Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has openly acknowledged having had two extramarital affairs with Russian women and apologised to staff at the Gates Foundation for his past association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, describing that connection as a “huge mistake.
Gates addressed his foundation’s employees at a town hall meeting on February 24, shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice released a large trove of files linked to investigations into Epstein’s crimes.
In remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, he said he deeply regretted his relationship with Epstein and the impact it had on the foundation’s work.
“I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates said, while insisting that he “did nothing illicit” and had not witnessed any illegal conduct related to Epstein’s criminal activities.
In his comments, Gates confirmed that he had two affairs with women — one described as a Russian bridge player and another as a Russian nuclear physicist — but stressed that these relationships were unrelated to any victims of Epstein and had been separate from his philanthropic work.
Gates also addressed photos and documents included in the recently released files, saying some images showing him with unidentified women were taken at the request of Epstein’s associates after meetings, not during any wrongdoing. He emphasised that he had never spent time with Epstein’s victims.
The billionaire acknowledged he first met Epstein in 2011, years after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and admitted he continued the association into 2014 despite concerns raised by others. Gates said at the time he did not conduct a thorough background check and now views the relationship with regret.
His remarks reflect Gates’s effort to confront renewed scrutiny after the release of millions of pages of Justice Department files related to the Epstein case, which had earlier prompted controversy and raised questions about the links between powerful figures and the disgraced financier.
In discussing his personal conduct, Gates acknowledged that learning more about Epstein’s crimes made his own interactions seem “a hundred times worse” and stressed that the foundation’s reputation is highly sensitive to how its leaders engage with others.
Gates’s comments come as the Gates Foundation continues its global health and philanthropic initiatives, but the disclosed ties have underscored the challenges high-profile organisations face when past associations resurface in public scrutiny.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the powerful chairman and CEO of Dubai’s DP World, has stepped down with immediate effect after the release of over 3.5 million pages of files exposed his close relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and raised uncomfortable questions about how the logistics giant secured lucrative East African port deals.
The resignation on Friday comes weeks after US Department of Justice documents revealed Sulayem boasted to Epstein about his access to African presidents, including Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta, just months before DP World began its aggressive expansion across the continent.
DP World announced that Essa Kazim, previously Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre, would take over as chairman while Yuvraj Narayan, the company’s deputy CEO and CFO since 2005, becomes Group Chief Executive Officer.
The company made no mention of the Epstein scandal in its terse statement, saying only that the appointments “support its strategy for sustainable growth and reinforce its role in strengthening global supply chains.”
However, the timing of Sulayem’s departure leaves little doubt about the pressure that mounted after major international partners threatened to freeze billions in investments unless DP World took action.
Canada’s second-largest pension fund, La Caisse, which has invested more than $5 billion alongside DP World over the past decade, announced this week it would pause “additional capital deployment” with the company. British International Investment, which partners with DP World on four African ports, followed suit.
The Epstein files paint a disturbing portrait of Sulayem’s decade-long friendship with the disgraced financier, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Between 2007 and 2018, the two exchanged what investigators describe as hundreds of emails covering business matters, sexual encounters, escort services and pornography. Photographs released by House Democrats show Epstein cooking with Sulayem, suggesting an intimacy that went beyond professional acquaintance.
In one particularly troubling 2017 exchange, Sulayem helped arrange for a Russian “masseuse” from Epstein’s “private spa” to train at a Turkish hotel. During Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2022 trial, multiple witnesses testified that Epstein used massages as a cover to sexually exploit young girls.
The files also reveal Sulayem repeatedly asked to visit Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, where victims testified they were trafficked and abused. In December 2014, years after Epstein’s first conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, Sulayem wrote asking for updates on spending Christmas at the island.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem with Jeffrey Epstein.
But it is the Africa connection that has sent shockwaves through diplomatic and business circles in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
In April 2013, Sulayem emailed Epstein to inform him he was attending President Kenyatta’s inauguration, writing: “I am in Nairobi for the inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta as president of Kenya, whom I know very well.”
Just over a year later, in October 2014, Sulayem updated Epstein about a three-hour meeting with Kenyatta in Mombasa to discuss building a massive logistics hub to serve Kenya and its landlocked neighbours.
Within months, DP World began its East African expansion. In March 2022, Kenya’s Finance Ministry entered into a controversial concession giving DP World rights to operate berths at Mombasa, Lamu and Kisumu ports.
