The Sting
According to the criminal complaint, a cooperating witness told the FBI of Rodriguez's material, and the "associate" to whom the witness referred Rodriguez was an undercover employee of the Bureau. On October 29, 2009, the undercover agent contacted Rodriguez by telephone. Rodriguez said he had not given the information to "any law enforcement agency or any of the civil attorneys," and described it as "the Holy Grail or Golden Nugget." The charged conduct ran from as early as January 18, 2007, while the federal grand jury investigation of Epstein by the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] was open, through on or about November 3, 2009, in Palm Beach County.[^1]
### Prosecution
The complaint was filed on December 1, 2009 before Magistrate Judge Linnea R. Johnson, sworn by an FBI special agent assigned to a Safe Streets Task Force, and bears the name of Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana]], the line prosecutor on the Epstein investigation who had worked on the September 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]]. Rodriguez was arrested on December 8, 2009 and released the next day on a personal surety bond of 50,000 dollars. He waived indictment on February 1, 2010, and the case (No. 9:10-cr-80015) was assigned to Judge [[Kenneth Marra|Kenneth A. Marra]], who also presided over the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] litigation in [[Doe v. United States]] and over [[Virginia Giuffre|Virginia Roberts]]' 2009 suit against Epstein.[^1][^2]
On March 18, 2010 Rodriguez signed a plea agreement and factual proffer admitting that he had "corruptly obstructed and impeded" an official proceeding, a federal grand jury, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1512(c), an offense carrying a maximum of twenty years. On June 21, 2010 Marra entered judgment on the single count: eighteen months in the custody of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons|Bureau of Prisons]], two years of supervised release, and a special assessment of 100 dollars.[^1]
Epstein himself had received an agreed eighteen-month state sentence under the 2007 agreement, served largely on work release.[^3]
### The Directory at the Maxwell Trial
A copy of the same contact book was admitted as Government Exhibit 52 at the 2021 trial of [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] in the Southern District of New York, over defense objections, after its authentication by another former Palm Beach house manager, [[Juan Alessi]], on December 8, 2021.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Rodriguez, No. 9:10-cr-80015-KAM (S.D. Fla.), Criminal Complaint, ECF No. 3 (filed Dec. 1, 2009, magistrate No. 9:09-mj-08308-LRJ); bond, ECF No. 7 (Dec. 9, 2009); Waiver of Indictment, ECF No. 16 (Feb. 1, 2010); Plea Agreement and Factual Proffer Statement, ECF No. 25 (March 18, 2010); Judgment, ECF No. 31 (June 21, 2010). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/15913423/united-states-v-rodriguez/ ; plea agreement https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.351134/gov.uscourts.flsd.351134.25.0_2.pdf
[^2]: Settlement Agreement and General Release, Jane Doe No. 102 v. Jeffrey Epstein, No. 09-80656-CIV-Marra/Johnson (S.D. Fla.), filed in Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, No. 1:21-cv-06702 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 32-1. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713/gov.uscourts.nysd.564713.32.1.pdf
[^3]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 5-6 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf ; Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025), para. 15. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf
[^4]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 1:20-cr-00330 (S.D.N.Y.), Memorandum Opinion and Order, ECF No. 535 (Dec. 9, 2021). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/

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---
category: "Technologists"
tags:
- Person
- BorisNikolic
- BillGates
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
- Biotechnology
- VentureCapital
alias:
- Boris Nikolić
- Boris Nikolic, M.D.
- Dr. Boris Nikolic
summary: "Croatian-trained immunologist and biotech investor, Bill Gates's science adviser from 2009 to 2014, who linked Gates to Jeffrey Epstein and was named backup executor in Epstein's final will."
location: "Seattle, Washington"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Biomatics Capital]]"
role: "managing partner"
start: 2014-04
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[bng0 LLC]]"
role: "managing partner and managing director"
start: 2015-02
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[Editas Medicine]]"
role: "board member"
start: 2015-08
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Boris Nikolic is a Croatian-trained physician and immunologist who was an assistant professor at [[Harvard Medical School]] from 2002 to 2010, chief advisor for science and technology to [[Bill Gates]] at Gates's private office, bgC3, from April 2009 to April 2014, and since then a venture investor in life-sciences companies through Biomatics Capital and bng0, LLC. Through Nikolic, [[Jeffrey Epstein]] reached Gates after his 2008 conviction; Epstein copied him on his 2011 proposals to [[JPMorgan Chase]] for a large charitable fund, JPMorgan's internal review listed him among Epstein's referrals to the bank, and Epstein's will of August 8, 2019 named him backup executor, a role Nikolic said he had never been consulted about and would not accept.[^1][^2][^3]
### Harvard, Gates and Biomatics
According to the proxy statements of [[Editas Medicine]], whose board he joined in August 2015, Nikolic earned his medical degree at Zagreb Medical School in Croatia, was an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School from 2002 to 2010, served "as Chief Advisor for Science and Technology to Bill Gates at bgC3, a think tank" from April 2009 to April 2014, has been managing partner of the investment fund Biomatics Capital since April 2014 and managing partner of bng0, LLC since February 2015. He served on the boards of Digisight Technologies and Omniome and previously of [[Schrödinger]] and BlueTalon. In 2017 bng0, of which he was managing director, held 2,649,572 Editas shares, 6.4 percent of the company, from an address in Seattle.[^1]
### Epstein, Gates and JPMorgan
*[[Bloomberg]]* reported in 2019 that Nikolic had been introduced to Epstein by [[Melanie Walker]], that Gates's contact with Epstein ran through him, and that both Nikolic and Epstein were private-banking clients of JPMorgan, where people familiar with the bank said Epstein helped bankers attract wealthy clients.[^2] On July 27, 2011, while Nikolic was working for Gates, Epstein wrote to JPMorgan executives [[Jes Staley]] and [[Mary Erdoes]], copying Nikolic, that for a proposed charitable fund "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," with "silos for Medicine, Science , Women issues, Education, etc.," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^4] A month later he warned Staley and Erdoes that senior staff at the Gates foundation were "getting confusing messages from JPM."[^5]
JPMorgan's 2019 internal review of Epstein's emails, Project Jeep, recorded what the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] described in 2023 as "more than four pages of Epstein referrals to JPMorgan," including [[Andrew Farkas]], Nikolic, Gates and [[Peter Mandelson]]. [[Jamie Dimon]] was questioned about Nikolic at his deposition and testified of Epstein's referrals, "We did not need introductions to anybody"; the bank's lawyers said the underlying emails showed Epstein mentioning prominent people but contained no evidence that he had referred them or that they became clients because of him.[^6][^7]
On July 22, 2013 Epstein wrote to Nikolic and [[Terje Rod-Larsen]], president of the [[International Peace Institute]]: "ipi has not heard from gabriella ."[^8] In November 2013 Nikolic and the Russian bridge player [[Mila Antonova]], whom he had introduced to Epstein, met Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse to pitch an online bridge-teaching venture; Epstein did not invest, and later used Gates's past relationship with Antonova to press him, according to *[[The Wall Street Journal]]*.[^9] On April 13, 2018 Epstein sent Nikolic, without comment, a link to a 2015 *Forbes* article headlined "Charlie Sheen's $10M Blackmail Tax Deduction."[^10]
### The Backup Executor
Epstein's will, signed on August 8, 2019, two days before his death, named his lawyers [[Darren Indyke]] and [[Richard Kahn]] as executors and Nikolic as successor executor, who would take control of the estate if they could not serve. Nikolic, then 49, said he was "shocked" and "was never consulted on these matters and has no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever," and filed no oath of acceptance; a spokesperson said he and Epstein had no business ties.[^2][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Editas Medicine, Inc., Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A), filed April 26, 2017, director biography of Boris Nikolic, M.D., and security ownership table, note 5. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650664/000104746917002939/a2231931zdef14a.htm
[^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Executor Is Ex-Science Adviser to Bill Gates," *Bloomberg,* August 19, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/epstein-s-11th-hour-executor-is-ex-science-adviser-to-bill-gates
[^3]: James Leggate, "Who is Boris Nikolic? Epstein-named executor is former Bill Gates adviser," *Fox Business,* August 20, 2019. https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/who-is-boris-nikolic-epstein-executor
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, cc Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, ECF No. 191, June 7, 2023 (filed June 20, 2023). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808625, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter of John J. Butts, WilmerHale, opposing the motion to reopen depositions, ECF No. 187, June 9, 2023 (filed June 15, 2023), citing Dimon deposition transcript 395:14-21. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02572271, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic and Terje Rod-Larsen, July 22, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02572271.pdf
[^9]: Safdar, Khadeeja, and Emily Glazer. "Jeffrey Epstein Apparently Threatened Bill Gates Over Affair." *The Wall Street Journal,* May 21, 2023; summarized in "WSJ: Jeffrey Epstein threatened Bill Gates over affair with Russian bridge player." *Boing Boing,* May 22, 2023. https://boingboing.net/2023/05/22/wsj-jeffrey-epstein-threatened-bill-gates-over-affair-with-russian-bridge-player.html
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02476126, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic, April 13, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02476126.pdf

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/James Riady.md
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@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ On January 11, 2001, Riady agreed to plead guilty in the federal court in Los An
### Leaving Worthen
The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, drawing on the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and C. Joseph Giroir, gave the reason for the family's departure from Worthen: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." Riady and Huang then "focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco, California. Soon thereafter they established the Bank of Trade in Los Angeles, which later became LippoBank."[^4] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation records show that the Bank of Trade, chartered in [[San Francisco]] in 1961, moved its main office to Los Angeles on October 31, 1989 and took the name Lippo Bank on January 18, 1990.[^5]
The [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], drawing on the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and C. Joseph Giroir, gave the reason for the family's departure from Worthen: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." Riady and Huang then "focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco, California. Soon thereafter they established the Bank of Trade in Los Angeles, which later became LippoBank."[^4] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation records show that the Bank of Trade, chartered in [[San Francisco]] in 1961, moved its main office to Los Angeles on October 31, 1989 and took the name Lippo Bank on January 18, 1990.[^5]
### Footnotes

