New reports suggest Jeffrey Epstein was involved in a significant sexual blackmail scheme linked to Russian intelligence operations.

Deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein allegedly played a key role in one of the largest known sexual blackmail operations connected to Russian intelligence, according to Daily Mail.

Journalists calculated that newly released documents in the Epstein case contain 1,056 references to Russia and Vladimir Putin, and 9,629 references to Moscow.

Citing intelligence sources, the British outlet reported on February 1 that Epstein’s private social network and parties were instrumental in collecting compromising material on high-profile Western political and business figures.

[…]

The materials obtained were allegedly funneled to Russian intelligence agencies. The report asserts that the operation involved Ghislaine Maxwell—currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking—who had ties to her father, Robert Maxwell, a businessman long suspected of cooperating with the KGB and Mossad in the 1970s.

[…]

The report references declassified US Department of Justice files and emails from Epstein’s archive. One email, dated September 11, 2011, mentions coordination for a possible meeting between Epstein and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. A person identified only as “Igor” was reportedly helping schedule a trip to Russia in mid-September.

Another email, sent in 2014 by Japanese entrepreneur Joi Ito, discusses a potential joint meeting involving Epstein, Putin, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. However, according to a follow-up email, the plan was canceled after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 by Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. Ito wrote: “Now, after the plane crash, it seems like a bad idea.”

[…]

Messages from Epstein’s files suggest that he claimed he could provide valuable intelligence on then-President Donald Trump ahead of Trump’s 2018 summit with Putin in Helsinki. Daily Mail does not confirm whether such materials were ever delivered or used.

The investigation also highlights Epstein’s apparent long-standing ties to Russian organized crime, which may have facilitated his ability to transport large numbers of women from Russia. Intelligence officials interviewed by Daily Mail believe these relationships were central to his operational capabilities and possibly served as leverage over him.

[…]

      • freagle@lemmy.mlEnglish
        35·
        13 hours ago

        Yes, totally not up for debate. Which is why it’s incredibly suspect that he would be able to maintain ties to Soviet intelligence and Israeli intelligence simultaneously and then maintain those ties sufficiently for Ghislane’s subsequent child sex trafficking operation to become a joint operation of Mossad and GRU while the CIA just sort of let it all happen and could do nothing to stop it for literally decades (or that the CIA knew nothing about it, which is even more delusional) despite him working with the top VIPs to the intelligence circles like Gates and the royals, etc.

        It’s sort of ridiculous to try to tie all of this to a Russiagate-like phenomenon. The CIA was all over this operation, they were protecting him (Acosta testified this to Congress), and they were aware of what it was doing. The idea that somehow Epstein was a double agent and allowed to live is also ridiculous. The most likely situation is that this was a CIA operation, fully in line with their previous honeypot operations, and that this had almost nothing to do with Russian intelligence, except possibly for the operation deliberately leaking specific information to Russian intelligence for counter-intelligence purposes.