The deal, which emerged after Kenyatta’s February 2022 visit to the UAE, sparked fierce political backlash. Kenya Kwanza Coalition leaders accused Kenyatta of secretly auctioning national assets. The letter requesting DP World’s proposal was addressed directly to Sulayem.
Although the Kenya deal ultimately collapsed amid election-year politics, DP World’s appetite for East African ports did not wane.
In October 2023, the company signed a 30-year concession to operate four berths at Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam Port, committing an initial $250 million that could grow to $1 billion. The deal, which took effect in April 2024, grants DP World control over one of the continent’s busiest maritime gateways.
There is no evidence that President Kenyatta or other African leaders had any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s crimes. Being mentioned in correspondence does not imply criminal wrongdoing.
Sulayem himself has not been charged with any crime. However, the revelations have permanently damaged his reputation and raised troubling questions about the due diligence conducted by East African governments before handing control of strategic national assets to a company led by a man who maintained such close ties to a convicted sex offender.
The Epstein files also reference Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Senegal in darker contexts. Documents describe coastal towns like Malindi as areas frequented by individuals involved in paedophile activity, with Tanzania identified as a transit point in alleged trafficking operations.
Newly released emails detail planning for 2009 trips to Kenya involving young women, with Epstein pledging $13,000 per girl for “safari and internship.” In May 2011, American publicist Peggy Siegal emailed Epstein that a girl “is finally turning legal.”
Children from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia were reportedly trafficked through Mombasa, the very port where DP World sought control and where Sulayem met Kenyatta to discuss regional logistics infrastructure.
DP World now controls ports and logistics centres across nine African countries, including Algeria, Angola, Djibouti, Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa, as well as Somaliland.
The company’s expansion has been marked by long-term concessions spanning 20 to 30 years, granting extraordinary control over critical trade infrastructure. In Senegal, DP World is constructing a $1.1 billion deepwater port at Ndayane under a 25-year concession. In Angola, it secured a 20-year concession for Luanda port’s multipurpose terminal.
Critics have long warned that such deals threaten national sovereignty. In Djibouti, the government nationalised the Doraleh Container Terminal in 2018, terminating DP World’s 30-year concession amid accusations of unfair contract terms.
In Tanzania, activist Maria Tsehai told The Africa Report in 2023 that the DP World agreement contained “clauses that were blatantly one-sided in favour of the Dubai government.”
As Kenya contemplates relaunching its port concessions and Tanzania deepens its partnership with DP World, the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein now looms over every contract.
The question facing East African governments is whether they conducted adequate background checks before handing control of strategic assets to a company led by a man so deeply enmeshed with a convicted paedophile.
Sulayem’s departure may close one chapter, but it opens another: will African nations demand better scrutiny of those who seek control over their critical infrastructure, or will the pursuit of foreign investment continue to trump considerations of character and judgment?
Nairobi, Kenya — Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking minors alongside billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was a regular visitor to Kenya, newly unsealed court documents have revealed in a bombshell expose that has sent shockwaves through the country’s elite circles.
The damning files, released following civil litigation against Maxwell, paint a disturbing picture of how Kenya became entangled in one of the world’s most notorious sex trafficking operations, with the East African nation featured prominently in Epstein’s private address book and identified as a key destination in his global network of abuse.
Maxwell, daughter of the late Robert Maxwell who owned a 45 percent stake in the now-defunct Kenya Times newspaper through a joint venture with KANU, leveraged her family’s Kenyan connections to establish a foothold in the country that prosecutors say facilitated her criminal enterprise.
The secret address book recovered from Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion contains multiple Kenyan contacts, including the prestigious Muthaiga Club in Nairobi and Italian-born Kenyan conservationist Kuki Gallmann.
While appearing in the address book does not necessarily implicate individuals in criminal activity, investigators say it demonstrates the sprawling reach of Epstein’s network across continents.
Court documents reveal that Kenya was specifically listed as a leading sex tourism destination alongside Thailand, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Costa Rica in materials found in Epstein’s possession.
The designation raises troubling questions about why the convicted sex offender maintained such keen interest in the country.
In a particularly chilling example, emails presented as evidence show how Epstein in 2009 orchestrated plans to send two teenage girls to Kenya under the guise of an equestrian safari and wildlife conservation internships. The elaborate scheme involved properties at Borana, Ol Malo, Cottars, and Ol Donyo Wuas, with Epstein insisting the girls send him photographs during their stay.