124
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Jes Staley.md
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@ -12,49 +12,129 @@ tags:
alias:
- James Edward Staley
- James E. Staley
summary: "Career JPMorgan banker who managed Jeffrey Epstein's private-banking relationship, later became Barclays chief executive, and was banned from senior UK finance roles in 2023 for misleading the regulator about the nature and timing of his Epstein relationship."
- James Staley
summary: "JPMorgan executive who managed and vouched for Jeffrey Epstein's banking relationship, later ran Barclays, and was banned from senior UK finance roles for misleading the regulator about that relationship."
born: 1956-12-27
location: "Boston, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[JPMorgan Chase]]"
role: "Morgan Guaranty Trust and successors"
start: 1979
end: 2013
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[J.P. Morgan Private Bank]]"
start: 1999
end: 2001
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[JPMorgan Asset Management]]"
role: "Chief Executive Officer, Asset and Wealth Management"
start: 2001
end: 2009
fn: 4
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Jamie Dimon]]"
start: 2005-12-31
end: 2009
fn: 4
- type: employed_by
with: "[[BlueMountain Capital]]"
role: "managing partner"
start: 2013
end: 2015
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Barclays]]"
role: "Group Chief Executive"
start: 2015-12-01
end: 2021-11
fn: 6
- type: investigated
with: "[[Financial Conduct Authority]]"
reverse: true
role: "prohibition order and penalty"
start: 2019-08-15
end: 2025-07-23
fn: 1
---
James Edward Staley is an American banker who spent more than three decades at [[JPMorgan Chase]], rose to run its asset management and then its investment bank, and served as group chief executive of [[Barclays]] from December 2015 until November 2021. During his JPMorgan years he was the senior executive who managed and advocated for the bank's relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], a private-banking client from 1998 to 2013. In October 2023 the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] banned Staley from holding senior management functions in UK financial services and fined him for recklessly approving a letter that misled the regulator about his relationship with Epstein, a decision the [[Upper Tribunal]] upheld in June 2025.[^1][^2][^3]
James Edward Staley is an American banker who spent more than three decades at [[JPMorgan Chase]], rose to run its asset management and then its investment bank, and served as group chief executive of [[Barclays]] from December 2015 until November 2021. During his JPMorgan years he was the senior executive who managed and advocated for the bank's relationship with [[Jeffrey Epstein]], a private-banking client from 1998 to 2013. In a Decision Notice dated May 30, 2023 and published on October 12, 2023, the [[Financial Conduct Authority]] banned Staley from holding senior management functions in UK financial services and fined him for recklessly approving a letter that misled the regulator about his relationship with Epstein, a decision the [[Upper Tribunal]] upheld on June 26, 2025 while reducing the penalty to 1,107,306.92 pounds.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
### JPMorgan Career
Staley joined Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York in 1979 after graduating from Bowdoin College, and spent the 1980s in the bank's [[Latin America]] division, including as head of corporate finance for Brazil and as general manager of the firm's Brazilian brokerage.[^4] He led [[JPMorgan Asset Management]] from 2001 to 2009 and then ran the corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013.[^5] At the height of his JPMorgan career he was discussed as a potential successor to chief executive [[Jamie Dimon]].[^4]
Staley joined Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York in 1979 after graduating from Bowdoin College, and spent the 1980s in the bank's [[Latin America]] division, including as head of corporate finance for Brazil and as general manager of the firm's Brazilian brokerage.[^5] He headed JPMorgan's private bank from 1999 to 2001, led [[JPMorgan Asset Management]], later Asset and Wealth Management, from 2001 to 2009, and then ran the corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. [[Mary Erdoes]], who ran the private bank from 2005, reported to him, and he reported to [[Jamie Dimon]] after Dimon became chief executive on December 31, 2005.[^4][^6][^7] At the height of his JPMorgan career he was discussed as a potential successor to chief executive Jamie Dimon.[^5]
Staley managed the private-banking relationship between JPMorgan and Epstein, who became a client of the bank's private bank in 1998.[^6] In a July 2011 email, JPMorgan general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] wrote to Staley and asset-and-wealth-management head [[Mary Erdoes]] that Epstein was "not an honorable person in any way" and "should not be a client," and Cutler later testified that Staley and Erdoes made the decision to keep Epstein.[^6] Epstein also functioned as a source of referrals and introductions for Staley and the bank, including to wealthy potential clients.[^7]
Staley managed the private-banking relationship between JPMorgan and Epstein, who became a client of the bank's private bank in 1998.[^8] The Upper Tribunal found that Staley first met Epstein in 1999 or 2000, when Epstein was a client of the private bank Staley headed, and that a senior JPMorgan executive of that period recommended he get to know Epstein as "an exceptionally well-connected man" who could help him form relationships with influential people; the executive is not named in the decision and was not Dimon, who joined the bank in 2004.[^4] In a July 2011 email, JPMorgan general counsel [[Stephen Cutler]] wrote to Staley and asset-and-wealth-management head Mary Erdoes that Epstein was "not an honorable person in any way" and "should not be a client," and Cutler later testified that Staley and Erdoes made the decision to keep Epstein.[^8] Epstein also functioned as a source of referrals and introductions for Staley and the bank, including to wealthy potential clients.[^9] Staley testified that Epstein arranged his meetings with former Israeli prime minister [[Ehud Barak]], British cabinet minister [[Peter Mandelson]] and [[Bill Gates]]; in January 2008 Staley had his assistant set up a meeting between Barak and JPMorgan executives through Dimon's office. On June 5, 2009 Epstein wrote to Staley that "peter mandelson is now deputy prime minister."[^10]
In 2013 Staley left JPMorgan after more than 30 years to become a managing partner at the hedge fund [[BlueMountain Capital]].[^4] JPMorgan terminated its banking relationship with Epstein the same year.[^6] After BlueMountain, Staley was recruited to lead Barclays, joining as group chief executive on December 1, 2015.[^5]
In 2013 Staley left JPMorgan after more than 30 years to become a managing partner at the hedge fund [[BlueMountain Capital]].[^5] In February and March 2013, immediately after leaving, he tried to bring Epstein in as a BlueMountain client, which the FCA and the tribunal found contradicted his later statement that he had not done so.[^1][^4] JPMorgan terminated its banking relationship with Epstein the same year.[^8] After BlueMountain, Staley was recruited to lead Barclays, joining as group chief executive on December 1, 2015.[^6]
### Epstein Emails and the 2015 Island Visit
Court filings in litigation brought against JPMorgan by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] disclosed that Staley exchanged roughly 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan account between 2008 and 2012.[^7] In a message dated November 1, 2009, sent from Epstein while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Epstein wrote, "I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound."[^7] In a 2010 exchange Staley wrote "That was fun. Say hi to Snow White," and when Epstein asked "what character would you like next," Staley answered "Beauty and the Beast"; Staley later said he had no recollection of the messages.[^7]
Court filings in litigation brought against JPMorgan by the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]] disclosed that Staley exchanged roughly 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan account between 2008 and 2012; the FCA counted more than 1,100 from July 2008 to December 2012 and about 600 more from January 2013 to October 2015.[^1][^9] In a message dated November 1, 2009, sent from Epstein while Epstein was serving his Florida sentence, Epstein wrote, "I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound."[^9] In a 2010 exchange Staley wrote "That was fun. Say hi to Snow White," and when Epstein asked "what character would you like next," Staley answered "Beauty and the Beast"; Staley later said he had no recollection of the messages.[^9]
Staley and his family visited Epstein's private island, [[Little Saint James]] in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], on more than one occasion.[^7] After an April 2015 visit, which Staley described as his last in-person meeting with Epstein, Staley emailed Epstein, "Thanks for the flight and thanks for the lunch. Your place is crazy, and special ... I count u as a deep friend. The girls seemed to enjoy the sail. All the best Jes."[^8] The April 2015 trip occurred months before Staley was named Barclays chief executive in October 2015.[^8]
Staley and his family visited Epstein's private island, [[Little Saint James]] in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], three times, the last on April 12, 2015, when the family sailed there for lunch; he also visited Epstein's marina near the island twice, his [[Zorro Ranch|New Mexico ranch]], and went to [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] for a birthday dinner while Epstein was under state supervision. Staley testified to two island visits, a count the tribunal treated as further evidence of unreliability.[^1][^4][^9] After an April 2015 visit, which Staley described as his last in-person meeting with Epstein, Staley emailed Epstein, "Thanks for the flight and thanks for the lunch. Your place is crazy, and special ... I count u as a deep friend. The girls seemed to enjoy the sail. All the best Jes."[^11] The April 2015 trip occurred months before Staley was named Barclays chief executive in October 2015.[^11]
JPMorgan filed a third-party complaint against Staley in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on March 9, 2023, within the Virgin Islands action.[^9] The complaint asserted indemnification, contribution, breach of fiduciary duty, and "faithless servant" claims, alleging Staley concealed his personal activities with Epstein, and sought to recover compensation paid to him from at least 2006 through 2013.[^9] Staley moved to dismiss, arguing JPMorgan was using him as a "shield" for the bank's own failures.[^10]
JPMorgan filed a third-party complaint against Staley in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on March 9, 2023, within the Virgin Islands action.[^12] The complaint asserted indemnification, contribution, breach of fiduciary duty, and "faithless servant" claims, alleging Staley concealed his personal activities with Epstein, and sought to recover compensation paid to him from at least 2006 through 2013.[^12] Staley moved to dismiss, arguing JPMorgan was using him as a "shield" for the bank's own failures.[^13]
### Highbridge, the 2006 Arrest and 2008
In 2004, according to Staley, Epstein was instrumental in JPMorgan's acquisition of [[Highbridge Capital Management]], in which Epstein acted as an adviser to another party. A March 18, 2004 memorandum from Staley and others to Dimon, [[William B. Harrison Jr.]] and [[David Coulter]] described Epstein as "a founding investor in Highbridge."[^4][^14]
On July 25, 2006, after Epstein's arrest in Florida, Staley visited him at his home, where, by Staley's testimony, Epstein admitted "engaging in sex for money with young women" and denied only their ages. The next day Staley wrote to Erdoes: "I went and saw him last night. I've never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages." Staley admitted in discovery that Dimon communicated with him about the arrest in 2006. After the indictment JPMorgan kept Epstein on a "banking only" basis, which continued until he was asked to leave in 2013. Staley admitted to the tribunal that he knew by 2010 that Epstein had lied to him about the girls' ages.[^4][^10]
While Epstein was serving his Florida sentence in 2008, Staley sent him confidential bank information. On July 17, 2008 he asked Epstein's advice on his own pay: "Jamie wants me to tell him how much I should make... What do you think?" Epstein advised asking for "a one million dollar increase to 25 million." On August 23, 2008 Staley told him about a potential JPMorgan purchase of [[Dimensional Fund Advisors|Dimensional]] and sale of [[American Century Investments|American Century]]. On September 27, 2008 he disclosed that a named client was being exited and that "The Private Bank has brought in $44 billion dollars in the last two weeks," which he admitted breached client confidentiality. On October 10 and 11, 2008 he sent Epstein the term sheet for "Micawber," a proposed JPMorgan and [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]] special-purpose vehicle that would borrow from the [[Federal Reserve]] to buy short-term bank obligations during the financial crisis; the tribunal found that Epstein was the only person who received details of the proposal who was not involved in it.[^4] In 2009 Staley wrote to Epstein about the "danger" of their written correspondence and of wanting to give him a "long heartfelt hug."[^7]
In a June 2010 email from London, Staley wrote to Epstein, "Andrew just sat next to me at dinner... Any word on M? This is fun," asked whether "she" was free that night, and declined a call from Epstein because "I'm w A." The tribunal received no innocent explanation from Staley and did not identify "Andrew" or "A." On December 22, 2010 [[Prince Andrew]] wrote to Staley: "Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year. Sorry to have missed you this week... I will be at Davos as usual."[^4][^10]
### The 2011 Retention
In 2011 the bank's anti-money-laundering staff asked to exit Epstein, and an internal email said the decision to keep him was "all due to Jes's personal relationship." The tribunal recorded internal evidence that general counsel Stephen Cutler believed Epstein "would have been exited as a client of JPM had not Mr Staley vouched for him," and found it more likely than not that Staley's advocacy caused the retention; Staley testified that Cutler had full latitude to exit Epstein and that he would not have stood in his way. Staley admitted in cross-examination that he knew of and discussed with Epstein the bank's 2011 concern about Epstein's "atypical cash withdrawals" and the trafficking allegations, contrary to his witness statement. An August 4, 2011 internal meeting concluded that the private bank's chief executive, [[John Duffy]], would "reach out to Jes Staley and advise that we exit while things are a bit settled."[^4][^7][^10]
During the same weeks Epstein was pitching Staley and Erdoes on business. On July 27, 2011 he wrote to both, copying [[Boris Nikolic]], the chief science and technology adviser to Bill Gates, that for a proposed charitable fund "the mimimum donation would be 100 million," that "a portfolio will be established for each donor," and that "the charitable fees. audit fees, investment mgmt fees, trustee fees, will all be JPM."[^15] On August 27, 2011 he told them that senior staff of the Gates foundation "say they are getting confusing messages from JPM. They say that JPM wants to use the current foundation to do other things," and closed, "There are too many people without direction. lets speak,,"[^16]
### Project Jeep
After *[[The New York Times]]* reported on Epstein's Wall Street ties on July 22, 2019, JPMorgan's financial-crimes compliance unit began an internal review, later called Project Jeep, whose trade-surveillance staff summarized 222 email exchanges, most of them between Epstein and Staley, in a 22-page document dated September 17, 2019 and circulated on October 27 and 28, 2019. Its first heading read: "Jes Staley appears to have a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, regularly communicating with him and seeking advice from him including while Epstein is incarcerated."[^17][^18][^19] Two items were singled out in the cover email. Under that heading, the reviewers quoted Epstein's December 30, 2008 message offering Staley his house while he was in custody ("everyone is gone except the housekeepers, you are more than welcome to use the house . you will be well looked after. the chef from paris is there"), and Staley's reply the next day that he had "asked Rosa to make a date free in early January for me to visit the Palm Beach office and spend some time with you." Under a heading on comments that "may have the appearance of relating to inappropriate behavior with one reference between Epstein and Staley to a modeling agency," they placed an August 27 to 29, 2009 exchange in which Staley wrote that he would be "In London with Jamie, mid week," Epstein asked "how long london? Do you need anything there?" and Staley answered "Yep," beside a 3,000 dollar wire from Epstein's JPMorgan account on August 29, 2009 to a woman in [[Lithuania]] associated with a ballet company there, who had received 2,000 dollars from Epstein on January 8, 2009.[^18] JPMorgan's counsel told the court that the summary was prepared after Epstein's death by employees with no contemporaneous knowledge of the relationship.[^19]
In its October 10, 2025 letter to Senator [[Ron Wyden]], JPMorgan stated that "with the exception of former JPMC executive Jes Staley, the Firm's executives (current and former) are respected professionals who acted with integrity," described Staley as the only person claiming Dimon knew of Epstein before 2019, and quoted the tribunal's finding that he "lacked credibility."[^20] Wyden's August 2026 report named Staley among thirteen bankers whose conduct it said merited investigation.[^7]
### Barclays and the FCA Ban
While Barclays chief executive, Staley was separately sanctioned for attempting to identify a whistleblower who had sent letters criticizing a senior Barclays hire; in 2018 the FCA and the [[Prudential Regulation Authority]] fined him 642,430 pounds and Barclays cut his pay.[^11] Staley remained chief executive until November 2021, when he resigned as the FCA and PRA conclusions about his Epstein relationship became known.[^2]
While Barclays chief executive, Staley was separately sanctioned for attempting to identify a whistleblower who had sent letters criticizing a senior Barclays hire; in 2018 the FCA and the [[Prudential Regulation Authority]] fined him 642,430 pounds and Barclays cut his pay.[^21] Staley remained chief executive until November 2021, when he resigned as the FCA and PRA conclusions about his Epstein relationship became known.[^2]
The FCA's case centered on an October 2019 letter that Barclays sent to the regulator, which Staley approved, stating that he "did not have a close relationship" with Epstein and had "ceased contact" with Epstein before joining Barclays.[^1] The FCA found those statements misleading, citing emails in which Staley described Epstein as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends, and evidence that Staley was in contact with Epstein in the days before his Barclays appointment was announced on October 28, 2015, and indirectly in 2016 and 2017.[^1] On October 12, 2023 the FCA issued a decision banning Staley from senior management functions and imposing a fine of about 1.8 million pounds, with the penalties suspended pending his appeal.[^1]
On February 13, 2020, the morning the FCA's inquiry into how Staley had described the relationship became public, a business editor at the London newspaper *i* asked the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] National Press Office whether Staley had been asked to cooperate with its Epstein investigation. An FBI New York public affairs specialist replied that "it's not something we'd be able to comment on," and forwarded the query internally as "news of the day." A member of the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]] answered the FBI forward: "The FCA reached out to me this morning to give me a heads up as well. We too will not comment if asked."[^22]
The Upper Tribunal heard Staley's reference and, on June 26, 2025, dismissed it and upheld the prohibition, finding that he had acted recklessly and with a lack of integrity and that the evidence of his Epstein relationship was "overwhelming."[^3] The tribunal reduced the financial penalty from about 1.8 million pounds to 1.1 million pounds, reflecting deferred Barclays shares that he forfeited.[^3] During the proceedings Staley testified that he had a sexual encounter with a member of Epstein's staff years earlier, and he maintained that he had not been dishonest.[^12]
The FCA's case centered on an October 8, 2019 letter that Barclays sent to the regulator after an FCA call on August 15, 2019, which Staley reviewed on October 6 and approved by email on October 7 as "comfortable with the language," stating that he "did not have a close relationship" with Epstein and had "ceased contact" with Epstein before joining Barclays.[^1] The FCA found those statements misleading, citing emails in which Staley described Epstein as one of his "deepest" and "most cherished" friends, and evidence that Staley was in contact with Epstein in the days before his Barclays appointment was announced on October 28, 2015, and indirectly in 2016 and 2017.[^1] On October 8, 2015, before the appointment was public, Staley told Epstein that the Barclays board's nominations committee had approved it, and their emails continued until October 25, 2015; Staley had described the April 2015 visit to Barclays colleagues as his last contact. The FCA's Decision Notice, dated May 30, 2023 and published on October 12, 2023, banned Staley from senior management functions and set a penalty of 1,812,862 pounds: 30 percent of his 5,493,526 pounds in relevant income from October 2018 to October 2019, raised 10 percent for his 2018 whistleblower sanction, with no settlement discount because the parties did not agree at the first stage. Staley referred the decision to the tribunal, which suspended its effect.[^1][^2]
The Upper Tribunal heard Staley's reference and, on June 26, 2025, dismissed it and upheld the prohibition, finding that he had acted recklessly and with a lack of integrity and that the evidence of his Epstein relationship was "overwhelming."[^3] The tribunal reduced the financial penalty from 1,812,862 pounds to 1,107,306.92 pounds, reflecting deferred Barclays shares that he forfeited, and applied the standard that recklessness as to the truth of statements on which others may rely amounts to a lack of integrity without proof of dishonesty. The FCA's Final Notice of July 23, 2025 imposed the prohibition from that date and required payment by August 6, 2025.[^3][^4][^23] During the proceedings Staley testified that he had a sexual encounter with a member of Epstein's staff years earlier, and he maintained that he had not been dishonest.[^24]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "FCA fines former Barclays CEO and bans him from senior roles," *Central Banking,* 2023. https://www.centralbanking.com/regulation/banking/7959957/fca-fines-former-barclays-ceo-and-bans-him-from-senior-roles
[^1]: Financial Conduct Authority, Decision Notice to James Edward Staley, Reference JXS02208, May 30, 2023 (published October 12, 2023), paras. 1.1, 2.3-2.25, section 6 and Annex B. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/decision-notices/james-edward-staley-2023.pdf ; "FCA fines former Barclays CEO and bans him from senior roles," *Central Banking,* October 2023. https://www.centralbanking.com/regulation/banking/7959957/fca-fines-former-barclays-ceo-and-bans-him-from-senior-roles
[^2]: "FCA: Staley misled regulators about his relationship with Epstein," *Banking Dive,* 2023. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/fca-staley-misled-regulators-relationship-jeffrey-epstein/733373/
[^3]: "Upper Tribunal upholds Jes Staley ban," Financial Conduct Authority, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/upper-tribunal-upholds-jes-staley-ban
[^4]: "Jes Staley," Bank Policy Institute, accessed 2026. https://bpi.com/people/jes-staley/
[^5]: "James E. Staley appointed Group Chief Executive," Barclays PLC, October 28, 2015. https://home.barclays/content/dam/home-barclays/documents/news/2015/october/281015_RNS.pdf
[^6]: "JPMorgan kept Epstein as client for years after warnings, deposition shows," *The Washington Post,* 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/epstein-jpmorgan-client-sex-offender-warnings/
[^7]: "Lawsuit alleges Jeffrey Epstein sent JPMorgan Chase exec photos of young women," *CNN Business,* 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/epstein-jpmorgan-emails
[^8]: "High flyer to pariah: the saga of Epstein-linked banker Jes Staley," *inkl / Agence France-Presse,* 2025. https://www.inkl.com/news/high-flyer-to-pariah-the-saga-of-epstein-linked-banker-jes-staley
[^9]: "JPMorgan Sues Ex-Executive Associated With Jeffrey Epstein," *Time,* 2023. https://time.com/6261243/jpmorgan-lawsuit-jes-staley-epstein-trafficking/
[^10]: "Jes Staley Says JPMorgan Using Him as 'Shield' for Epstein Failures," *U.S. News & World Report / Reuters,* 2023. https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-04-24/jes-staley-seeks-to-dismiss-jpmorgan-chase-lawsuit-over-jeffrey-epstein
[^11]: "Ex-Barclays CEO Staley's lifetime FCA ban to remain," *Banking Dive,* 2025. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/jes-staley-fca-lifetime-ban-banking-epstein-barclays-uk/751754/
[^12]: "Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley slept with Epstein assistant, court hears," *Yahoo / PA Media,* 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-181703399.html
[^4]: Staley v The Financial Conduct Authority [2025] UKUT 00203 (TCC), Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber), decision released June 26, 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/685d21fec2633bd820a92a52/Staley_v_FCA_decision_for_release.pdf
[^5]: "Jes Staley," Bank Policy Institute, accessed 2026. https://bpi.com/people/jes-staley/
[^6]: "James E. Staley appointed Group Chief Executive," Barclays PLC, October 28, 2015. https://home.barclays/content/dam/home-barclays/documents/news/2015/october/281015_RNS.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Ranking Member Ron Wyden, "Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein's Sex Trafficking," August 4, 2026, pp. 4-5, 28-31, 60 (citing EFTA01300356 and JPM-SDNYLIT-00152748_R). https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_wall_street_epstein_report.pdf
[^8]: "JPMorgan kept Epstein as client for years after warnings, deposition shows," *The Washington Post,* 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/26/epstein-jpmorgan-client-sex-offender-warnings/
[^9]: "Lawsuit alleges Jeffrey Epstein sent JPMorgan Chase exec photos of young women," *CNN Business,* 2023. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/epstein-jpmorgan-emails
[^10]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts, ECF No. 221 (filed July 24, 2023), paras. 53-55, 111, 291-306, 393. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653/gov.uscourts.nysd.591653.221.0.pdf
[^11]: "High flyer to pariah: the saga of Epstein-linked banker Jes Staley," *inkl / Agence France-Presse,* 2025. https://www.inkl.com/news/high-flyer-to-pariah-the-saga-of-epstein-linked-banker-jes-staley
[^12]: "JPMorgan Sues Ex-Executive Associated With Jeffrey Epstein," *Time,* 2023. https://time.com/6261243/jpmorgan-lawsuit-jes-staley-epstein-trafficking/
[^13]: "Jes Staley Says JPMorgan Using Him as 'Shield' for Epstein Failures," *U.S. News & World Report / Reuters,* 2023. https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-04-24/jes-staley-seeks-to-dismiss-jpmorgan-chase-lawsuit-over-jeffrey-epstein
[^14]: Deposition of James Dimon, May 26, 2023, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), transcript pp. 261-269. https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rQOuhi8KqiM0/v0
[^15]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01861564, DataSet 10, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, cc Boris Nikolic, July 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01861564.pdf
[^16]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00918200, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, August 27, 2011. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00918200.pdf
[^17]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter motion of Motley Rice to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, ECF No. 191, June 7, 2023 (filed June 20, 2023). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808647, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), Exhibit 3 to ECF No. 191, email "Project Jeep Current Review," October 27-28, 2019 (JPM-SDNYLIT-00901997). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808647.pdf
[^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808625, Court Records (Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904), letter of John J. Butts, WilmerHale, opposing the motion to reopen depositions, ECF No. 187, June 9, 2023 (filed June 15, 2023). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808625.pdf
[^20]: Letter from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Senator Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/101025jpmcresponsetowyden.pdf
[^21]: "Ex-Barclays CEO Staley's lifetime FCA ban to remain," *Banking Dive,* 2025. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/jes-staley-fca-lifetime-ban-banking-epstein-barclays-uk/751754/
[^22]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00079559, DataSet 9, FBI New York and USANYS email chain "Jeffrey Epstein case: Jes Staley (Barclays)," February 13, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00079559.pdf
[^23]: Financial Conduct Authority, Final Notice to James Edward Staley, Reference JXS02208, July 23, 2025. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/final-notices/james-edward-staley-2025.pdf
[^24]: "Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley slept with Epstein assistant, court hears," *Yahoo / PA Media,* 2025. https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-barclays-ceo-jes-staley-181703399.html