The proposed trip followed Epstein’s established pattern of grooming vulnerable minors by offering career support and exotic travel opportunities.
When one of the intended victims showed reluctance about the Kenya excursion, Epstein sent angry emails berating her, demonstrating the psychological manipulation central to his criminal operation.
“Hey Jeff, I am thrilled beyond belief to be going on this trip to Kenya. Please don’t think I’m not,” the frightened teenager wrote back, desperately trying to appease the billionaire predator who had promised to support her music career. Epstein’s cold response came swiftly: “So, for the future, I don’t care what you do, it’s your life, but don’t lie or bullshit me.”
Ultimately, one girl withdrew from the trip, but Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal and her niece travelled to Kenya in December 2009, landing at a camp in Maasai Mara where they encountered members of the Ralph Lauren family also on holiday.
The coincidence underscores how Kenya’s luxury safari industry became unwittingly intertwined with Epstein’s web of exploitation.
Maxwell’s frequent visits to Kenya take on sinister new meaning in light of her June 2022 conviction for grooming underage victims across multiple locations over a decade-long period.
Prosecutors established that Maxwell and Epstein systematically targeted school students aspiring to careers in modelling or the arts, promising mentorship while delivering abuse.
The Kenya connection runs deeper through Maxwell’s family history. Her father, British media mogul Robert Maxwell, acquired his stake in Kenya Times in 1988, the same year some sources claim he introduced his daughter to Epstein.
Others suggest the pair met through mutual friends, but the timing of the business venture and their relationship remains striking.
Robert Maxwell’s mysterious death in 1991, when his naked body was found in the Atlantic Ocean, triggered the collapse of his publishing empire.
While an inquest ruled heart attack and accidental drowning, Epstein himself claimed in emails that Maxwell was killed after attempting to blackmail Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, adding another layer of intrigue to the family’s murky dealings.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
The newly released documents expose how international power brokers sought to exploit Epstein’s interest in Kenya for business opportunities.
Boris Nikolic, then advisor to Bill Gates, suggested investing in mobile money platforms and offered to introduce Epstein to the inventor of M-Pesa. Ernest Unik, an events organiser who runs the Haiti-based children’s charity Edeyo, shared contacts including a State House official serving as an aide to then President Uhuru Kenyatta.
As proof of his access, he emailed Epstein a photograph with then Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohammed, writing: “With Mrs. Amina president cabinate minister of Kenya.”
Perhaps most disturbing is the revelation that a senior United Nations official based in Nairobi cultivated a relationship with Epstein that raised serious ethical questions.
Lisa Svensson, who served as marine chief at the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, exchanged flirtatious messages with the convicted sex offender from 2012 onwards.
In October 2016, as a lawsuit accusing Epstein and Donald Trump of abusing a minor was filed in New York, Svensson invited Epstein to visit her in Kenya. “Gave up on Swedish men, moved to Kenya. Wish me good luck. Come and visit,” she wrote.
Days later, with the US presidential election approaching, she advised the registered sex offender: “If any president candidates win, you need to evacuate.”
Internal UN correspondence shows Svensson disappeared from her Nairobi workstation under unclear circumstances around this time, working remotely from Europe instead.
A 2018 complaint to UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim read: “You, Sir, have approved that your friend, Lisa Svensson can work from Europe, because for personal reasons she does not wish to work in Nairobi. Her big office in Nairobi remains vacant.”
Solheim himself was forced to resign later that year for breaking internal rules.
When Epstein was arrested in July 2019 for sex trafficking of minors, Svensson quietly left her UNEP position, raising questions about whether her departure was connected to her association with the disgraced financier. Epstein died by suicide in his prison cell one month after his arrest.
The revelations confirm Kenya’s troubling status as what investigators describe as a playground for international wheeler-dealers, a secluded hideout for billionaires and celebrities, and crucially, a transit or destination country for sex trafficking operations.
Separate documents link Kenya and Tanzania to an alleged trafficking network, with children from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and other parts of Eastern Africa reportedly trafficked through Mombasa port.
The convergence of luxury tourism infrastructure, weak regulatory oversight, and powerful international connections created conditions that predators like Epstein and Maxwell exploited.
Kenyan authorities have yet to issue an official statement addressing the damning revelations or indicating whether local investigations will be launched into the activities described in the court documents.
Legal experts say the statute of limitations and jurisdictional complexities may complicate any potential prosecutions, but victims’ advocates are demanding accountability.
“These files expose Kenya as more than just a picturesque safari destination in Epstein’s world. It was a deliberate choice, a place where powerful people believed they could operate with impunity,” said one international trafficking expert who requested anonymity.
“The question now is whether Kenyan authorities will take seriously their obligation to investigate and prevent such exploitation on their soil.”
The Maxwell family’s business interests in Kenya, combined with Ghislaine’s regular visits and Epstein’s cultivation of high-level contacts, paint a picture of systematic relationship-building that went far beyond casual tourism.
These were calculated moves by sophisticated criminals who understood how to leverage social capital and geographic distance to further their predatory aims.
As more documents continue to emerge from ongoing litigation, the full extent of Kenya’s entanglement in the Epstein-Maxwell trafficking network remains to be seen.
What is already clear is that the country’s reputation as a premier destination has been irrevocably tainted by its association with two of the world’s most reviled sex offenders.
For the young women and girls who were targeted, groomed, and in many cases abused, Kenya represents not adventure and wildlife, but rather another location where their trauma unfolded.
The luxury lodges and exclusive clubs that dot the landscape now carry the shadow of having potentially facilitated one of history’s most extensive child exploitation operations.
The international community watches as Kenya grapples with its unwitting role in this global scandal, wondering whether the revelations will spur meaningful reform in how the country monitors and regulates the movements of high-risk individuals, or whether the powerful connections exposed in these files will ensure that uncomfortable questions remain unanswered.
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said he regrets “every minute” he spent with Jeffrey Epstein, after newly released court documents included claims about their past interactions.
The latest batch of files released last week by the U.S. Department of Justice contains emails and draft correspondence linked to Epstein and a number of prominent figures.
Epstein said in a draft email that was never sent that Gates had affairs, helped Bill get drugs to deal with the consequences of having sex with Russian girls, and allowed him to have illegal trysts with married women.
“From helping Bill to get drugs in order to deal with consequences of s** with russian girls, to facilictating his illicit trysts with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro bridge toumamnts. as I am a medical doctor, but have no presriptions writing abiltiy,” Epstein wrote in an email to himself (with lots of typos), as per several reports.
Gates, however, has denied the claims during his interview with 9News Australia on Wednesday.
“Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise,” Gates said, noting that “That email was never sent. The email is false.”
The billionaire added that he did not know what Epstein was thinking, adding, “Was he trying to attack me in some way?”
A spokesperson for Gates had issued a similar statement following the document release, saying the material reflects Epstein’s frustration at not maintaining a relationship with Gates.
The spokesperson accused the now-deceased Epstein of attempting to defame the Microsoft co-founder.
“The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” the spokesperson wrote.
Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates. Credit: NY Times.
Gates claimed that although he had multiple dinners with Epstein over the years after meeting him in 2011, their relationship did not extend further.
He also said he never visited Epstein’s private island and denied any inappropriate conduct.
“The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health,” he stated, adding that “in retrospect, that was a dead end.”
Gates’ former wife, Melinda French Gates, told National Public Radio (NPR) that the document release revived painful memories from their marriage.
The philanthropist, who divorced Gates in 2021, opened up about her reaction to the controversy, saying she was “happy to be away from all the muck.”
“Whatever questions remain there of what – I can’t even begin to know all of it – those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me,” Melinda said.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The release of over 3.5 million pages of documents related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has exposed a troubling pattern linking Dubai’s logistics titan DP World to the disgraced financier through its chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, raising uncomfortable questions about how the company secured lucrative port deals across East Africa just months after Sulayem boasted to Epstein about his access to African presidents.
The documents reveal that in April 2013, Sulayem emailed Epstein to inform him he was attending the inauguration of then President Uhuru Kenyatta, writing, “I am in Nairobi for the inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta as president of Kenya, whom I know very well.” Epstein replied three hours later asking, “Any plans for NY?” The casual exchange suggests a relationship where access to heads of state was currency worth trading.
Just over a year later, in October 2014, Sulayem updated Epstein about a three-hour meeting he had with President Kenyatta in Mombasa.
The discussion centred on plans to build what Sulayem described as a massive logistics hub to serve Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, the Central African Republic and Rwanda.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Within months of these communications, DP World began aggressive expansion across East Africa, securing deals that critics say lacked transparency and proper public participation.
The timing raises troubling questions.