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- JohannaSjoberg
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- PrinceAndrew
- GiuffreVMaxwell
- PalmBeach
alias:
- Johanna Sjöberg
- Johanna Sjoberg
summary: "Former Palm Beach Atlantic College student recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001 to work for Jeffrey Epstein, whose Giuffre v. Maxwell deposition described Prince Andrew groping her beside a caricature puppet."
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
role: "recruited as household help, used for massages"
start: 2001
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Johanna Sjoberg is an American woman who, as a student at [[Palm Beach Atlantic University|Palm Beach Atlantic College]] in [[Florida]], was approached by [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] early in 2001 about a job as a home helper and was then drawn into giving sexual massages to [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. Her sworn deposition in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]], the defamation suit [[Virginia Giuffre]] brought against Maxwell in 2015, includes her account of an incident with [[Prince Andrew]] at Epstein's Manhattan house around Easter 2001, when she was 21. The deposition was among the records unsealed by Judge [[Loretta Preska]] in January 2024.[^1][^2]
### Recruitment
Sjoberg testified that she was recruited for sex acts with Epstein and was reprimanded when she did not bring him to orgasm. In a 2007 interview with the [[Mail on Sunday]] she said, "I was groomed for it," described herself as a hard-up student, and called the arrangement a "pact with the devil."[^1]
### The Andrew Account
Sjoberg testified that she did not at first know who the British visitor was until Maxwell took her to fetch a caricature puppet of him from the satirical television program [[Spitting Image]]: "Then it clicked. I'm like, that's who it is." She testified that the group sat on a couch, Giuffre with the puppet on her lap, and that "I sat on Andrew's lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet's hands and put it on Virginia's breast, and so Andrew put his on mine," in what she described as a joking manner. She described Andrew as "charming." The group was photographed.[^1][^2]
Maxwell, asked about the incident in her own deposition, said, "I never gave him a gift of a puppet," and "I recollect the puppet, but I don't recollect anything around the puppet." Buckingham Palace had earlier called Sjoberg's allegations "categorically untrue." After the January 2024 release the [[Metropolitan Police]] stated that "No investigation has been launched."[^1][^2]
### Unsealing
Sjoberg's deposition was part of the discovery record sealed under Judge [[Robert W. Sweet]]'s March 2016 protective order in Giuffre v. Maxwell and kept sealed after the case settled in May 2017. It was released in the tranche that followed Preska's December 18, 2023 findings on the remaining sealed material.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Rozina Sabur, "The woman whose testimony dominates the Epstein files," *The Telegraph,* January 4, 2024 (syndicated). https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-whose-testimony-dominates-epstein-183957952.html
[^2]: "Details on Prince Andrew allegations emerge from new Jeffrey Epstein documents, but no U.K. police investigation," *CBS News,* January 5, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-andrew-allegations-jeffrey-epstein-documents-no-uk-police-investigation/
[^3]: Giuffre v. Maxwell, No. 1:15-cv-07433 (S.D.N.Y.), Protective Order, ECF No. 62 (March 17, 2016); Order, ECF No. 1315 (Dec. 18, 2023); notices of unsealed documents, ECF Nos. 1320-1343 (Jan. 2024). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4355835/ian-torrington-blatchford-as-interim-administrator-of-virginia-giuffres/

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JosephRecarey
- JeffreyEpstein
- PalmBeach
- PalmBeachPoliceDepartment
- Police
- GrandJury
alias:
- Joe Recarey
- Detective Joseph Recarey
- Det. Joe Recarey
summary: "Joseph Recarey was the Palm Beach police detective who led the 2005 to 2006 Epstein investigation, swore the probable cause affidavit recommending five felony counts, and died in May 2018."
born: 1967-06-05
died: 2018-05-25
location: "Royal Palm Beach, Florida (died)"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "officer, then detective"
start: 1991
end: 2013
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Michael Reiter]]"
start: 2005
end: 2009
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
start: 2005-09
end: 2006-07
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Sarah Kellen]]"
start: 2005
end: 2006-05
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Joseph Recarey (June 5, 1967 to May 25, 2018) was an American police detective with the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] who led its 2005 to 2006 investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. His May 1, 2006 probable cause affidavit recommended charging Epstein with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation; the [[Palm Beach County]] grand jury before which he was the opening witness returned one count of solicitation of prostitution. He retired in 2013 and died at 50 in May 2018, fourteen months before Epstein's federal arrest in New York.[^1][^2][^3]
### Early Life and Career
Recarey was born in Queens, New York, and moved to Florida at 13. He graduated from the police academy in 1990, joined the Palm Beach Police Department in 1991, and was promoted to detective in 1994. He worked in the department's organized crime, vice, and narcotics unit, and his obituary describes him as one of the most decorated detectives in the department's history, with more than 150 commendations. He retired in 2013 and joined [[Gold Coast Beverage Distributors]] as director of loss prevention, later becoming director of facilities for Gold Coast Holdings, overseeing more than 90 restaurant locations.[^1]
### The Epstein Investigation
The department received the first complaint on March 15, 2005, from the family of a 14-year-old girl, who identified "Jeff" from a photo lineup. Recarey took over as lead detective in September 2005 under Chief [[Michael Reiter]]. Between March 2005 and February 2006 detectives took sworn taped statements from five victims and seventeen witnesses. Recarey's affidavit described [[Haley Robson]], then a teenager herself, bringing girls to [[358 El Brillo Way]] to give Epstein massages in exchange for money, and Epstein's assistant [[Sarah Kellen]] recording the girls' names and telephone numbers. The girls were paid 200 to 1,000 dollars per visit. According to Robson's statement, Epstein told her after her own first visit that "he would pay her if she brought over some girls" and that "the younger the better."[^1][^2]
To corroborate the accounts, detectives obtained trash from Epstein's residence through the supervisor of the Town of Palm Beach sanitation bureau, which corroborated the appointment scheduling; subpoenaed Kellen's cell phone records and matched her calls to victims and witnesses; and subpoenaed the arrival and departure records of Epstein's aircraft at [[Palm Beach International Airport]] from its operator. Calls to the girls clustered "in the days just prior to [Epstein's] arrival or during the time Epstein was in Palm Beach."[^2]
The affidavit concluded that there was "sufficient probable cause to charge Jeffrey Epstein with FOUR COUNTS of Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor, in violation of Florida State Statute 794.05(1), a second degree felony," as to four girls, and with lewd and lascivious molestation of a 14-year-old under Florida Statute 800.04(5), also a second-degree felony. A companion affidavit sworn the same day sought charges against Kellen as a principal.[^2]
### The Grand Jury
State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]] did not file the recommended charges and instead convened a grand jury, which heard the case on July 19, 2006 in a session lasting under four hours. Recarey testified first, describing the recruitment chain, a girl who had gone to the house "over 100 times," and an episode in which a girl "screamed no," after which Epstein stopped, apologized, and paid her 1,000 dollars. The grand jury also heard a second officer, an investigator from the State Attorney's office, and two of the girls. Assistant State Attorney [[Lanna Belohlavek]] questioned the girls about their own conduct in terms that cast doubt on their credibility. The grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution. Recarey and Reiter then referred the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], and Reiter told NBC News the agents called it "an easy case."[^3][^4][^5][^6]
The transcript was sealed until Circuit Judge [[Luis Delgado]] released it on July 1, 2024 under a statute enacted that year. The victims' attorney [[Spencer Kuvin]] said on its release: "They basically tanked their own case."[^3]
### Death
Recarey died on May 25, 2018, at 50, "after a brief illness," according to his family's obituary; his funeral mass was held at St. Rita Catholic Church in [[Wellington, Florida|Wellington]]. Reiter said: "Joe Recarey was among the best people I ever knew." The obituary did not state a cause of death. After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, posts circulating online presented Recarey's death as recent; fact-checkers noted that it had occurred in May 2018.[^1][^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Joseph Recarey Obituary (1967-2018)," *Palm Beach Post* via Legacy.com, 2018. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/palmbeachpost/name/joseph-recarey-obituary?id=11914024 ; Dignity Memorial, "Joseph Recarey Obituary," West Palm Beach, Florida. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/west-palm-beach-fl/joseph-recarey-7862448
[^2]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
[^3]: "Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein grand jury investigation transcripts," *WUSF / Associated Press,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-07-01/florida-judge-releases-transcripts-2006-grand-jury-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking ; "Florida prosecutors knew Epstein raped teenage girls 2 years before cutting deal, transcript shows," *WPTV,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wptv.com/news/epstein/palm-beach-county-judge-calls-jeffrey-epstein-most-infamous-pedophile-in-american-history-as-he-releases-transcripts
[^4]: Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rich Schapiro, "Ex-Florida police chief: Epstein case 'the worst failure of the criminal justice system' in modern times," *NBC News,* September 20, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-florida-police-chief-epstein-case-worst-failure-criminal-justice-n1057226
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, "Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation," Executive Summary, November 2020, p. i. https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^6]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html
[^7]: "Did the Detective Who Led Jeffrey Epstein Investigation Die after a 'Brief Illness' At 50 in September 2019?," *Truth or Fiction,* 2019. https://www.truthorfiction.com/did-the-detective-who-led-jeffrey-epstein-investigation-die-after-a-brief-illness-at-50-in-september-2019/

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- KathrynRuemmler
- WhiteHouseCounsel
- GoldmanSachs
- LathamWatkins
- JeffreyEpstein
- ObamaAdministration
alias:
- Kathryn Ruemmler
- Kathy Ruemmler
summary: "Kathryn Ruemmler is the former Obama White House Counsel who met Jeffrey Epstein more than three dozen times between 2014 and 2019 and resigned as Goldman Sachs general counsel in 2026."
born: 1971
location: "Washington, D.C.; New York, New York"
relations:
- type: appointed
with: "[[Barack Obama]]"
reverse: true
role: "White House Counsel"
start: 2011
end: 2014
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Latham & Watkins]]"
role: "partner; co-chair of the white-collar defense practice"
start: 2014
end: 2020
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Goldman Sachs]]"
role: "general counsel and chief legal officer; co-chair of the reputational risk committee"
start: 2020
end: 2026-06-30
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Kathryn Ruemmler is an American lawyer who served as [[White House Counsel]] to President [[Barack Obama]] from 2011 to 2014, then as a partner at [[Latham & Watkins]] and, from 2020, as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]].[^1][^2] [[Jeffrey Epstein]] telephoned her within weeks of her departure from the White House in 2014, and his calendars record more than three dozen appointments with her through 2019.[^2] She announced her resignation from Goldman Sachs in February 2026, effective June 30, 2026, after her name recurred in the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein releases.[^1][^3]
### White House, Latham, and Goldman
Ruemmler was White House Counsel from 2011 to 2014.[^1] She joined Latham & Watkins in 2014 as a partner and co-chair of its white-collar defense practice.[^2] In 2020 she moved to Goldman Sachs as chief legal officer and general counsel and co-chaired the bank's reputational risk committee.[^1]
### The Calendar Record, 2014 to 2019
According to the *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]*'s 2023 reporting on Epstein's private calendars, Epstein first called Ruemmler asking about her interest in [[Bill Gates]] and the [[Gates Foundation]]. He planned an August 2014 lunch for her at his Manhattan townhouse "followed by a series of meetings," had staff keep avocado sushi rolls on hand for her visits, and toured apartments she was considering buying.[^2] In October 2014, tracking her travel, he told staff, "See if there is a first class seat," and "if so upgrade her."[^2] His staff twice emailed him asking whether young women should be kept away from the townhouse while she was there.[^2] His records show a planned 2015 flight to [[Paris]] and a planned 2017 day at his [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] property; a Goldman spokesperson said she "never accepted an invitation or an opportunity to fly with Jeffrey Epstein anywhere" and never visited the island.[^2]
Epstein introduced Ruemmler to [[Ariane de Rothschild]], chief executive of the [[Edmond de Rothschild Group]], and the introduction led the bank to hire Latham & Watkins for U.S. regulatory matters. Latham said that "Epstein was never a client of Latham's."[^2] Goldman described her contacts with Epstein as "the same kinds of contacts and engagements she had with other contacts and clients" and said she "didn't see anything that would lead her to be concerned" at the townhouse. Ruemmler told the *Journal*: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein."[^2]
### The CIA Medal
On January 8, 2015, while a partner at Latham & Watkins, Ruemmler wrote to Epstein: "John Brennan gave me the CIA Agency Medal (the CIA's highest award) this morning. How cool is that?"[^4] [[John Brennan]] was then director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
On April 13, 2018, Epstein sent her, without comment, a link to a November 2015 *[[Forbes]]* article on a "blackmail tax deduction" of 10 million dollars claimed by the actor Charlie Sheen.[^5]
### The Bannon Messages
On August 23, 2018, Epstein exchanged iMessages with [[Steve Bannon]], who was screening his documentary *Trump@War* with journalists from the *Wall Street Journal* and offered to send Epstein a link. Epstein wrote: "Your girlfriend Ruemmler is coming over," and "I wont share it unless you think ok." Bannon replied, "Let her watch," and "It's x rated for violence and language now." Earlier that evening Epstein had written, "Pecker immunity one more drop," a reference to the immunity granted to [[David Pecker]] of [[American Media]] in the [[Michael Cohen]] campaign-finance case. At 10:04 pm Epstein wrote to Bannon: "your girlfriend is outraged. . I suggested to her he pardon everyone, say this is not good for the country, and then fake the heart attack." Two minutes later he added: "she said it is a failure to disclose charge. and his changing stories lead to knowledge of wrongdoing. only transmitting." Bannon answered, "Lmao."[^6] No message from Ruemmler appears in the log.
### The 2026 Releases
Emails released by the Justice Department in late January and early February 2026 cover 2014 to 2019.[^1] In May 2015 Epstein asked her about arranging a [[White House]] tour for [[Woody Allen]] and [[Soon-Yi Previn]], writing, "I assume woody would be too politically sensitive?"; she indicated she could arrange it, and White House records show the tour took place in December 2015, while she was in private practice.[^1] In December 2015, after Epstein offered to buy her a first-class ticket to Europe, she wrote: "I adore him. It's like having another older brother!"[^1] An Epstein calendar entry for February 6, 2018 reads: "Kathy Ruemmler to have the Glam Squad to her NY apt for 9am!"[^1]
Goldman's chief executive, [[David Solomon]], said, "I accepted her resignation, and I respect her decision," and called her "an extraordinary general counsel" who "will be missed."[^1] Her resignation came in the same weeks as those of Brad Karp, chairman of the law firm [[Paul, Weiss]], and [[Tom Pritzker]] of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation|Hyatt]].[^3] She has not been accused of any crime.
### Footnotes
[^1]: *CBS News,* February 2026, on Ruemmler's resignation as Goldman Sachs general counsel. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kathryn-ruemmler-resigning-from-goldman-sachs-epstein-files/
[^2]: "The Former Biglaw Partner In Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar." *Above the Law,* May 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal*'s "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series. https://abovethelaw.com/2023/05/the-former-biglaw-partner-in-jeffrey-epsteins-private-calendar/
[^3]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02386175, DataSet 11, email from Kathy Ruemmler to Jeffrey Epstein, January 8, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02386175.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02475670, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Kathy Ruemmler, April 13, 2018, linking Robert W. Wood, "Charlie Sheen's $10M Blackmail Tax Deduction," *Forbes,* November 18, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02475670.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01615267, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon, August 23, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01615267.pdf