In March 2022, Kenya’s Finance Ministry entered into a controversial concession with DP World, giving the Dubai-based firm rights to operate berths at Mombasa, Lamu and Kisumu ports.
The deal, which emerged after President Kenyatta’s February 2022 visit to the UAE, sparked fierce political backlash.
Kenya Kwanza Coalition leaders accused Kenyatta of secretly auctioning national assets, with claims the agreement was sealed during what was publicly billed as opposition leader Raila Odinga’s birthday party in Mombasa.
The letter requesting DP World’s proposal was addressed directly to Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the same man who had spent years cultivating a relationship with one of history’s most notorious paedophiles.
Although the Kenya deal ultimately collapsed amid election-year politics, DP World’s appetite for East African ports did not wane.
In October 2023, DP World signed a 30-year concession to operate four berths at Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam Port, committing an initial $250 million that could grow to $1 billion.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem himself described the agreement as “a milestone in enhancing the supply chain infrastructure in East Africa.”
The deal, which took effect in April 2024, grants DP World control over one of the continent’s busiest maritime gateways, handling cargo for Tanzania and landlocked neighbours including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, DRC and Zambia.
The Epstein files paint a disturbing portrait of Sulayem’s character and his relationship with the convicted sex offender.
Between 2007 and 2018, the two exchanged what investigators describe as “dozens, if not hundreds” of emails covering everything from business matters to deeply personal exchanges.
Photos released by House Democrats show Epstein cooking with Sulayem, suggesting an intimacy that went far beyond professional acquaintance.
In one particularly chilling exchange from 2017, Sulayem helped arrange for a Russian “masseuse” from Epstein’s “private spa” to train at the Rixos hotel in Antalya, Turkey, so she could “gain better experiences.”
Epstein wrote that he wanted her to “learn as much as she can, all treatments etc.” During Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2022 trial, multiple witnesses testified that Epstein used the guise of “massages” to sexually exploit young girls at his properties.
The masseuse’s passport details were redacted in the DoJ files, her age unknown.
Other emails reveal Sulayem repeatedly asking Epstein if he could visit his private island, Little St. James, where victims testified they were trafficked and abused.
“Dear Jeffery, Any update on the Christmas at your island I need to plan my travel,” Sulayem wrote in December 2014. This was years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
In August 2015, Sulayem sent Epstein a link to a pornography website during a series of text messages.
In another 2016 exchange, Epstein wrote to Sulayem: “no girl in dubai is safe tonite.” The context remains unclear, but the casual depravity is unmistakable.
The relationship extended to political access. In January 2017, days before Donald Trump’s first inauguration, Sulayem asked Epstein whether he should attend and “Do you think it will be possible to shake hand with trump?” Epstein advised him on the matter.
In 2015, Sulayem asked Epstein to introduce him to Elon Musk to discuss using Tesla batteries for a Dubai hotel project. Two years later, Musk and Sulayem led a discussion in Dubai.
Epstein also facilitated Sulayem’s attempts to recruit British politician Lord Peter Mandelson to DP World’s board in 2014.
Mandelson, who served in Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s cabinets and later became Donald Trump’s ambassador to Washington before being sacked over his Epstein ties, initially agreed before raising concerns about DP World’s parent company, Dubai World, being “overleveraged.” Epstein reassured him it was “awash in cash flow.”
Investigative reporting also reveals that Epstein used Sulayem’s name as a front to purchase Great St. James, an island near Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Documents made it appear that Sulayem was the buyer paying roughly $22.5 million, when in reality the beneficial owner was Epstein himself.
This arrangement allowed Epstein to mask his expanding island empire behind the credibility of a wealthy Gulf businessman.
The Africa connection runs deeper than Kenya and Tanzania.
DP World now operates ports and logistics centres across at least nine African countries, including Algeria, Angola, Djibouti, Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa, as well as the breakaway region of Somaliland.
The company’s expansion has been marked by long-term concessions, often spanning 20 to 30 years, granting DP World extraordinary control over critical trade infrastructure.
In Senegal, DP World is constructing a $1.1 billion deepwater port at Ndayane, 50 kilometres south of Dakar, which it will control for 25 years.
In Angola, the company secured a 20-year concession for the multipurpose terminal at Luanda port.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, DP World is developing a $1.2 billion deep-sea port at Banana, expected to be completed by 2025. In Mozambique, DP World operates the Maputo container terminal and launched the first dedicated container train service to Zimbabwe.