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---
category: "U.S. Government"
tags:
- Person
- LarrySummers
- Treasury
- HarvardUniversity
- OpenAI
- JeffreyEpstein
- Economics
alias:
- Larry Summers
- Lawrence Summers
- Lawrence H. Summers
summary: "Lawrence H. Summers is the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president under whom Jeffrey Epstein's 6.5 million dollar gift founded Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, and who corresponded with Epstein until July 2019."
born: 1954-11-30
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[United States Department of the Treasury]]"
role: "Secretary of the Treasury"
start: 1999
end: 2001
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "president"
start: 2001
end: 2006
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]]"
role: "established the program as Harvard president following a proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and Benedict Gross"
start: 2003
fn: 2
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "University Professor; director, Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (on leave from November 19, 2025)"
end: 2026-02
fn: 3
- type: director_of
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
role: "board member"
start: 2023-11
end: 2025-11-19
fn: 3
- type: member_of
with: "[[American Economic Association]]"
end: 2025-12-02
role: "resignation accepted and lifetime ban imposed"
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Elisa New]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Lawrence H. Summers (born November 30, 1954, in [[New Haven]], [[Connecticut]]) is an American economist who served as [[United States Department of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] under [[Bill Clinton]] from 1999 to 2001 and as president of [[Harvard University]] from 2001 to 2006.[^1] In 2003, during his presidency, Harvard established the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] with a 6.5 million dollar gift from [[Jeffrey Epstein]], the largest Epstein gift Harvard received.[^2] Emails released by the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]] in November 2025 showed Summers seeking Epstein's advice on his pursuit of a woman who regarded him as a mentor, in messages running until the day before Epstein's July 2019 arrest. Within three weeks Summers had resigned from the board of [[OpenAI]], taken leave from his Harvard center, and been banned for life by the [[American Economic Association]].[^1][^3]
### Treasury and Harvard
Summers was Treasury secretary for the last two years of the Clinton administration and became Harvard's president in 2001, serving five years.[^1] He remained on the faculty afterward with the rank of University Professor, Harvard's highest, and directed the [[Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government]] at the [[Harvard Kennedy School]].[^3]
### The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Harvard had courted Epstein as a donor from 1992 and received his first gift in 1998. Between 1998 and 2006 he made 22 gifts totaling 8,443,000 dollars, most between 10,000 and 200,000 dollars, with one exception: 6.5 million dollars in 2003 for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, led by the mathematical biologist [[Martin Nowak]], whom Harvard recruited from the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton, where Epstein had already funded his work.[^2] The program's original website stated: "The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was established in 2003 by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers following an imaginative proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and [[Benedict Gross]]."[^2] The gift paid for a separate research facility in a leased building in [[Harvard Square]].[^2]
Press reports at the time described the gift as part of a 30 million dollar pledge; Harvard's 2020 review "found no Harvard record of such a pledge."[^2] Epstein's own foundation website was still claiming in 2020 that he had established the program "with a $35 million gift."[^2] Harvard stopped accepting Epstein's gifts under Summers's successor, [[Drew Faust]], no later than November 2008.[^2] The review found that Epstein kept a keycard, a passcode, and an office at the program's building into 2018, visiting more than forty times after his 2008 conviction.[^2] Epstein used the suite for dinner parties organized by Nowak's assistants, among them the celebration of Summers's sixtieth birthday.[^4]
### The 2014 Philanthropy Contact
Epstein's calendars show Summers meeting him more than a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, in the years after Harvard had stopped accepting Epstein's money; a Summers spokesperson said in 2023 that he "deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein."[^5] The *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]*'s 2023 reporting on Epstein's calendars recorded that in April 2014 Summers sought Epstein's advice on small-scale philanthropy, to help raise one million dollars for an online poetry project developed by his wife, the Harvard literature professor [[Elisa New]].[^5] New later emailed Epstein herself, including a 2015 message thanking him for arranging financial support for the poetry project she directs.[^1] On November 17, 2014, six years after Harvard stopped taking his gifts, Epstein wrote to Summers: "harvard ok with donation?"[^6]
### The Churkin Meeting
On January 13, 2016, Epstein arranged by iMessage a meeting for the next day with [[Vitaly Churkin]], Russia's ambassador to the [[United Nations]]. After Churkin proposed Thursday, Epstein wrote "2?", then "Larry summers will be here as well," and then "Or 12 if you prefer privacy." Churkin replied, "2OK." On January 14 Epstein wrote to Churkin, "Running 15 minutes late."[^7] Eleven days earlier Epstein had offered Churkin a meal with [[Ehud Barak]], who was "in town this week."[^7]
### The 2018 and 2019 Emails
The House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 documents from Epstein's estate on November 12, 2025. Among them was a correspondence of about seven months between Summers and Epstein, from November 2018 to July 2019, which ended one day before Epstein's arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.[^3] In it Summers, who was married, sought Epstein's help with a woman who viewed him as an economic mentor. "im a pretty good wing man , no?" Epstein wrote on November 30, 2018, two days after the [[Miami Herald]] began publishing its "Perversion of Justice" series on his 2008 plea. The next day Summers told Epstein he had texted the woman that he "had something brief to say to her," and asked, "Am I thanking her or being sorry re my being married. I think the former."[^1] The woman has not been publicly identified.
### Resignations and the Lifetime Ban
On November 17, 2025, Summers announced that he would step back from public commitments: "I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein."[^8] He then left his advisory role at the Yale Budget Lab and his fellowship at the [[Center for American Progress]], and the [[New York Times]] declined to renew his contributor contract.[^1][^8] On November 19 he resigned from the OpenAI board, where he had sat since November 2023, when he was added after the brief ouster of [[Sam Altman]]. The board said it respected his decision and appreciated "the perspective he brought to the Board."[^3][^8] The same day he took leave from the Mossavar-Rahmani Center; a Harvard Kennedy School spokesman, Steven Goldberg, said co-teachers would finish his courses and that "he is not scheduled to teach next semester." Harvard said it was "conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted."[^3]
On December 2, 2025, the American Economic Association accepted Summers's resignation and barred him for life from "attending, speaking at, or otherwise participating" in its events, calling his conduct "fundamentally inconsistent with its standards of professional integrity and with the trust placed in mentors within the economics profession." Summers declined to comment on the ban; the previous week he had called his association with Epstein a "major error in judgement."[^1] In February 2026, after further [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] releases, Summers resigned from Harvard.[^4] No legal proceeding has named him.
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Larry Summers banned for life from American Economic Association." Associated Press via *Fortune,* December 3, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/larry-summers-banned-for-life-from-american-economic-association
[^2]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, May 2020, pp. 3-5, 13, 20-22. https://ogc.harvard.edu/report-concerning-Epstein
[^3]: "Summers Resigns From OpenAI Board Amid Backlash Over Epstein Emails." *The Harvard Crimson,* November 19, 2025. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/summers-resigns-open-ai/
[^4]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known." *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^5]: Bohannon, Molly. "New Documents Reveal How Frequently Larry Summers, Woody Allen And More Met With Jeffrey Epstein." *Forbes,* May 3, 2023, summarizing the *Wall Street Journal*'s "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series. https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/05/03/new-documents-reveal-how-frequently-larry-summers-woody-allen-and-more-met-with-jeffrey-epstein/
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02594668, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Summers, November 17, 2014. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02594668.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619434, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Vitaly Churkin, November 16, 2015 to February 23, 2016 (entries of January 2, 13 and 14, 2016). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619434.pdf
[^8]: *CBS News,* November 2025, on Summers's resignation from the OpenAI board. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/larry-summers-resigns-openai-board-jeffrey-epstein-emails/

109
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Martin Nowak.md
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@ -10,57 +10,120 @@ tags:
alias:
- Martin Nowak
- Martin A. Nowak
summary: "Martin Nowak is a Harvard mathematical biologist who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which Jeffrey Epstein helped establish with a 2003 gift, and whom Harvard sanctioned in 2021 for hosting Epstein on campus after his 2008 conviction."
summary: "Martin Nowak is a Harvard mathematical biologist who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, founded with a 2003 Jeffrey Epstein gift, and was sanctioned in 2021 and placed on leave in 2026 over Epstein."
born: 1965-04-07
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "Professor of Mathematics and of Biology"
start: 2003
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Institute for Advanced Study]]"
end: 2003
fn: 9
- type: investigated
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
reverse: true
role: "OGC review, 2021 sanctions, 2026 leave"
start: 2019-09
end: 2026-02-25
fn: 10
- type: member_of
with: "[[John Templeton Foundation]]"
role: "Board of Advisors"
fn: 9
- type: member_of
with: "[[Austrian Academy of Sciences]]"
end: 2026-04
fn: 14
---
Martin A. Nowak (born April 7, 1965) is an Austrian-born mathematical biologist at [[Harvard University]] who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics (PED) from its founding in 2003. The program was established with help from a $6.5 million gift from [[Jeffrey Epstein]], the largest single donation Epstein made to Harvard, and a 2020 university report found that Nowak gave Epstein an office and campus access used for more than forty visits after Epstein's 2008 sex-crimes conviction. Harvard sanctioned Nowak in 2021.[^1][^2]
Martin A. Nowak (born April 7, 1965) is an Austrian-born mathematical biologist at [[Harvard University]] who directed the [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] (PED) from its founding in 2003. The program was established with help from a $6.5 million gift from [[Jeffrey Epstein]], the largest single donation Epstein made to Harvard, and a 2020 university report found that Nowak gave Epstein an office and campus access used for more than forty visits after Epstein's 2008 sex-crimes conviction. Harvard sanctioned Nowak in 2021.[^1][^2]
### Mathematical Biology at Harvard
Nowak trained in biochemistry and mathematics at the University of Vienna before working at the University of Oxford and the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton. He joined Harvard in 2003 as professor of mathematics and biology and became the founding director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which applied mathematical models to evolution, cooperation, cancer, and the dynamics of infectious disease. His books include *Evolutionary Dynamics* (Harvard University Press, 2006) and *SuperCooperators* (Free Press, 2011).[^3][^1]
Nowak trained in biochemistry and mathematics at the University of Vienna before working at the University of Oxford and the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton. He joined Harvard in 2003 as professor of mathematics and biology and became the founding director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which applied mathematical models to evolution, cooperation, cancer, and the dynamics of infectious disease. His books include *Evolutionary Dynamics* (Harvard University Press, 2006) and *SuperCooperators* (Free Press, 2011).[^1][^3]
Nowak's central research concerns the evolution of cooperation, set out in his 2006 *Science* paper "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," which catalogued kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection as the mechanisms by which natural selection can favor cooperative behavior. In a 2010 *Nature* paper, "The Evolution of Eusociality," Nowak with [[Corina Tarnita]] and the biologist [[E. O. Wilson]] challenged the dominance of inclusive-fitness theory, prompting a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.[^8][^9]
Nowak's central research concerns the evolution of cooperation, set out in his 2006 *Science* paper "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," which catalogued kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection as the mechanisms by which natural selection can favor cooperative behavior. In a 2010 *Nature* paper, "The Evolution of Eusociality," Nowak with [[Corina Tarnita]] and the biologist [[E. O. Wilson]] challenged the dominance of inclusive-fitness theory, prompting a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.[^4][^5]
The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was created in 2003 under Harvard President [[Lawrence Summers]] following a proposal that, according to Harvard's later review, originated with Epstein and the mathematician [[Benedict Gross]]. Epstein told *Vanity Fair* that he had been reluctant to attach his name to the program and that Summers persuaded him to fund it. The program operated out of an office suite at One Brattle Square in Harvard Square rather than on the main campus.[^2][^4]
The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was created in 2003 under Harvard President [[Lawrence Summers]] following a proposal that, according to Harvard's later review, originated with Epstein and the mathematician [[Benedict Gross]]. Epstein told *Vanity Fair* that he had been reluctant to attach his name to the program and that Summers persuaded him to fund it. The program operated out of an office suite at One Brattle Square in Harvard Square rather than on the main campus.[^2][^6]
### Epstein's Donations and Campus Access
A review of Harvard's ties to Epstein, commissioned by President [[Lawrence Bacow]] in September 2019 and released on May 1, 2020, found that Epstein gave Harvard $9,179,000 across 22 gifts between 1998 and 2008, of which the $6.5 million for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in 2003 was the largest. The review was conducted by the Office of the General Counsel under [[Diane Lopez]] with the law firm [[Foley Hoag]], drew on more than 250,000 pages of documents, and interviewed over forty people. It found that Harvard stopped accepting Epstein gifts after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, with the decision to halt gifts made under President [[Drew Faust]] between 2007 and 2008, though Epstein gave $736,000 after his 2006 arrest but before the conviction.[^2][^5]
A review of Harvard's ties to Epstein, commissioned by President [[Lawrence Bacow]] in September 2019 and released on May 1, 2020, found that Epstein gave Harvard $9,179,000 across 22 gifts between 1998 and 2008, of which the $6.5 million for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in 2003 was the largest. The review was conducted by the Office of the General Counsel under [[Diane Lopez]] with the law firm [[Foley Hoag]], drew on more than 250,000 pages of documents, and interviewed over forty people. It found that Harvard stopped accepting Epstein gifts after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, with the decision to halt gifts made under President [[Drew Faust]] between 2007 and 2008, though Epstein gave $736,000 after his 2006 arrest but before the conviction.[^2][^7]
Epstein held a formal Harvard appointment as a visiting fellow in the psychology department for the 2005 to 2006 academic year, secured through department chair [[Stephen Kosslyn]] despite Epstein's lacking the doctoral degree the position normally required; Epstein reapplied for 2006 to 2007 but withdrew after his September 2006 arrest. The report found that Epstein retained a dedicated office at PED, identified as Office 610 and known internally as "Jeffrey's Office," to which he brought his own rug and hung his own photographs, with keycard and passcode access and a Harvard telephone line that remained until 2017.[^2][^5]
Epstein held a formal Harvard appointment as a visiting fellow in the psychology department for the 2005 to 2006 academic year, secured through department chair [[Stephen Kosslyn]] despite Epstein's lacking the doctoral degree the position normally required; Epstein reapplied for 2006 to 2007 but withdrew after his September 2006 arrest. The report found that Epstein retained a dedicated office at PED, identified as Office 610 and known internally as "Jeffrey's Office," to which he brought his own rug and hung his own photographs, with keycard and passcode access and a Harvard telephone line that remained until 2017.[^2][^7]
The report found that Epstein visited the program more than forty times between 2010 and 2018, including six visits in 2018, often accompanied by young women in their twenties described as assistants. It found that Nowak approved posting on the PED website in 2014 a webpage featuring Epstein's photograph, biography, and charitable links under a tab labeled "Friends," on which Epstein was the only entry, and that the review described the program's account of Epstein's support as "flattering and false." Summers, former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean [[Henry Rosovsky]], and law professor [[Alan Dershowitz]] were among those recorded as attending PED events.[^2][^6]
The report found that Epstein visited the program more than forty times between 2010 and 2018, including six visits in 2018, often accompanied by young women in their twenties described as assistants. It found that Nowak approved posting on the PED website in 2014 a webpage featuring Epstein's photograph, biography, and charitable links under a tab labeled "Friends," on which Epstein was the only entry, and that the review described the program's account of Epstein's support as "flattering and false." Summers, former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean [[Henry Rosovsky]], and law professor [[Alan Dershowitz]] were among those recorded as attending PED events.[^2][^8]
### Sanctions and Aftermath
On March 26, 2021, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences [[Claudine Gay]] announced that Nowak had violated several university policies and imposed sanctions: he was barred for two years from serving as principal investigator on new grants, prohibited for two years from taking on new undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral advisees, and allowed to continue teaching undergraduate courses. Harvard announced that the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics would be closed and that Nowak's research would move into the mathematics department. Nowak had been placed on paid administrative leave in May 2020.[^1][^6]
On March 26, 2021, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences [[Claudine Gay]] announced that Nowak had violated several university policies and imposed sanctions: he was barred for two years from serving as principal investigator on new grants, prohibited for two years from taking on new undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral advisees, and allowed to continue teaching undergraduate courses. Harvard announced that the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics would be closed and that Nowak's research would move into the mathematics department. Nowak had been placed on paid administrative leave in May 2020.[^1][^8] The closure followed the review's finding that PED's administrator, "with Professor Nowak on notice," had sent Epstein's assistant unassigned access cards in 2017 so that Epstein could avoid the photograph and attestation required for a guest identification.[^9]
Harvard reported that it had identified $200,937 in unspent Epstein funds, which it pledged to direct to organizations supporting victims of human trafficking, and stated it would not accept future gifts from Epstein or his estate. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences lifted the sanctions in 2023, restoring Nowak's research and advising privileges in March of that year.[^2][^7]
Harvard reported that it had identified $200,937 in unspent Epstein funds, which it pledged to direct to organizations supporting victims of human trafficking, and stated it would not accept future gifts from Epstein or his estate. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences lifted the sanctions in 2023, restoring Nowak's research and advising privileges in March of that year.[^2][^10]
### The 2026 Files and Renewed Leave
In February 2026 the journal *Nature* reported, drawing on U.S. Department of Justice files, that Epstein's involvement with Nowak's work ran deeper than the 2020 review had described, including that Epstein reviewed page proofs of the 2010 eusociality paper and gave advice on responding to its critics. Nowak's name appears more than 8,000 times in the released files. *Nature* also reported that in 2009 Epstein routed scholarship money through Corina Tarnita, then Nowak's PhD student, to two young women studying mathematics at the University of Iași in Romania; Tarnita, by then at [[Princeton University]], told *Nature* the payments were legitimate scholarships and that she wished she had never known Epstein.[^10][^11]
In February 2026 the journal *Nature* reported, drawing on [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]] files, that Epstein's involvement with Nowak's work ran deeper than the 2020 review had described, including that Epstein reviewed page proofs of the 2010 eusociality paper and gave advice on responding to its critics. Nowak's name appears more than 8,000 times in the released files. *Nature* also reported that in 2009 Epstein routed scholarship money through Corina Tarnita, then Nowak's PhD student, to two young women studying mathematics at the University of Iași in Romania; Tarnita, by then at [[Princeton University]], told *Nature* the payments were legitimate scholarships and that she wished she had never known Epstein.[^11][^12]
A March 10, 2014 email chain published from the files showed Nowak writing to Epstein that "our spy was captured after completing her mission," to which Epstein replied "did you torture her." Nowak later said on his website that the line came from the video game *Civilization II*, where the response signals a successful operation. The files also showed that an Epstein assistant arranged 2014 travel for Nowak and a female Harvard graduate student to Epstein's Caribbean island.[^12][^11]
A March 10, 2014 email chain published from the files showed Nowak writing to Epstein that "our spy was captured after completing her mission," to which Epstein replied "did you torture her." Nowak later said on his website that the line came from the video game *Civilization II*, where the response signals a successful operation. The files also showed that an Epstein assistant arranged 2014 travel for Nowak and a female Harvard graduate student to Epstein's Caribbean island.[^12][^13]
On February 25, 2026, Harvard placed Nowak on paid administrative leave a second time, with FAS Dean [[Hopi Hoekstra]] citing new information from the released Department of Justice documents. In April 2026 Nowak resigned from the [[Austrian Academy of Sciences]] amid the renewed scrutiny.[^7][^13]
On February 25, 2026, Harvard placed Nowak on paid administrative leave a second time, with FAS Dean [[Hopi Hoekstra]] citing new information from the released Department of Justice documents. In April 2026 Nowak resigned from the [[Austrian Academy of Sciences]] amid the renewed scrutiny.[^10][^14]
### Before Harvard
Nowak's relationship with Epstein began in the late 1990s, while Nowak was at the Institute for Advanced Study and lecturing at Princeton, and Epstein supported his work at the institute before Harvard recruited him. Emails released in 2026 show that Nowak had use of Epstein's New York apartments and his Jaguar and made frequent trips to Epstein's homes in [[New Mexico]] and the Virgin Islands. After a 2002 trip Nowak wrote to [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]: "I would love to ride out with you for a whole day. Just you and me. both of us dressed as cowboys." Maxwell replied, "Riding off into the sunset w/ you sounds very dangerous - we might not come back," and signed off, "Be bad." A 2002 *[[New York (magazine)|New York]]* magazine profile reported that Nowak spoke with Epstein weekly and was flown to his homes to lecture, and quoted him: "Jeffrey has the mind of a physicist. It's like talking to a colleague in your field. . . . He has changed my life. Because of his support, I feel I can do anything I want." In September 2004 the photographer Rick Friedman photographed a Harvard dinner hosted by Epstein at which Nowak appeared with Epstein, Summers, Alan Dershowitz and the evolutionary biologist [[Robert Trivers]].[^7][^15][^16]
### After the Conviction
Soon after Epstein's 2009 release from the Palm Beach County jail, Nowak and his graduate student Corina Tarnita traveled to visit him. Nowak later told *[[The Boston Globe]]* that a spiritual adviser had told him he was "morally obligated to forgive someone who has served a prison sentence." Harvard's review found that Nowak understood from 2008 that President Drew Faust opposed taking Epstein's money but regarded the question as "unclear"; a January 2010 email described him as "trying to figure out a way to have Epstein give PED funds," and in December 2014 he asked the mathematics chair "confidentially" whether there was "an update concerning Jeffrey being an acceptable donor for Harvard?" Meanwhile donors Epstein introduced, [[Leon Black]] and the [[Falconwood Foundation]], paid 7.5 million dollars toward the program's rent, and Nowak, who sat on the [[John Templeton Foundation]]'s Board of Advisors, approved a 2015 letter falsely telling Templeton that an Epstein foundation had "established a gift" to the program in 2003. The review found that Nowak "knowingly approved PED's supplying false information" and that he "had no explanation" for it.[^9][^15]
When *[[Newsweek]]* prepared a 2011 story on Epstein, Epstein asked Nowak and another Harvard friend for character references, explaining that the story's focus was "on why do so many people want to talk to me and seem to ignore . . . their words . . . my crime." Nowak thanked Epstein for financial support in *SuperCooperators* (2011) and in at least six papers published between 2009 and 2012 on subjects including the spread of cancer and the evolution of HIV. In July 2019 he told *[[BuzzFeed News]]*: "The only donation from Epstein was received in 2003. The money was spent by about 2007," adding that "most research projects take many years from first idea until publication." Harvard's review, a year later, recorded Epstein's more than forty visits to Nowak's program between 2010 and 2018, his office and keycards, and the 2010 to 2015 gifts from donors he introduced.[^2][^15][^16][^17]
Nowak's lab administrator arranged Epstein's visits, food and building access. In 2010, when her sister was job-hunting in New York, Nowak suggested Epstein hire her, listing among her credentials that she had provided "legal advice on how to fire models who became fat"; Epstein arranged an interview. Tarnita, who thanked Epstein in her 2009 dissertation "for allowing me to participate in his tireless pursuit of knowledge," later had an Epstein assistant arrange a salon appointment for her, was offered payment for a medical procedure, and in 2011 was referred by Epstein to a lawyer who resolved a visa problem; when she told him of her Princeton job talks, he wrote, "i only wish you well." Tarnita told the *Globe*: "I never saw Epstein behave inappropriately. I am revolted by his depravity and wish I had never met him." The Harvard lecturer [[Moshe Hoffman]], who met Epstein at Nowak's lab in 2013, was taken to a Broadway show by an Epstein assistant at Epstein's expense and in February 2019 asked to stay at one of Epstein's apartments.[^15]
### Chomsky, Hillis, and Bin Sulayem
On October 28, 2015, Epstein wrote jointly to Nowak, the linguist [[Noam Chomsky]], and the computer scientist [[Danny Hillis]]: "would sat the 14th work? cambridge."[^18] On December 23, 2015, he wrote to Nowak and Chomsky together: "animals dream . the mouse is not really there when the cat is chasing it in its dream. if dreams represent a language with no memory or grammar, they could be the precursor to language."[^19]
In November 2016 Epstein arranged for [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], chairman of [[DP World]], to visit the [[MIT Media Lab]] and then Nowak's office. On November 29 Epstein's assistant [[Lesley Groff]] asked [[Joi Ito]] about his timing for meeting Epstein on November 30 "up at Harvard," adding, "Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito replied that bin Sulayem would be with him at the Media Lab and "I can take Sultan to Martin's place," and that Epstein had planned to "leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM."[^20]
### The Island and the Women
Nowak, who was married, twice asked Epstein by email about bringing women to Epstein's island, and at least once Epstein paid for Nowak and a guest to fly in premium seats and stay two nights. In January 2014 Epstein arranged for Nowak to speak by telephone with a woman; Nowak wrote that he was "nervous like a schoolboy" and added: "I love life! she sounds really nice on the phone. did you ever bring her to harvard? do i know her?" Nowak told the *Globe* he never had a "relationship" with anyone Epstein introduced him to. A photograph released by the Justice Department purports to show Nowak and [[George Church]] on Epstein's island.[^15][^21]
The *Globe* documented Nowak's contact with two young Eastern European women whom Epstein groomed and exploited and whose names the Justice Department redacted as victims; the newspaper identified them only as "the musician" and "the artist." In 2015 Epstein asked Nowak, who was traveling in Austria, to meet the musician there and advance her tuition for a music program; Nowak wrote that he was "investigating how to help her," their schedules did not overlap, and Epstein reimbursed her. Nowak told the *Globe* he never met her and does not recall her. Epstein introduced Nowak to the artist in 2018. In spring 2019, while the *[[Miami Herald]]* series was prompting renewed scrutiny, Nowak sent Epstein photographs of her with her artwork and wrote that she was working on her "master piece"; when Epstein paid for her to travel to New York, he texted her, "I understand you are going to see martin?" She replied, "Martin sayed [sic] that I can come to see him in Boston." Nowak and the artist, through her lawyer, said the visit did not happen; her lawyer said their contact, several emails and one call at Nowak's prompting, which she believes came at Epstein's suggestion, was not sexual. Nowak said he did not know she was being exploited and believed he was "merely supporting her career."[^15]
In May 2019 Nowak asked Epstein's assistant to remove all references to his lab from Epstein's website: "The sooner the better please. . . . Things are getting very strange here."[^15]
### The Bequest
Epstein's will, dated August 8, 2019, two days before his death, left Nowak 5 million dollars. Nowak said the bequest "came as a surprise" and that he has received no payment. In February 2026 he told the *Globe*: "I had no knowledge of his crimes. I was urged to cultivate Mr. Epstein to continue his financial support of academic endeavors." The *Globe* sent Harvard its questions on February 24, 2026; the next day Harvard announced that Summers had resigned and placed Nowak on leave.[^15][^21]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Gay Levies Sanctions Against Prof. Nowak for Contacts With Jeffrey Epstein," *The Harvard Crimson,* March 26, 2021, on the $6.5 million PED gift, the 40-plus visits, the sanctions, the program closure, and the May 2020 leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/26/gay-sanctions-nowak-epstein/
[^2]: "Harvard Asked Its Lawyers to Review the University's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Here's What They Found," *The Harvard Crimson,* May 2, 2020, on the $9,179,000 in 22 gifts from 1998 to 2008, Office 610 with keycard access, the telephone line to 2017, the visit count, the unspent $200,937, and the halt on gifts. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/5/2/harvard-concludes-epstein-review/
[^3]: Nowak, Martin A. *Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life.* Harvard University Press, 2006.
[^4]: "Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?," *Scientific American,* 2019, on the establishment of PED under Summers and Epstein's account to Vanity Fair. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-did-jeffrey-epstein-cultivate-famous-scientists/
[^5]: "Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University," Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, May 2020, on the donation totals, the establishment of PED, and the gift policy. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^6]: "Martin Nowak Sanctioned for Jeffrey Epstein Involvement," *Harvard Magazine,* March 2021, on the policy violations, the website descriptions, and the terms of the sanctions. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/martin-nowak-sanctioned-for-jeffrey-epstein-involvement
[^7]: "Harvard Places Math Professor Martin Nowak on Paid Administrative Leave Over Epstein Ties," *The Harvard Crimson,* February 25, 2026, on the 2023 restoration and the renewed leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/25/nowak-leave-epstein/
[^8]: Nowak, Martin A. "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," *Science* 314, no. 5805 (2006): 1560-1563, on kin selection, direct and indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection. https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1133755
[^9]: Nowak, Martin A., Corina E. Tarnita, and Edward O. Wilson. "The Evolution of Eusociality," *Nature* 466 (2010): 1057-1062, the paper that drew a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.
[^10]: "Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time," *Harvard Magazine,* February 2026, on the Nature reporting, the page-proof advice on the eusociality paper, the 2014 island travel, and the second leave announced February 27, 2026. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/martin-nowak-harvard-administrative-leave-epstein
[^11]: "Did you torture her?: Emails of Jeffrey Epstein and Martin Nowak reveal shocking details," *WION,* February 2026, on the Romanian scholarships routed through Tarnita, the Iasi students, and the island travel for Nowak and a graduate student. https://www.wionews.com/photos/-did-you-torture-her-emails-of-jeffrey-epstein-and-martin-nowak-reveal-shocking-details-all-about-6-5-million-to-harvard-and-private-travels-1770656438037
[^4]: Nowak, Martin A. "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," *Science* 314, no. 5805 (2006): 1560-1563, on kin selection, direct and indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection. https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1133755
[^5]: Nowak, Martin A., Corina E. Tarnita, and Edward O. Wilson. "The Evolution of Eusociality," *Nature* 466 (2010): 1057-1062, the paper that drew a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.
[^6]: "Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?," *Scientific American,* 2019, on the establishment of PED under Summers and Epstein's account to Vanity Fair. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-did-jeffrey-epstein-cultivate-famous-scientists/
[^7]: "Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University," Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, May 2020, on the donation totals, the establishment of PED, and the gift policy. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^8]: "Martin Nowak Sanctioned for Jeffrey Epstein Involvement," *Harvard Magazine,* March 2021, on the policy violations, the website descriptions, and the terms of the sanctions. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/martin-nowak-sanctioned-for-jeffrey-epstein-involvement
[^9]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard OGC and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 5, 10-17, 26-27, on Nowak's prior support at the Institute for Advanced Study, his understanding of Faust's decision, the 2010 and 2014 emails, the Black and Falconwood gifts, his Templeton advisory role, and the false-information finding. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 ; mirror: https://archive.org/download/epstein-docs_20240108/1.%20Harvard%20Epstein%20Report.pdf
[^10]: "Harvard Places Math Professor Martin Nowak on Paid Administrative Leave Over Epstein Ties," *The Harvard Crimson,* February 25, 2026, on the 2023 restoration and the renewed leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/25/nowak-leave-epstein/
[^11]: "Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time," *Harvard Magazine,* February 2026, on the Nature reporting, the page-proof advice on the eusociality paper, the 2014 island travel, and the second leave announced February 27, 2026. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/martin-nowak-harvard-administrative-leave-epstein
[^12]: "Professor Corina Tarnita on the Epstein Files: 'I Wish I Had Never Known Him'," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* 2026, on the March 10, 2014 "spy"/"torture" email exchange, Nowak's Civilization II explanation, and Tarnita's account of the scholarships. https://paw.princeton.edu/article/professor-corina-tarnita-epstein-files-i-wish-i-had-never-known-him
[^13]: "Harvard Professor Martin Nowak Resigns From Austrian Academy Amid Epstein Scrutiny," *The Harvard Crimson,* April 2, 2026, on Nowak's resignation from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/2/nowak-austrian-academy-resignation/
[^13]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on Epstein's payment for premium travel and two nights' stay for Nowak and a guest; see also "Did you torture her?: Emails of Jeffrey Epstein and Martin Nowak reveal shocking details," *WION,* February 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^14]: "Harvard Professor Martin Nowak Resigns From Austrian Academy Amid Epstein Scrutiny," *The Harvard Crimson,* April 2, 2026, on Nowak's resignation from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/2/nowak-austrian-academy-resignation/
[^15]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on the late-1990s origins, the apartments and car, the Maxwell messages, the 2004 dinner photograph, the 2009 visit, the Newsweek references, the lab administrator, Tarnita, Hoffman, the island travel, the January 2014 introduction, the musician and the artist, the May 2019 email, the bequest, and Nowak's statements. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/
[^16]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, quoting the 2002 *New York* magazine profile. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^17]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on Nowak's statement, the *SuperCooperators* and journal acknowledgments, and the 2012 lunch at his institute. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements
[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00842252, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky, Martin Nowak and Danny Hillis, October 28, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00842252.pdf
[^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00838191, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky and Martin Nowak, December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00838191.pdf
[^20]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain among Lesley Groff, Joichi Ito, the MIT Media Lab director's office and DP World staff, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf
[^21]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026, on the island photograph and the will dated August 8, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive

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---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- MichaelReiter
- JeffreyEpstein
- PalmBeach
- PalmBeachPoliceDepartment
- Police
- NonProsecutionAgreement
alias:
- Chief Michael Reiter
- Michael S. Reiter
- Chief Reiter
summary: "Michael Reiter was the Palm Beach police chief from 2001 to 2009 who opened the 2005 Epstein investigation, sought the State Attorney's disqualification, and referred the case to the FBI."
location: "Palm Beach, Florida"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "chief of police"
start: 2001-03
end: 2009
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Palm Beach Police Department]]"
role: "officer and commander"
start: 1981
end: 2001
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
start: 2005-03
end: 2006-07
fn: 3
- type: founded
with: "[[Michael Reiter and Associates]]"
start: 2009
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Michael Reiter is an American former police officer who served as chief of the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] in [[Palm Beach, Florida]], from 2001 to 2009. His department opened the March 2005 investigation of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], and after State Attorney [[Barry Krischer]]'s grand jury returned a single solicitation count in 2006, Reiter asked for Krischer's disqualification and took the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. When federal prosecutors concluded the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]] in September 2007, they instructed the official briefing him not to tell him about its money provisions.[^1][^2][^3]
### Career
Reiter joined the Palm Beach Police Department in 1981, serving 28 years there, the last eight as chief after his appointment in March 2001. His firm's published biography states that he served on the executive board of the FBI's [[Joint Terrorism Task Force]] and directed countywide election security planning, and that he is a graduate of the [[FBI National Academy]] and of the [[Harvard Kennedy School]] program for senior executives in state and local government. After leaving the department in 2009 he founded [[Michael Reiter and Associates]], a Palm Beach security consulting firm.[^1][^4]
### The Donation
On the Palm Beach Post's account, Epstein gave the Palm Beach Police Department 90,000 dollars before the investigation began, and the money was returned after his arrest. Reiter, answering 2026 statements by Representative [[Melanie Stansbury]] about the police handling of the case, said she was "clearly misinformed about the facts of this case" and said his department "stood alone among local criminal justice agencies in advocating for a full prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, one that should have resulted in hundreds of felony counts and a life sentence."[^5]
### The Investigation
In March 2005 the parents of a 14-year-old girl complained to the department that Epstein had paid her for a massage at [[358 El Brillo Way]]. Detective [[Joseph Recarey]] led the inquiry, which took sworn taped statements from five victims and seventeen witnesses, subpoenaed telephone records, and matched calls from Epstein's assistant [[Sarah Kellen]] to victims against the arrival records of [[Lolita Express|Epstein's plane]] at [[Palm Beach International Airport]]. Reiter told NBC News that when police executed their search warrant the house had been cleaned and a surveillance computer removed, "with all the wires left hanging there," and that Epstein's lawyers seemed to know "minute details that nobody else knew" before they had been disclosed.[^2][^4]
On May 1, 2006 Recarey swore a probable cause affidavit recommending five second-degree felony counts. That year Reiter wrote to Krischer that the State Attorney's handling of the case was "highly unusual" and asked him to consider whether "good and sufficient reason exists to require your disqualification from prosecution of these cases." On July 19, 2006 the grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution. Because the police chief and the lead detective "were dissatisfied with the State Attorney's handling of the case," the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] later recorded, "they referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in West Palm Beach." Reiter said the agents called it "an easy case."[^2][^3][^4][^6]
### The Referral to the FBI
Reiter testified in a 2009 civil deposition that when his department first brought the case to the State Attorney's Office in 2005, Barry Krischer told him "Let's go for it," because Epstein was "somebody we have to stop"; in 2006, he said, Krischer suggested that the police issue Epstein a notice to appear on misdemeanor charges. "I knew that it didn't really matter what the facts were in this case, it was pretty clear to me that Mr. Krischer did not want to prosecute this case." On May 1, 2006 he sent Krischer probable cause affidavits and a case filing package covering Epstein, one of his personal assistants, and a young local woman whom Epstein had first victimized and then used to recruit other girls, with a transmittal letter urging Krischer "to examine the unusual course that your office's handling of this matter has taken." Asked about favoritism to the defense, Krischer later told the Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility]]: "I just don't play that way."[^7]
The federal prosecutors' own chronology of the case opens with Reiter's May 2006 letter and his August 2, 2006 letter stating that he was unhappy with the State Attorney's handling of the case and was referring it to the FBI; the federal case file, code-named "Operation Leap Year," was opened in late July 2006. On August 16, 2006 the Fox News host Bill O'Reilly told viewers that Reiter believed Krischer was "in the tank for Epstein" and had "handed his evidence over to the FBI because he believes Krischer will not prosecute the case honestly"; a transcript of the segment was kept among Epstein's papers.[^8][^9]
### Kept Out of the Agreement
The U.S. Attorney's Office under [[Alexander Acosta]] signed the non-prosecution agreement on September 24, 2007. That day the line prosecutor, [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]], wrote to Epstein's lawyer [[Jay Lefkowitz]]: "I know that Andy promised Chief Reiter an update when a resolution was achieved.... Rolando is calling, but Rolando knows not to tell Chief Reiter about the money issue, just about what crimes Mr. Epstein is pleading guilty to and the amount of time that has been agreed to. Rolando also is telling Chief Reiter not to disclose the outcome to anyone." "Andy" was [[Andrew Lourie]], manager of the office's West Palm Beach branch.[^3]
### The Plea Hearing and the Victim List
When Epstein changed his plea in state court on June 30, 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office decided that victim notification could come only from a state investigator, and First Assistant [[Jeffrey Sloman]] asked Reiter to help; on June 28 the line prosecutor reported that Reiter "is going to notify victims about the plea." She told OPR that she sent Reiter a list of the victims with their telephone numbers and asked him to destroy it. Reiter testified that he had asked for the list because the state indictment did not include all the victims his department had identified and he "wanted to make sure that some prosecution body had considered all of our victims"; he showed it to the lead detective, who said "they're all there," and then destroyed it. In her 2008 declaration the prosecutor conceded that "all known victims were not notified."[^8][^10]
### Later Statements
Reiter described the Epstein outcome to NBC News in September 2019 as "the worst failure of the criminal justice system" in modern times, said "I've never seen anything like it," and said he was "embarrassed" by how the system had treated the victims while maintaining that his department "did our job." When Recarey died in May 2018 Reiter said: "Joe Recarey was among the best people I ever knew." In 2026 he said the department had been "the only law enforcement agency to successfully investigate Epstein in a manner that resulted in his felony conviction, incarceration and registration as a sexual offender," because it "refused to allow the rest of the local criminal justice system to look the other way."[^4][^5][^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Michael Reiter and Associates, "About" (firm-published biography of Michael Reiter). https://www.michaelreiterandassociates.com/
[^2]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
[^3]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 9 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraph 52; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, Executive Summary, November 2020, p. i. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^4]: Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rich Schapiro, "Ex-Florida police chief: Epstein case 'the worst failure of the criminal justice system' in modern times," *NBC News,* September 20, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-florida-police-chief-epstein-case-worst-failure-criminal-justice-n1057226
[^5]: Hannah Phillips, "Congresswoman's claims about Epstein police probe were misleading," *Palm Beach Post* (via AOL), May 13, 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/congresswomans-claims-epstein-police-probe-181112537.html
[^6]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284, Prior DOJ Disclosures, Office of Professional Responsibility report on the Southern District of Florida's resolution of the Epstein investigation, November 2020, pp. 14 to 16 and n. 17. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Prior%20DOJ%20Disclosures/Memos.%20&%20Correspondence/EFTA02847284.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00224943, DataSet 9, "Epstein Investigation Timeline," Exhibit A-1, privileged chronology of the federal investigation, pp. 1, 37. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00224943.pdf
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00214226, DataSet 9, FoxNews.com transcript, "The O'Reilly Factor," Talking Points Memo, August 16, 2006. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00214226.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02847284 (see note 8), pp. 231 to 232 and n. 353.
[^11]: "Joseph Recarey Obituary (1967-2018)," *Palm Beach Post* via Legacy.com, 2018. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/palmbeachpost/name/joseph-recarey-obituary?id=11914024

2
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Mochtar Riady.md
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@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ created: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Mochtar Riady is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who built the [[Lippo Group]]; according to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, citing *Forbes,* he found it necessary to "Indonesianize" his name, which had been Li Mo Tie. He first met [[Jackson Stephens]] and [[Witt Stephens]] of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] in 1976, when he was looking into buying [[Bert Lance]]'s share of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]; that purchase fell through, and in 1978 the two families formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in [[Hong Kong]].[^1] The Riady and Stephens families later controlled [[Worthen Bank]] in Little Rock together.[^1][^2]
Mochtar Riady is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who built the [[Lippo Group]]; according to the [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], citing *Forbes,* he found it necessary to "Indonesianize" his name, which had been Li Mo Tie. He first met [[Jackson Stephens]] and [[Witt Stephens]] of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] in 1976, when he was looking into buying [[Bert Lance]]'s share of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]; that purchase fell through, and in 1978 the two families formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in [[Hong Kong]].[^1] The Riady and Stephens families later controlled [[Worthen Bank]] in Little Rock together.[^1][^2]
### Clinton

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- SarahRansome
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- SexTrafficking
- GiuffreVMaxwell
- FederalTortClaimsAct
alias:
- Jane Doe 43
summary: "Epstein trafficking survivor who sued Epstein, Maxwell, Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff in 2017 as Jane Doe 43, settled in 2018, and in 2023 joined Maria Farmer's 600 million dollar FBI claim."
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein]]"
role: "plaintiff"
start: 2017-01-26
end: 2018-12-20
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Marsh Law Firm]]"
reverse: true
start: 2023-07-20
fn: 4
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Sarah Ransome is a survivor of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s trafficking operation who, on January 26, 2017, sued Epstein, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], [[Sarah Kellen]], [[Lesley Groff]], and Natalya Malyshev in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] under the federal sex-trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. section 1591. She filed as Jane Doe 43 and later litigated under her own name. The case (No. 1:17-cv-00616) was assigned to Judge [[John G. Koeltl]], with Magistrate Judge [[Sarah Netburn]], and was dismissed with prejudice on a stipulated settlement on December 20, 2018. Kellen and Groff, two of the defendants, had been named as potential co-conspirators and immunized in Epstein's 2007 [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^1][^2]
### The Suit
Ransome alleged that Epstein, Maxwell, Kellen, and Groff told her that Epstein would use his wealth and influence to secure her admission to the [[Fashion Institute of Technology]] in exchange for her giving massages, while they knew she was being recruited for sexual purposes, and that she was abused by Epstein and Maxwell in 2006 and 2007. On August 8, 2018, Koeltl denied five motions to dismiss, for reasons stated on the record at oral argument (ECF No. 140). The Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice (ECF No. 189) recites a stipulation "entered into by and among Plaintiff, Sarah Ransome, and Defendants, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sarah Kellen and" Groff, each side bearing its own fees and costs; the next day she voluntarily dismissed her claims against Malyshev, who had never appeared (ECF No. 190). The terms were not disclosed.[^1][^2]
### Giuffre v. Maxwell
Ransome was deposed in 2017 as a witness in [[Giuffre v. Maxwell]] and produced dozens of photographs showing Epstein, Maxwell, herself, and other young women on Epstein's island, [[Little St. James]], some of them taken by the modeling agent [[Jean-Luc Brunel]] and given to her by him. Documents unsealed in January 2024 also included emails she sent to a [[New York Post]] reporter in the fall of 2016 making allegations about [[Bill Clinton]], [[Donald Trump]], [[Prince Andrew]], and [[Richard Branson]] and describing videotapes she said she possessed but could not produce. In an October 2016 message she told the reporter she wanted to "retract everything I have said to you and walk away from this." No evidence supporting those allegations entered the case record, and she told [[The New Yorker]] in 2019 that she had invented the claims of videotapes to draw attention to Epstein's conduct. The four men have denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.[^3]
### Claim Against the FBI
On July 20, 2023, through Jennifer Freeman of the [[Marsh Law Firm]], Ransome and [[Maria Farmer]] presented a claim under the [[Federal Tort Claims Act]] to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] for 600 million dollars, on behalf of themselves "as well as all other Epstein victims trafficked in the Epstein sex trafficking conspiracy after August 29, 1996," the date of Farmer's first report of Epstein and Maxwell to law enforcement. The claim alleges that the victims suffered "as a result of negligent failures, acts and omissions" of the Bureau.[^4] Farmer sued the [[United States]] on her own claim in May 2025.[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Jane Doe 43 v. Epstein, No. 1:17-cv-00616-JGK-SN (S.D.N.Y.), filed Jan. 26, 2017; Order, ECF No. 140 (Aug. 8, 2018); Agreed Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, ECF No. 189 (Dec. 20, 2018); Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, ECF No. 190 (Dec. 21, 2018). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4581676/jane-doe-43-v-epstein/
[^2]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 22-1426-cr, slip op. at 6 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024), reported at 118 F.4th 256, quoting the NPA at A-178. https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2024/09/17/united_states_v._maxwell.pdf
[^3]: "Discredited claims about Clinton, Trump mentioned in latest batch of Epstein docs," *ABC News,* January 9, 2024. https://abcnews.com/US/new-round-jeffrey-epstein-court-documents-unsealed/story?id=106174129
[^4]: Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95), submitted to the FTCA Claims Administrator, FBI Headquarters, signed July 20, 2023. https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Farmer-and-Ransome-Jeffrey-Epstein-Notice-of-Claim-FBI-07-20-2023.pdf
[^5]: Complaint, Farmer v. United States, No. 1:25-cv-01709-RBW (D.D.C. May 29, 2025). https://www.jamesmarshlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Doc-1-Complaint-05-29-2025.pdf

71
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---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- Harvard
- Linguistics
- EdgeFoundation
- AlanDershowitz
- NonProsecutionAgreement
alias:
- Steven Pinker
- Steven Arthur Pinker
- Pinker
summary: "Steven Pinker is a Harvard psychologist and linguist whose 2007 reading of the federal enticement statute was cited by Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers to federal prosecutors; he says he acted unpaid and now regrets it."
born: 1954
location: "Cambridge, Massachusetts"
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
role: "Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology"
start: 2003
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[John Brockman]]"
reverse: true
role: "literary agent, Brockman Inc."
fn: 4
---
Steven Pinker (born 1954) is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist and linguist, the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at [[Harvard University]], and a client of the literary agent [[John Brockman]]. In July 2007, while federal prosecutors in Florida were weighing an indictment of [[Jeffrey Epstein]], Epstein's lawyers [[Alan Dershowitz]] and [[Gerald Lefcourt]] told the prosecutors that Pinker had analyzed the federal internet-enticement statute and found their narrow reading of it "the sole rational reading." Pinker says he wrote the opinion as an unpaid favor to Dershowitz, did not recall being told it concerned Epstein, never took Epstein's money, and regrets the letter.[^1][^2]
### Psychologist and Brockman Client
Pinker taught at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] before moving to Harvard in 2003. His books on language, cognition and human nature, among them *The Language Instinct* (1994), *The Blank Slate* (2002), *The Better Angels of Our Nature* (2011) and *Enlightenment Now* (2018), were sold through Brockman's agency, Brockman Inc., and he was a regular contributor to Brockman's [[Edge Foundation|Edge]], which drew most of its revenue from 2001 to 2017 from Epstein foundations. A December 31, 2010 email from Brockman to Epstein, released in November 2025, reads: "Thanks to Steven Pinker for suggesting this year's EDGE Question." No direct correspondence between Pinker and Epstein was reported in the released files.[^3][^4][^5]
Pinker's first contact with Epstein came through Brockman. "In 02, my lit agent invited me to join a group of east-coast TED speakers Epstein flew to CA," Pinker wrote in 2019. The group on the 2002 flight to the [[TED Conference]] included [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Daniel Dennett]] and the Brockmans.[^5][^6]
Epstein held an appointment as a Visiting Fellow in Harvard's Psychology Department, Pinker's department, for 2005 and 2006, on the recommendation of its chair, [[Stephen Kosslyn]], whose research Epstein had funded with 200,000 dollars; Kosslyn acknowledged that Epstein lacked the qualifications for the research he proposed. Epstein also served on Harvard's Mind, Brain, and Behavior advisory committee, and his foundation's press releases billed him as a "Harvard philanthropist."[^2][^7]
### The 2007 Defense Letter
After Epstein's 2006 indictment in Palm Beach County, the [[United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]] prepared federal charges; by May 2007 Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Ann Marie Villafana|A. Marie Villafaña]] had drafted a prosecution memorandum and an indictment. One statute under consideration was 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b), which punishes anyone who, "using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce," entices a minor into prostitution or illegal sexual activity, with a ten-year minimum sentence. Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School colleague and personal friend of Epstein, asked Pinker to parse the wording.[^2][^8]
On July 6, 2007, a letter on the letterhead of Lefcourt's firm, signed by Lefcourt and Dershowitz, went by Federal Express to First Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Jeffrey Sloman]], [[Matthew Menchel]], [[Andrew Lourie]], the deputy chief of the office's Northern Region, and Villafaña. It argued that § 2422(b) did not reach Epstein because the government had not shown he used the telephone or internet as the means of the enticement itself:[^1][^2]
> To confirm our view of the "plain meaning" of the words, we asked Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor at Harvard University's Department of Psychology . . . a noted linguist, to analyze the statute to determine the natural and linguistically logical reading or readings of the section. Specifically, we asked whether the statute contemplates necessarily that the means of communication must be the vehicle through which the persuading or enticing directly occurs. According to Dr. Pinker, that is the sole rational reading.
Pinker's own opinion letter was annexed to the defense submission at Tab A. Eleven weeks later, on September 24, 2007, the office signed the [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement]], which dropped the federal case in exchange for two state guilty pleas and immunized named and unnamed co-conspirators. Epstein pleaded guilty in June 2008, received an eighteen-month sentence and served about thirteen months in the Palm Beach County stockade, much of it on daytime work release. The July 2007 letter entered the public record in February 2016 as Exhibit 46 to the victims' motion for partial summary judgment in [[Doe v. United States]], the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]] suit over the agreement. The U.S. Attorney who approved the agreement, [[Alexander Acosta]], resigned as Secretary of Labor on July 12, 2019, the day *[[BuzzFeed News]]* reported Pinker's role.[^1][^2][^8]
Dershowitz said he did not remember Pinker's involvement until he saw the document again: "My expertise was in the relationship between law and science, so it was natural that I would call on Pinker." Asked what weight the argument carried, he said: "It was one among many arguments as to why the statutes were not applicable. . . . In the end, the reason we got the deal we did is we had many persuasive arguments." Pinker said he had regularly given Dershowitz linguistic opinions for various cases: "I don't recall his telling me that the question pertained to the Epstein defense. I was not aware of the charges against Epstein at the time. And no, I was not paid for the letter, it's something that Alan and I do regularly, as colleagues." He added: "Though I did this as a favor to a friend and colleague, and not as either a paid expert witness or as a part of a defense team, knowing what I know now I do regret writing the letter."[^2]
### The Arizona Photograph and Later Statements
In 2014 Pinker was photographed beside Epstein and the physicist [[Lawrence Krauss]] at the fifth-anniversary gala of Krauss's [[Origins Project]] at [[Arizona State University]], a project that took money from Epstein's foundation [[Enhanced Education]] and from Epstein's client [[Leon Black]]. When the photograph circulated after Epstein's July 2019 arrest, Pinker wrote: "I have no relationship with Epstein & have taken no funding from him. Our circles have occasionally overlapped. . . . In 14, Krauss seated me next to him at a lunch, & someone snapped a photo." He told *BuzzFeed News*: "My appearing in a couple of photos with Epstein is a bitter irony for me, because unlike a number of friends and colleagues I could never stand the guy and always tried to keep my distance. . . . Frankly I never understood why so many colleagues treated him as a serious intellectual."[^6][^9]
After the November 2025 release of Epstein's emails, Pinker restated his position, saying that "Dershowitz often asks me questions about syntax and semantics of laws," that he now regretted the letter and found Epstein's behavior "reprehensible," and that "the annoying irony is that I could never stand the guy, never took research funding from him, and always tried to keep my distance." He described Epstein dismissing observations "with an adolescent wisecrack" and repeated a friend's remark that Epstein had "voted me off the island." Pinker noted that the 2002 flight predated Epstein's indictment and that the 2014 lunch came after he had served his sentence.[^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Letter from Gerald B. Lefcourt and Alan M. Dershowitz to Jeffrey Sloman, Matthew Menchel, Andrew Lourie and A. Marie Villafaña, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, July 6, 2007, filed as Exhibit 46 to Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2's Consolidated Statement of Undisputed Material Facts and Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, *Doe v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 361-46 (entered February 10, 2016), 24 pp., quoting Pinker's opinion and annexing it at Tab A. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.361.46.pdf ; docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/
[^2]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein's Legal Defense Wound Up With A Footnote From Steven Pinker" ("Jeffrey Epstein's First Criminal Case Was Helped By A Famous Harvard Language Expert"), *BuzzFeed News,* July 12, 2019, on the statute, the letter's text, Dershowitz's and Pinker's statements, the Mind, Brain, and Behavior committee, and Acosta's resignation. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-alan-dershowitz-steven-pinker
[^3]: Pinker, Steven. *The Language Instinct.* William Morrow, 1994; *The Blank Slate.* Viking, 2002; *The Better Angels of Our Nature.* Viking, 2011; *Enlightenment Now.* Viking, 2018.
[^4]: Aldhous, Peter. "How Jeffrey Epstein Bankrolled The Exclusive Edge Foundation And Reaped The Benefits," *BuzzFeed News,* 2019, on Epstein-linked foundations supplying 638,000 dollars of the roughly 857,000 dollars Edge received from 2001 to 2017 and on Brockman's client roster. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-john-brockman-edge-foundation
[^5]: "Release of emails renews interest in Harvard professor Steven Pinker's link to Jeffrey Epstein," *The Boston Globe,* November 19, 2025, on the December 31, 2010 Brockman email, the 2002 TED flight passengers, and Pinker's 2025 statements. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/19/metro/steven-pinker-epstein-ties/
[^6]: Pinker, Steven (@sapinker), reply to @HeerJeet, X (Twitter), July 11, 2019, as reproduced in Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations
[^7]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard University Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 3-8, on Epstein's Visiting Fellow appointment in the Psychology Department and Kosslyn's recommendation. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^8]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435 (Marra, J.), reported at 359 F. Supp. 3d 1201, on the prosecution memorandum, the draft indictment and the September 24, 2007 agreement; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, *Investigation into the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida's Resolution of Its 2006-2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein,* Executive Summary, November 2020, pp. i-xi. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4502088/doe-v-united-states/ ; https://www.justice.gov/opr/page/file/1336471/dl
[^9]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on the 2014 Origins Project gala photograph and the Epstein and Black funding of the project. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.md Normal file
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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- SultanAhmedBinSulayem
- DPWorld
- Dubai
- UnitedArabEmirates
- JeffreyEpstein
- JPMorgan
alias:
- Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem
- Sultan bin Sulayem
- Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem
- Sultan Ahmed Sulayem
summary: "Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem is the Emirati executive who led Dubai's state ports operator DP World until February 2026, when he was replaced after the release of his correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein."
location: "Dubai, United Arab Emirates"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[DP World]]"
role: "chairman and group chief executive"
end: 2026-02-13
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Dubai World]]"
role: "chairman"
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem is an Emirati businessman who for decades headed [[DP World]], the [[Dubai]] government-controlled ports and logistics company that operates the [[Jebel Ali]] port and more than sixty ports and terminals worldwide. He earlier chaired the Dubai World conglomerate, which then included the property developer [[Nakheel]], builder of the Palm and World artificial islands.[^1][^2] In 2019 an internal [[JPMorgan Chase|JPMorgan]] compliance review of [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s correspondence described him as a close associate of Epstein and "a senior [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."[^3] He was replaced as DP World's chairman and chief executive on February 13, 2026, three days after Representative [[Ro Khanna]] read his name on the floor of the House from redacted pages of the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s Epstein release.[^1]
### Epstein Correspondence
A January 2012 DP World email chain in Epstein's files forwarded a letter from the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and [[New Jersey]] confirming that it would induct bin Sulayem into its 19th Annual International Maritime Hall of Fame at the [[Grand Hyatt New York]] on May 9, 2012, before "350-380 CEOs and senior executives." DP World's chief operating officer, [[Anil Wats]], asked him which guests he wished to invite. The chain reached Epstein under a cover note, its sender not shown, reading: "Dear Jeffrey Will you be able to attend and can you suggest me names of others I can invite to sit at my table."[^4]
On November 29, 2016 Epstein's assistant, [[Lesley Groff]], wrote to [[Joi Ito]], director of the [[MIT Media Lab]]: "I understand you and Sultan will be meeting with Jeffrey on Wed. Nov. 30th up at Harvard...can you please let me know your timing? Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito replied that "Sultan will be with me at the Media Lab," that he was "locking in a bunch of meetings for Sultan at the Media Lab from 9:30AM-11AM," and that "Jeffrey originally told me that he was going to drop by the Media Lab at 11AM and then leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM." A DP World employee in the chairman's office wrote that bin Sulayem would arrive in [[Boston]] on the evening of November 30, stay at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and hold meetings on December 1; Ito's assistant told Groff that Ito planned to leave the Media Lab with the party around 11 a.m. for [[Harvard University|Harvard]].[^5] [[Martin Nowak]]'s [[Program for Evolutionary Dynamics]] at Harvard had been founded with a 6.5 million dollar gift from Epstein.[^6]
After Epstein's July 2019 arrest, JPMorgan's compliance staff conducted an internal review code-named "Project Jeep." Its October 2019 summary of Epstein's emails, quoted by the [[United States Virgin Islands]] in its 2023 suit against the bank, stated: "Jeffrey Epstein appears to maintain a particularly close relationship with [[Prince Andrew]] the [Duke] of York and Lord [[Peter Mandelson]], a senior member of the British Government. He also appears to have a close relationship with Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem who is a senior UAE official involved in ownership of the Dubai Ports."[^3]
### Disclosure and Removal
Bin Sulayem's name was redacted in the documents released by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] in January 2026. On February 10, 2026 Khanna identified him on the floor of the [[United States House of Representatives|House]], together with five other men whose names had been redacted, saying the government had shielded their names "for no apparent reason"; the department then partially unredacted some of the pages he cited.[^1] [[Al Jazeera]] reported that the released correspondence covered deals, a visit by bin Sulayem to Epstein's island, the sharing of business and political contacts, and salacious remarks about women, including an exchange with bin Sulayem's email address in which Epstein wrote, "I loved the torture video."[^1] The [[Associated Press]] reported that some emails referred to pornography, sexual massages, and escorts, and that the emails did not appear to implicate bin Sulayem in Epstein's alleged crimes.[^2] [[CNN]] reported that his name appeared thousands of times in the release, that Epstein had described him as "funny," "educated," "a master," and a "best and trusted friend," and that bin Sulayem had not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing.[^7]
In the same week the British government's development investor, [[British International Investment]], and the Canadian pension fund [[La Caisse]], which had invested 2.5 billion dollars in 2022 in Jebel Ali Port, the Jebel Ali Free Zone, and the National Industries Park, paused new investment with DP World.[^1] On February 13, 2026 the Dubai Media Office announced, without naming bin Sulayem, that [[Essa Kazim]], governor of the [[Dubai International Financial Centre]], had been appointed chairman of DP World and [[Yuvraj Narayan]], its former chief financial officer, group chief executive. British International Investment said the same day that it would resume investment alongside the company.[^1][^2] DP World did not respond to the Associated Press's requests for comment.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Dubai-based DP World replaces chief named in Epstein files." *Al Jazeera,* February 13, 2026. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/13/logistics-giant-dp-world-replaces-chief-named-in-epstein-files
[^2]: "Businessman named in Jeffrey Epstein files replaced as chairman of major logistics company." *Associated Press,* via *NBC News,* February 13, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/sultan-ahmed-bin-sulayem-jeffrey-epstein-rcna258902
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02808715, Court Records, Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 22-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y.), letter motion to Judge Jed S. Rakoff seeking leave to reopen depositions, June 7, 2023, p. 3. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank%2C%20N.A.%2C%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/EFTA02808715.pdf
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02033989, DataSet 10, forwarded DP World email chain, "Confirmation of Sultan Ahmed Sulayem for Hall of Fame, May 9," January 25-26, 2012. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02033989.pdf
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," among Lesley Groff, Joichi Ito, Yuko Barnaby, and DP World staff, November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf
[^6]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard Office of the General Counsel and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208
[^7]: "Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem: Powerful Dubai tycoon replaced after DOJ reveals sexually explicit emails with Epstein." *CNN Business,* February 13, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/business/epstein-files-bin-sulayem-friendship-intl