The pattern is consistent: DP World arrives in African nations promising modernisation and investment, secures decades-long concessions over strategic assets, and tightens Dubai’s grip on continental trade routes.
The company’s expansion aligns with broader UAE geopolitical strategy, with sister firm AD Ports Group similarly expanding across Tanzania, Congo and Egypt.
Yet DP World’s Africa ventures have been plagued by controversy.
In Djibouti, the government nationalised the Doraleh Container Terminal in 2018, terminating DP World’s 30-year concession amid accusations of unfair contract terms.
The move escalated into a bitter legal battle, with a Hong Kong appeals court ordering Djibouti to pay DP World over $600 million in damages. The crisis deepened after the UAE signed a deal to upgrade Somaliland’s Berbera port, positioning a rival facility on Djibouti’s doorstep.
In Tanzania, the DP World concession sparked fierce opposition from activists, religious leaders and opposition politicians who warned it threatened national sovereignty.
“The agreement was shocking as it entailed clauses that were blatantly one-sided in favour of the Dubai government and its state-owned enterprise Dubai Port World,” activist Maria Tsehai told The Africa Report in 2023. President Samia Suluhu Hassan pushed the deal through despite the backlash.
The Epstein files also reveal discussions between Sulayem and the sex offender about exploiting Somaliland’s economic potential.
In April 2018, Sulayem sent Epstein a document titled “The recognition of Somaliland – a brief history.” Earlier emails from associates explored water exports from Berbera and financial services opportunities, with one sender noting the potential to profit from remittance services if Barclays halted money transfers to the region.
Other African locations appear in the Epstein files in more sinister contexts.
The documents reference Kenya and Somalia as locations flagged for paedophile activity, with Tanzania and Senegal identified as transit points in alleged trafficking operations.
Coastal towns like Malindi in Kenya are described as areas frequented by individuals involved in such activity.
Luxury destinations such as Mnemba Island in Tanzania were reportedly visited by members of Epstein’s circle.
Newly released emails detail planning for 2009 trips to Kenya involving young women.
In one exchange, American publicist Peggy Siegal joked to Epstein about travelling from Amsterdam: “If the Maasai warriors don’t eat us, the pirates from Somalia will.”
Between April and June 2009, correspondence shows Epstein and Siegal discussed transporting two girls to Kenya, with Epstein pledging $13,000 per girl for “safari and internship.” He referenced his knowledge of accommodation flexibility at venues Siegal had chosen.
In May 2011, Siegal emailed that a girl, whose name was redacted, “is finally turning legal.” Earlier that month she told Epstein the girls were “kissing the ground you walk on and the African plains the girls are about to ride on.”
In one excerpt presented as a “joke,” a sender wrote to Epstein about “bringing a little baby back… or two… boys or girls” from Kenya.
The documents allege that Epstein’s estate was in the process of opening a film studio in Somaliland, possibly to lure young actors into his network.
He reportedly wanted to establish a commercial bank in Somalia.
Files suggest some non-governmental organisations and modelling agencies in Africa facilitated or participated in activities consistent with human trafficking.
Children from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and other parts of Eastern Africa were reportedly trafficked through Mombasa, the very port where DP World sought control and where Sulayem met with President Kenyatta to discuss regional logistics infrastructure.
Experts caution that mention of countries in the Epstein documents does not constitute proof of wrongdoing by government officials. No evidence directly links President Kenyatta or other African leaders to Epstein’s crimes. Being photographed with Epstein at public events or appearing in correspondence does not imply criminal involvement.
President Kenyatta’s connection to the files stems entirely from Sulayem’s emails about attending his inauguration and discussing port development.
Similarly, there is no public record that Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem has been charged with or formally investigated for Epstein’s crimes.
DP World declined to comment on the revelations.
Yet the company’s chairman maintained a close personal friendship with a convicted paedophile for over a decade, exchanged hundreds of emails with him, facilitated his masseuse’s training, sought invitations to his private island where abuse occurred, and shared pornographic content with him, all while leveraging Epstein’s network to access political power and business opportunities.
The question now facing East African governments is whether they conducted adequate due diligence before handing control of strategic national assets to a company led by a man so deeply enmeshed with Jeffrey Epstein.
Did Kenyan and Tanzanian officials know about Sulayem’s relationship with the convicted sex offender when they negotiated port concessions? Were background checks conducted? What safeguards exist to prevent individuals with such associations from gaining control over critical infrastructure?
In Kenya, the DP World deal collapsed amid political opposition, though speculation persists that the company may re-emerge as a contender as the government quietly relaunches port concessions.
In Tanzania, DP World is already operational, with the government touting reduced ship turnaround times and increased revenue while critics warn of sovereignty erosion.
DP World now controls a vast network of African ports stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, from Djibouti and Somaliland down through Mozambique and across to Senegal and Angola.
The company, ultimately owned by Dubai’s ruling family through Dubai World and chaired by the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, wields enormous influence over continental trade flows.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, born into one of Dubai’s most prominent political families and positioned since birth with access to the UAE’s ruling elite, has built an empire by securing long-term concessions over strategic infrastructure in developing nations.
His relationship with Jeffrey Epstein suggests he was willing to maintain close personal ties with a known sex offender, facilitate the training of women from Epstein’s “private spa,” and seek invitations to an island where children were abused, all while presenting himself as a legitimate businessman worthy of trust from African governments.
The Epstein files have exposed more than a paedophile’s network.
They have revealed the casual intermingling of wealth, political access and depravity at the highest levels of global commerce.
They have shown how men like Sulayem leveraged relationships with criminals to enhance their own power and reach.
And they have raised urgent questions about how such individuals were granted control over East Africa’s maritime gateways while their character remained unexamined.
As Kenya contemplates relaunching its port concessions and Tanzania deepens its partnership with DP World, the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein looms over every contract, every promise of investment, every assurance of modernisation.
The documents released by the US Department of Justice force a reckoning: are African nations so desperate for foreign investment that they will hand strategic assets to companies led by men who counted paedophiles among their closest friends?
The ports of Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Lamu and others are more than economic infrastructure.
They are gateways to the continent, arteries through which trade flows, symbols of sovereignty and development.
The decision of whom to entrust with their operation cannot be made lightly, cannot ignore character, cannot overlook associations that speak to judgment and values.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem may never be charged with a crime. DP World may deliver on its promises of efficiency and investment.
But the Epstein files have permanently stained both, raising questions that demand answers before any government hands this company control over another inch of African soil.
Newly released Epstein files include an email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and banker Ariane de Rothschild in which they discuss claims that Adolf Hitler lived in a shelter reportedly funded by the Epsteins and the Rothschilds.
A post on the US social media platform X by the user @AdameMedia shared a screenshot of a Dec. 31, 2018, email exchange between Epstein and de Rothschild. The messages centered on assertions that Hitler lived in a shelter for the homeless and destitute during his early years, financed by three wealthy Jewish families.
De Rothschild dismissed the story as a conspiracy theory, while Epstein appeared to argue that it was accurate.
“I thought you’d find amusing that in a Harvard class on Hitler they told the story of when he was so poor he lived in a shelter for the homeless and destitute..that had been financed by the three wealthy families…the Gutmanns the Epsteins and the Rothschilds. It turns out to be accurate,” Epstein wrote.
“Whether it’s a way to say that generosity is not rewarded or that the conspiracy theory still exists is quite pathetic…” de Rothschild replied, signing her name at the bottom of the message.
Epstein responded by doubling down on the claim.
“First it turns out to be 100 per cent true, Hitler was selling his clothes and artwork and living in a shelter funded by Jews. Epstein, Rothschild, and Gutman. No conspiracy, the Epsteins were the Vienna bankers, bought their bank on the ring hence still Palais Epstein,” he wrote.
The documents also point to business dealings between Epstein and the Rothschild family.
A document dated Oct. 5, 2015, shows Epstein, through his Southern Trust Company Inc., entered into an agreement with the Rothschild Group valued at $25 million. The contract covered risk analysis and algorithm-related services, with Epstein listed as president of Southern Trust, which was based in the US Virgin Islands.
Epstein was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He pleaded guilty in a Florida court and was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008, though critics have questioned the handling of the case.
A law firm representing alleged victims of the late Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced sex offender, has asked a federal judge to intervene after dozens of unredacted victim names appeared in documents released by the US House Oversight Committee earlier this month, media reports said on Wednesday.
Attorneys Bradley Edwards and Brittany Henderson said the release caused “widespread panic” among alleged victims, with several expressing shock that identifying information had been made public despite prior assurances that names would be redacted, according to ABC News.
“I thought the government had promised to redact our names and identifying material,” one alleged victim told the firm, according to a court filing.