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Terje Rød-Larsen.md Normal file
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---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- TerjeRodLarsen
- Norway
- OsloAccords
- InternationalPeaceInstitute
- UnitedNations
- JeffreyEpstein
alias:
- Terje Rød-Larsen
- Terje Rod-Larsen
- Terje Roed-Larsen
- Terje Rød Larsen
summary: "Terje Rød-Larsen is the Norwegian sociologist and diplomat who helped open the Oslo channel, led the International Peace Institute until 2020, and borrowed 130,000 dollars from Jeffrey Epstein in 2013."
born: 1947-11-22
location: "Oslo, Norway; New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Fafo]]"
role: "founder and director of the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science"
start: 1981
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United Nations]]"
role: "Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Under-Secretary-General"
start: 1999-09
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[International Peace Institute]]"
role: "president"
start: 2005
end: 2020-10
fn: 2
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Mona Juul]]"
role: "husband"
fn: 4
- type: investigated
with: "[[Økokrim]]"
reverse: true
role: "formally named as a suspect (siktet) for complicity in aggravated corruption"
start: 2026-02
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Terje Rød-Larsen (born November 22, 1947) is a Norwegian sociologist and diplomat. As director of the [[Fafo]] research institute he helped establish, at the request of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]], the secret channel that produced the 1993 [[Oslo Accords|Declaration of Principles]]; he later served as a [[United Nations]] Under-Secretary-General and as president of the [[International Peace Institute]] (IPI) in New York from 2005 to 2020.[^1][^2] He resigned from IPI in October 2020 after the disclosure that he had secured donations from foundations linked to [[Jeffrey Epstein]] and a personal loan of 130,000 dollars from Epstein in 2013.[^3] In February 2026 Norway's economic crime unit, [[Økokrim]], formally named his wife, the diplomat [[Mona Juul]], as a suspect in aggravated corruption and Rød-Larsen as a suspect in complicity in it, in connection with their dealings with Epstein; both deny wrongdoing.[^2][^4]
### Fafo and the Oslo Channel
Rød-Larsen studied history, philosophy, and sociology and taught at the universities of [[Bergen]] and [[Oslo]] before founding the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science in Oslo in 1981. As its director he began a study of living conditions among Palestinians in the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]]. The contacts he made with Palestinians and Israelis during that project led the PLO in 1992 to ask him to help set up a secret channel for negotiations with the government of [[Israel]]; those negotiations ended with the signing of the Declaration of Principles at the [[White House]] on September 13, 1993. Juul also took part in the Oslo negotiations.[^1][^3]
In 1993 he was appointed ambassador and special adviser to the Norwegian foreign minister for the [[Middle East]] peace process, and in mid-1994 United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories, based in Gaza. He returned to Norway at the end of 1996 to serve as Minister of Planning, and in January 1998 was again appointed ambassador and special adviser on the peace process. On September 21, 1999 Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] appointed him United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and his personal representative to the PLO and the [[Palestinian Authority]], with the rank of Under-Secretary-General.[^1]
### The International Peace Institute and Epstein
On July 22, 2013 Epstein wrote to [[Boris Nikolic]], the science adviser to [[Bill Gates]], and to Rød-Larsen: "ipi has not heard from gabriella ."[^5] In the same year Rød-Larsen took a personal loan of 130,000 dollars from Epstein, which the institute later said he repaid in full from his own funds.[^3]
On October 13, 2018, eleven days after the journalist [[Jamal Khashoggi]] disappeared in the Saudi consulate in [[Istanbul]], Rød-Larsen forwarded to Epstein a message from [[Fabrice Aidan]] containing [[Elliott Abrams]]'s *[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]* column "Why Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance will haunt the Saudi government," distributed by the [[Council on Foreign Relations]].[^6]
After the Norwegian business daily *[[Dagens Næringsliv]]* reported on the relationship among Rød-Larsen, IPI, and Epstein, IPI's board, chaired by the former Australian prime minister [[Kevin Rudd]], announced on October 29, 2020 that Rød-Larsen had resigned and had apologized for his "failed judgment" in securing donations from Epstein-related foundations and for the personal loan, "neither of which the board was aware of." The board said "IPI never made a payment to Epstein," called Epstein's crimes "hideous," and said it would "conduct an immediate audit of IPI's finances." [[Adam Lupel]] became acting president. In October 2020 UN Secretary-General [[António Guterres]] informed IPI that he had decided not to serve outside entities "whether in an honorary, advisory, or other capacity."[^3] IPI's relationship with the Norwegian foreign ministry, which had funded it, had earlier been criticized by Norway's Office of the Auditor General.[^2]
### The 2026 Disclosures and the Økokrim Charges
The January 2026 release of [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] files under the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act]] reopened the matter. According to reports on the release, Epstein's will, amended two days before his death in August 2019, left several million dollars, reported as 10 million dollars, to the two youngest children of Rød-Larsen and Juul. Rød-Larsen's lawyer, [[John Christian Elden]], said that neither Rød-Larsen nor anyone else in the family knew of the bequest in advance.[^2][^4]
Juul, then Norway's ambassador to [[Jordan]] and [[Iraq]], was suspended and on February 8, 2026 resigned. She told the news agency NTB that it had been "imprecise" to describe her contact with Epstein as minimal, that it had "originated in her husband's relationship with Epstein," and that it had been "sporadic and private, not part of her official duties." Foreign Minister [[Espen Barth Eide]] called her resignation "correct and necessary," said her contact showed "a serious lapse in judgment," and said Rød-Larsen "also had shown poor judgment regarding Epstein." The ministry opened a review of its funding of and contact with IPI during Rød-Larsen's presidency.[^4]
On February 9, 2026 Økokrim announced that it had opened an investigation and formally named (siktet) Juul as a suspect in aggravated corruption, related to her positions in the foreign ministry, and Rød-Larsen as a suspect in aggravated corruption through complicity; the Associated Press reported that Juul "is suspected of gross corruption" and that Økokrim suspects Rød-Larsen "of aiding and abetting gross corruption." Its chief, [[Pål Lønseth]], described the investigation as extensive and likely to be long-running and did not rule out naming further suspects. Investigators searched an apartment in Oslo's Frogner district and the home of a witness. Elden said the suspicion covered a 2018 transaction for that apartment and travel preceding it, that his client was surprised by the decision and had cooperated fully, and that he expected the case to be dismissed. Juul's lawyer, [[Thomas Skjelbred]], said she did not recognize herself in the allegation and would cooperate.[^2] Økokrim had opened a separate investigation of the former Norwegian prime minister [[Thorbjørn Jagland]] on February 5, 2026, also for aggravated corruption.[^2] Jagland had appeared in Epstein's messages to the Russian ambassador [[Vitaly Churkin]] in September 2016 as a guest who "will be staying with me."[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United Nations, "Secretary-General Appoints Terje Roed-Larsen of Norway as United Nations Special Co-ordinator for Middle East Peace Process," press release SG/A/705, September 21, 1999. https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990921.sga705.doc.html (archived: http://web.archive.org/web/20201107182927/https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990921.sga705.doc.html)
[^2]: "Økokrim åpner etterforsking av Mona Juul og Terje Rød-Larsen." *NRK,* February 9, 2026 (updated February 12, 2026). https://www.nrk.no/norge/okokrim-apner-etterforsking-av-mona-juul-og-terje-rod-larsen-1.17761823
[^3]: Lederer, Edith M. "Oslo peace accords architect resigns as think tank CEO over Epstein link." *Associated Press,* via *The Times of Israel,* November 3, 2020. https://www.timesofisrael.com/oslo-peace-accords-architect-resigns-as-think-tank-ceo-over-epstein-link/
[^4]: "Norwegian ambassador resigns as she faces scrutiny over contacts with Epstein." *Associated Press,* via *KSAT,* February 9, 2026. https://www.ksat.com/news/2026/02/09/norwegian-ambassador-resigns-as-she-faces-scrutiny-over-contacts-with-epstein/
[^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02572271, DataSet 11, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Boris Nikolic and Terje Rod-Larsen, July 22, 2013. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02572271.pdf
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01019780, DataSet 9, email from Terje Rod-Larsen to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fwd: Why Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance will haunt the Saudi government," October 13, 2018. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA01019780.pdf
[^7]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log with contact "Vitaly Churkin," message of September 7, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf

60
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Tom Pritzker.md
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@ -10,14 +10,33 @@ tags:
alias:
- Thomas J. Pritzker
- Thomas Pritzker
summary: "Thomas J. Pritzker is the billionaire executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and chairman of the Pritzker family's business empire, whose 2011 correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein used the phrase 'secret society' (Epstein Files document EFTA02407727), establishing a parallel 'secret society' channel through Epstein independent of the Peter Thiel correspondence."
summary: "Thomas J. Pritzker is the Hyatt heir whom Jeffrey Epstein's calendar scheduled for 28 meetings from 2013 to 2018, and who retired as Hyatt's executive chairman in February 2026."
born: 1950-06-06
location: "Chicago, Illinois (family base)"
created: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-06-18
updated: 2026-09-25
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Hyatt Hotels Corporation]]"
role: "executive chairman"
start: 2004
end: 2026-02-17
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[J.B. Pritzker]]"
role: "cousin"
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]"
role: "chairman of the board of trustees, succeeding Sam Nunn"
start: 2015-11
fn: 8
- type: member_of
with: "[[Aspen Strategy Group]]"
fn: 8
---
Thomas J. Pritzker (born June 6, 1950) is an American billionaire businessman, the executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation]], and the chairman of the broader [[Pritzker Organization|Pritzker family]] business empire. The Pritzker family's holdings span hotels (Hyatt), industrial manufacturing ([[Marmon Group|Marmon Group/Trinity Industries]]), finance, and the philanthropic [[Pritzker Foundation|Pritzker Foundation]], and the family's cumulative wealth places it among the wealthiest American business dynasties. Pritzker's correspondence with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 2011, documented in the EFTA releases as document [[EFTA02407727|EFTA02407727]], used the phrase "secret society," establishing a second documented "secret society" channel through Epstein independent of the [[Peter Thiel]] correspondence.[^1][^2][^3]
Thomas J. Pritzker (born June 6, 1950) is an American billionaire businessman, the executive chairman of [[Hyatt Hotels Corporation]] for more than twenty years until February 17, 2026, and the chairman of the broader [[Pritzker Organization|Pritzker family]] business empire. The Pritzker family's holdings span hotels (Hyatt), industrial manufacturing ([[Marmon Group|Marmon Group/Trinity Industries]]), finance, and the philanthropic [[Pritzker Foundation|Pritzker Foundation]], and the family's cumulative wealth places it among the wealthiest American business dynasties. Pritzker's correspondence with [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in 2011, documented in the [[Epstein Files Transparency Act|EFTA]] releases as document [[EFTA02407727|EFTA02407727]], used the phrase "secret society," establishing a second documented "secret society" channel through Epstein independent of the [[Peter Thiel]] correspondence. Epstein's calendar scheduled 28 meetings with Pritzker between 2013 and 2018, and after the 2025 and 2026 releases of their correspondence Pritzker retired from Hyatt, saying he had "exercised terrible judgment."[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
### The Pritzker Family and the Hyatt Empire
@ -27,19 +46,44 @@ The Pritzker family's philanthropic arm, the Pritzker Foundation, has funded the
### The Epstein Correspondence and the "Secret Society" Email
The EFTA releases include document EFTA02407727, a 2011 correspondence between Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein in which Pritzker used the phrase "secret society." Epstein's reply, per the document, was "Remind me next month." The document is indexed in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein file]] aggregators and cited in the secondary reporting on the Epstein-Pritzker relationship. The correspondence is dated 2011, three years after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement.[^2][^3]
The EFTA releases include document EFTA02407727, a 2011 correspondence between Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein in which Pritzker used the phrase "secret society." Epstein's reply, per the document, was "Remind me next month." The document is indexed in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein file]] aggregators and cited in the secondary reporting on the Epstein-Pritzker relationship. The correspondence is dated 2011, three years after Epstein's 2008 federal [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^2][^3]
The Pritzker "secret society" email runs parallel to the Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence (documented in [[EFTA01738574|EFTA01738574]], dated February 2016). The two are independent channels: the Thiel correspondence records Epstein reporting that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea," and the Pritzker correspondence records Pritzker himself using the phrase. Whether the two channels refer to the same "secret society" concept or to separate projects is not established in the primary documents. The 2011 Pritzker email predates the 2016 Thiel email by five years.[^2][^4]
The Pritzker "secret society" email runs parallel to the Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence (documented in [[EFTA01738574|EFTA01738574]], dated February 2016). The two are independent channels: the Thiel correspondence records Epstein reporting that Thiel "LOVED the secret socieity [sic] idea," and the Pritzker correspondence records Pritzker himself using the phrase. Whether the two channels refer to the same "secret society" concept or to separate projects is not established in the primary documents. The 2011 Pritzker email predates the 2016 Thiel email by five years.[^2][^6]
### The Pritzker-Epstein Relationship
The *Wall Street Journal* reported in 2023, on the basis of the Epstein calendars, that Pritzker was among the business figures who met with Epstein repeatedly in the post-2008-conviction period. Pritzker's meetings with Epstein occurred in the 2011-2014 window and included discussions that Pritzker's representatives framed as relating to philanthropic and business matters. The *Wall Street Journal* reporting placed Pritzker alongside [[William Burns]], [[Noam Chomsky]], and the former Goldman Sachs lawyer [[Kathryn Ruemmler|Kathryn Ruemmler]] in the group of establishment figures whose Epstein meetings were documented in the calendars.[^3]
The *[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]* reported in 2023, on the basis of the Epstein calendars, that Pritzker was among the business figures who met with Epstein repeatedly in the post-2008-conviction period. Pritzker's meetings with Epstein included discussions that Pritzker's representatives framed as relating to philanthropic and business matters. The *Wall Street Journal* reporting placed Pritzker alongside [[William Burns]], [[Noam Chomsky]], and the former Goldman Sachs lawyer [[Kathryn Ruemmler|Kathryn Ruemmler]] in the group of establishment figures whose Epstein meetings were documented in the calendars.[^3]
The Pritzker-Epstein relationship is the parallel establishment channel to the Thiel-Epstein relationship. Both channels run through Epstein in the post-2008-conviction period, both involve "secret society" language, and both connect Epstein to principals of major business and institutional networks (the Pritzker hotel-and-finance empire and the Thiel technology-and-defense empire respectively). The question of whether the two channels intersect, beyond the shared Epstein intermediary, is not documented in the primary sources currently available.[^2][^3][^4]
The Pritzker-Epstein relationship is the parallel establishment channel to the Thiel-Epstein relationship. Both channels run through Epstein in the post-2008-conviction period, both involve "secret society" language, and both connect Epstein to principals of major business and institutional networks (the Pritzker hotel-and-finance empire and the Thiel technology-and-defense empire respectively). The question of whether the two channels intersect, beyond the shared Epstein intermediary, is not documented in the primary sources currently available.[^2][^3][^6]
### The 2025 Email Release
The [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Oversight Committee]]'s November 2025 release of documents from Epstein's estate showed that Epstein's calendar scheduled Pritzker for 28 meetings between 2013 and 2018.[^4] The two exchanged friendly emails on at least five occasions, including one about "the Chicago way of politics."[^7] In August 2016 Pritzker wrote, "Looking for a time to catch up in NY," and Epstein replied, "I'm in santa fe for the next two weeks come visit."[^4]
Epstein offered Pritzker's time to others. Writing to a third party whom he offered to introduce to Pritzker, he described Pritzker as "like family." He asked another contact whether they had "input or questions" for an event Pritzker was chairing in [[China]], and told a correspondent that "tom has GREAT relations in China."[^4] The [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]]'s early 2026 releases added further emails between the two arranging dinners and invitations to events.[^5]
### CSIS, the Aspen Strategy Group, and Churkin
In November 2015 Pritzker became chairman of the board of trustees of the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]] (CSIS) in Washington, succeeding the former senator [[Sam Nunn]], after eight years on its board and executive committee. He was also a member of the [[Aspen Strategy Group]].[^8]
On the morning of August 8, 2016, Epstein wrote to Pritzker, "glenn?" Pritzker answered that he was "working on a date" and had "Just finished presentation on leadership to grand pooh baahs of Aspen Strategy Group. Take a look at members it will make you laugh." Epstein replied, "who attends." That evening Pritzker wrote: "You have to be a bit of a wonk to know some of the names, but Nye, Scowcroft and Nick Burns run it (Scowcroft being replaced by Condi). Members include Patraeus, Albright, Slaughter, Donalon (Obama NSA), Hadley (Bush NSA), Sullivan (NSA Hillary), Bill Burns (State #2), Kurt Campbell, Hoss Carwright (#2 Jt Chiefs), Harman, Ignatius, Sanger, Nunn, Reed, Sawers ([[MI6]]), Sherman (iran deal), Work (current #2 DoD). It seems to now be taking on an aura. Looking for a time to come catch up in NY."[^9] The names correspond to the co-chairs [[Joseph Nye]], [[Brent Scowcroft]] and [[Nicholas Burns]], Scowcroft's successor [[Condoleezza Rice]], and the members [[David Petraeus]], [[Madeleine Albright]], [[Anne-Marie Slaughter]], [[Tom Donilon]], [[Stephen Hadley]], [[Jake Sullivan]], William Burns, [[Kurt Campbell]], [[James Cartwright]], [[Jane Harman]], [[David Ignatius]], [[David Sanger]], Nunn, [[Jack Reed (senator)|Jack Reed]], [[John Sawers]], [[Wendy Sherman]] and [[Robert Work]].
Four weeks later, on September 6, 2016, Epstein wrote by iMessage to [[Vitaly Churkin]], Russia's ambassador to the [[United Nations]]: "My very close friend Tom Pritzker . Hyatt hotels and chairman of CSI is in town . Didn't know if you had any interest." Churkin replied, "Could do tomorrow 6pm," and thanked Epstein "for time with max," his son Maxim. The next morning Epstein wrote, "Re Pritzker -my schedule has gotten too crowded maybe 18 th or 19th if you are in town." Churkin answered, "18 might work," and Epstein added, "great. also thorbjorn jagland will be staying with me," a reference to [[Thorbjørn Jagland]], then secretary general of the [[Council of Europe]].[^10] Eight days earlier, on August 29, 2016, Churkin had lunched at Epstein's house with [[Ehud Barak]] and [[Tom Barrack]].[^11]
### Retirement From Hyatt
On February 17, 2026, Pritzker, then 75, retired as executive chairman of Hyatt with immediate effect and said he would not stand for re-election to its board. In a prepared statement he said he deeply regretted his association with Epstein and [[Ghislaine Maxwell]]: "I exercised terrible judgment in maintaining contact with them, and there is no excuse for failing to distance myself sooner. I condemn the actions and the harm caused by Epstein and Maxwell and I feel deep sorrow for the pain they inflicted on their victims."[^5] Hyatt's chief executive, [[Mark Hoplamazian]], succeeded him as chairman. His retirement came days after Kathryn Ruemmler announced her resignation as general counsel of [[Goldman Sachs]] and after [[DP World]] replaced its chairman over his Epstein ties.[^5] Pritzker has not been accused of any crime, and no investigation of him has been reported.
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hyatt Hotels Corporation, "Board of Directors: Thomas J. Pritzker," documenting his role as executive chairman (assumed 2004), the November 2009 IPO, and his Marmon Holdings chairmanship. https://investors.hyatt.com/governance/board-of-directors/
[^2]: EFTA02407727, Epstein Files Transparency Act release. The 2011 Pritzker-Epstein correspondence using the phrase "secret society," with Epstein's reply "Remind me next month." Documented in the Epstein file aggregators.
[^3]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar" series, *Wall Street Journal,* 2023, documenting the Pritzker-Epstein meetings from the Epstein calendars.
[^4]: For the parallel Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence, see EFTA01738574 (February 6, 2016) and the Peter Thiel and [[Thiel Influence Network]] pages.
[^4]: Durkee, Alison. "Jeffrey Epstein And Thomas Pritzker: What Epstein Emails Say About Their Friendship." *Forbes,* November 19, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/11/19/epstein-emails-spotlight-billionaire-thomas-pritzkers-relationship-with-financier-like-family/
[^5]: Chapman, Michelle. "Thomas Pritzker steps down from Hyatt board, saying he deeply regrets association with Epstein." Associated Press via *PBS NewsHour,* February 17, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thomas-pritzker-steps-down-from-hyatt-board-saying-he-deeply-regrets-association-with-epstein
[^6]: For the parallel Thiel-Epstein "secret society idea" correspondence, see EFTA01738574 (February 6, 2016) and the Peter Thiel and [[Thiel Influence Network]] pages.
[^7]: *Chicago Sun-Times,* November 19, 2025, on the Epstein emails with Thomas Pritzker. https://chicago.suntimes.com/washington/2025/11/19/jeffrey-epstein-thomas-pritzker-emails-deeper-ties-jb-pritzker-cousin
[^8]: Center for Strategic and International Studies, "CSIS Announces Thomas J. Pritzker Appointed Chairman of CSIS Board of Trustees," 2015; and CSIS, "Thomas J. Pritzker," biography. https://www.csis.org/news/csis-announces-thomas-j-pritzker-appointed-chairman-csis-board-trustees ; https://www.csis.org/people/thomas-j-pritzker
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01783338, DataSet 10, email chain between Tom Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein, August 8, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01783338.pdf
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01619438, DataSet 10, iMessage log between Jeffrey Epstein and Vitaly Churkin, May 23 to September 7, 2016 (entries of September 6 and 7, 2016). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01619438.pdf
[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA02044775, DataSet 10, email from Lesley Groff, "Churkin to join lunch tomorrow as well," August 28, 2016; and EFTA02045038, DataSet 10, calendar alert "LUNCH w/Ehud Barak, Tom Barrack and Vitaly Chrukin," August 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02044775.pdf ; https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02045038.pdf

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Tova Noel.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- JeffreyEpstein
- BureauOfPrisons
- DeathInCustody
- CorrectionalOfficer
- SuspiciousActivityReport
- DeferredProsecution
alias:
- Tova Noel
summary: "Tova Noel is the former Bureau of Prisons officer on duty in Jeffrey Epstein's housing unit the night he died, charged with falsifying records, whose cash deposits a bank had flagged."
location: "The Bronx, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]]"
start: 2018-06
role: "correctional officer, Federal Bureau of Prisons"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-11-19
end: 2021-12-13
role: "falsification of records, dismissed after deferred prosecution agreement"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-08
end: 2023-06
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---
Tova Noel is a former correctional officer of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]] who was one of the two staff members on duty in the Special Housing Unit of the [[Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York]] on the night of August 9 to 10, 2019, when [[Jeffrey Epstein]] died in his cell. She and the materials handler [[Michael Thomas]] were indicted in November 2019 for falsifying the records of inmate counts and rounds; the charges were dismissed in December 2021 after both completed deferred prosecution agreements. Records released by the [[Department of Justice]] in 2026 showed that [[JPMorgan Chase]] had filed a suspicious activity report on twelve cash deposits to her account, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019, and that a search for "latest on epstein in jail" was run on her workstation less than an hour before Epstein was found. She was not questioned about the deposits, and she denied under oath any role in Epstein's death.[^1][^2][^3]
### Background
Noel was born in [[Antigua]] and raised by her mother and grandparents. Her mother emigrated from [[St. Croix]] to Tannersville, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains, and Noel joined her there at thirteen, graduating from high school in 2005 at sixteen after skipping grades. She enlisted in the [[Army National Guard]] at nineteen, served six years, including active duty in [[Kuwait]] in 2012 during [[Operation Enduring Freedom]], became a naturalized citizen, and was honorably discharged in 2014. In 2013 her seven-year-old half-brother and his mother were murdered on St. Croix; no one was arrested. She worked for New York's [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] on and off from 2014 to 2016, took a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from [[John Jay College of Criminal Justice]] in 2017, and worked for the [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Postal Service]] before the Bureau of Prisons hired her at MCC New York in June 2018.[^1][^4]
Her lawyer, Jason Foy, wrote in a background letter submitted with her deferred prosecution agreement that she found a "BOP way" and an "MCC way" of doing things depending on who trained her, and that she was made to sign a document confirming training for the Special Housing Unit that she had not received. Foy wrote that she had never worked the unit before August 9, 2019; a bureau document released in 2026 placed her start there on July 7, 2019, the day after Epstein's arrest.[^3][^4]
### August 9 and 10, 2019
Noel worked her regular shift in the Special Housing Unit from 4 p.m. to midnight on August 9 and an overtime shift from midnight to 8 a.m. on August 10. About 7 p.m. on August 9, a Unit Manager put Epstein in the unit's shower area for an unrecorded call on the legal line and left the building; Noel told the Inspector General that no one told her to monitor the call, that it lasted about 20 minutes, and that after she took the phone back and went to the bathroom, she returned to find Epstein already in his cell. His cellmate had been transferred out that morning and no replacement was assigned; Noel said she did not know he was alone.[^2][^4]
She did not conduct the 4 p.m. or 10 p.m. counts on August 9, and with Thomas skipped the midnight, 3 a.m., and 5 a.m. counts on August 10, while signing count slips and more than 75 entries on 30-minute round sheets for checks that were not made. An [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] briefing released in 2026 described a figure on the surviving camera footage at about 10:40 p.m. as "a correctional officer, believed to be Tova Noel," carrying "linen or inmate clothing up to the L-Tier," the last time any officer approached the tier entrance before morning. Noel told investigators she last saw Epstein alive "somewhere around after 10" and that she "never gave out linen." The FBI's 66-page forensic examination of the officers' desktop computers highlighted searches for "latest on epstein in jail" at 5:42 and 5:52 a.m.; Noel told the Inspector General in 2021 that she did not recall making the search and that the data "wouldn't be accurate." She had also searched for furniture and "law enforcement discounts." Her lawyer said Thomas told her the rounds were not necessary that night and slept for most of the shift with a hoodie pulled over his head.[^2][^3][^4][^5]
The Bureau of Prisons records later produced in the [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]] show the assignments. The MCC New York Daily Assignment Roster for Saturday, August 10, 2019, printed at 8:58 p.m. that evening, lists "Noel, T" on SHU post 1 for the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, marked as overtime, and "Thomas, M" on SHU post 2 for the same shift, marked "OT (NC)." Warden [[Lamine N'Diaye]]'s Form 583 Report of Incident, NYM-19-0082, which dates the incident to 6:33 a.m., lists Noel among the staff involved. The jail nurse's resuscitation record for that morning describes Epstein as "Cold, with circumferential Bruising around the neck and posterior mottling."[^6]
At about 6:30 a.m. Thomas opened Epstein's cell and found him hanged. Noel said she stood outside the cell, heard "a rip," and saw only "when the top part of his body went to the floor." The Inspector General's agent told her, "I thought you said you never looked in. You never saw anything." Noel said she never looked at the live camera feeds and did not know that all but one camera near the officers' station had stopped recording. "I've never worked in the Special Housing Unit and actually done rounds every 30 minutes," she said.[^3][^4]
### Prosecution
On November 19, 2019 a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted Noel and Thomas on one count each of conspiracy and multiple counts each of making false records, in a case announced by U.S. Attorney [[Geoffrey Berman]]; according to the indictment, Thomas told a supervisor after finding Epstein, "we messed up." Each was released on a 100,000 dollar bond and ordered to surrender their passports. On May 25, 2021 both entered deferred prosecution agreements admitting that they had falsely certified counts and rounds, and agreeing to cooperate with the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Inspector General]], the FBI, and prosecutors and to perform 100 hours of community service; on December 13, 2021 the court entered a nolle prosequi order dismissing the charges. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute other Special Housing Unit employees who had also falsified count slips and round sheets on August 9 and 10. Both officers were fired.[^2][^3][^7]
### The Deposits and the 2026 Inquiry
On November 22, 2019, three days after the indictment, JPMorgan Chase filed a suspicious activity report with the FBI on twelve cash deposits Noel made between April 2018 and July 2019, the largest 5,000 dollars on July 30, 2019, eleven days before Epstein's death; available records showed seven deposits totaling 11,880 dollars from December 2018. Bank records also showed she was leasing a new Land Rover Range Rover valued at more than 60,000 dollars. The FBI subpoenaed both officers' phones and financial records. Noel was not asked about the deposits in her 2021 Inspector General interview.[^3][^4][^8]
FBI notes released in 2026 recorded an unnamed inmate's account that on the morning of August 10 he heard officers shout "Breathe! Breathe!" and then someone say "you killed that dude," and a female officer reply, "If he is dead we're going to cover it up and he's going to have an alibi, my officers"; he said other inmates later said "Miss Noel killed Jeffrey." The account has not been substantiated. Asked under oath whether she had any part in Epstein's death, Noel answered, "No."[^4][^5]
In March 2026 [[James Comer]], chairman of the [[House Oversight Committee]], asked Noel to sit for a transcribed interview, saying the committee's goal was "to understand whether this was simply a series of failures inside the Bureau of Prisons or whether additional questions remain unanswered." The interview, set for March 26, was postponed. CNN's requests for comment to her attorney went unanswered.[^3][^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Here's What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Federal Jail Guards." *Newsweek,* November 20, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guards-tova-noel-michael-thomas-1473052 (age 31 at indictment; MTA employment; National Guard; John Jay College 2017; Postal Service; hired by the Bureau of Prisons).
[^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. *Investigation and Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Custody, Care, and Supervision of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, New York.* Report 23-085, June 2023. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/23-085.pdf (pp. iii to iv, 5 to 6, indictment, counts, 75 round-sheet entries, deferred prosecution agreements, nolle prosequi, declinations; pp. 59 to 60, the August 9 call).
[^3]: Khurshudyan, Isabelle. "Epstein files shed new light on what prison officials were doing the night he died." *CNN,* March 26, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/politics/epstein-files-prison-officials-night-he-died (start in the unit in early July 2019; forensic examination and searches; 2021 testimony; SAR of November 22, 2019; Range Rover; both officers fired; interview postponed).
[^4]: Brown, Julie K. "Tova Noel, the prison guard who worked night of Epstein's death, was born in Antigua and lived a number of years on STX." *Miami Herald* via *Virgin Islands Daily News,* March 27, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/ap/tova-noel-the-prison-guard-who-worked-night-of-epstein-s-death-was-born-in/article_e0fd90de-fa08-4667-9bff-838a8e591755.html (biography from court records; Foy letter; OIG interview transcript; Comer statement; inmate account; FBI subpoenas).
[^5]: Eastham, Janet. "'Suspicious' payments to last guard who saw Epstein." *The Telegraph* via *Yahoo News,* March 8, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-prison-guard-made-suspicious-132416347.html (FBI briefing on the 10:40 p.m. figure; search times; "I don't remember doing that"; inmate account; Noel's "No").
[^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00048963, DataSet 9, Federal Bureau of Prisons records of Jeffrey Epstein's detention at MCC New York, including the Emergency Code resuscitation encounter of August 10, 2019 (EFTA00049334), Form 583 Report of Incident NYM-19-0082 (EFTA00049914 to 49916), and the Daily Assignment Roster for August 10, 2019 (EFTA00049931). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00048963.pdf
[^7]: "Correctional Officers Charged With Falsifying Records On August 9th And 10th At The Metropolitan Correctional Center." *U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York,* November 19, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/correctional-officers-charged-falsifying-records-august-9th-and-10th-metropolitan ; "Here's What We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Federal Jail Guards." *Newsweek,* November 20, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guards-tova-noel-michael-thomas-1473052
[^8]: Salamone, Olivia. "Jeffrey Epstein Prison Guard Googled Him Minutes Before Death And Made $5K Cash Deposit Days Earlier, DOJ Records Show." *RadarOnline* via *AOL,* March 7, 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-prison-guard-googled-224000591.html (seven deposits totaling 11,880 dollars from December 2018; start in the unit on July 7, 2019).