Another said the disclosure was “just impossible,” while a third wrote, “I have been unable to mentally and emotionally function or sleep.”
The Justice Department faces a Dec. 19 deadline to release hundreds of thousands of Epstein-related files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The attorneys urged US District Judge Richard Berman to order the Department of Justice (DOJ) to strengthen its review procedures to prevent another release of sensitive material.
“‘These women are not political pawns,’” the filing read, adding that victims “have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to feel safe and protected by our country, which has failed them time and time again.”
The filing states that the Oversight Committee’s documents included unredacted data for dozens of alleged victims, including minors.
One file alone contained 28 names.
The attorneys said the DOJ either “does not know the identities of all the victims” or is “intentionally failing to protect victims from public exposure.”
The lawyers noted that the DOJ has acknowledged that Epstein harmed “over one thousand victims” and asked the court to confirm whether the department had attempted to redact all corresponding names before sharing documents with Congress.
They also said victims had been unable to reach DOJ officials to prevent further breaches.
“Despite numerous pleas for assistance,” they wrote, “the Department of Justice has been the primary violator of the victims’ identity protection thus far.”
The DOJ has separately asked courts in New York and Florida to authorize the release of grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Epstein- and Maxwell-related cases, records that are typically kept confidential.
Judge Berman responded by ordering the DOJ to provide by Dec. 1 a “detailed description” of the materials it plans to release and its redaction procedures to protect victim identities.
In a separate filing, US Attorney Jay Clayton said his office would “confer with counsel for known victims concerning names and terms for withholding and redactions” and outlined categories of material the DOJ intends to release, including witness interview notes, search warrant applications, financial records, and documents from the Epstein estate.
Prince Andrew is again under intense scrutiny following revelations from Nobody’s Girl, the posthumous memoir of Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexual abuse linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The BBC obtained a copy of the book, which is set for publication on Tuesday, nearly six months after Giuffre’s death.
In it, she describes years of abuse by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, writing that she once feared she might “die a sex slave.”
Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions – in London, New York, and on Epstein’s private island – including once “with Epstein and approximately eight other young women.”
She recalled that when they first met, Maxwell told her she would meet a “handsome prince,” and Andrew, then 41, “guessed correctly: seventeen.”
“He was friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright,” Giuffre wrote.
She said Epstein later gave her $15,000 “for servicing the man the tabloids called ‘Randy Andy.’”
Prince Andrew has consistently denied all allegations and reached an out-of-court financial settlement with Giuffre in 2022, while admitting no wrongdoing.
The memoir’s release comes as the prince faces growing political and public pressure. Last week, he announced he would stop using his titles, including Duke of York, and step away from the Order of the Garter.
“I vigorously deny the accusations against me,” he added in a statement.
Some UK lawmakers are now calling for Andrew’s titles to be formally removed.
MP Rachael Maskell told the BBC it was “incredibly strange that you can give a title, but you can’t remove a title.” Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn said there was “no justification” for the government not to act.
Meanwhile, London’s Metropolitan Police said they are “actively” reviewing reports that Prince Andrew allegedly tried to obtain Giuffre’s personal information through a police protection officer in 2011 – claims described as “scandalous” by former royal protection chief Dai Davies.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Ghislaine Maxwell against her sex-trafficking conviction.
Without providing an explanation, the court declined to hear the former British socialite’s appeal, which means her 20-year sentence will remain in place barring a presidential pardon.
Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, told the BBC her team was “deeply disappointed”, but would continue exploring legal avenues “to ensure that justice is done”.
Maxwell was convicted for her role in luring underage girls for her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein to exploit. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
Family members of Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre told the BBC they were grateful for the court’s denial and committed to ensuring she served her full sentence.
The justice department did not immediately comment.
She was recently interviewed by federal agents in the US about what she knew as part of an inquiry into the sex-trafficking scheme and whether others could have been involved.
She was found guilty in 2021 of facilitating Epstein’s abuse. Prosecutors said she recruited and groomed the girls, some as young as 14, between 1994 and 2004, before they were abused by Epstein, a New York financier.
Maxwell’s lawyers appealed against the verdict, arguing she should never have been tried or convicted for her role in the scheme.
Speculation has been rife that Trump could pardon Maxwell, but the White House has previously said “no leniency is being given or discussed”.
The files surrounding Epstein’s case, including grand jury testimony, have become a political flashpoint amid demands they be released.
Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison facility in Texas after her interview with justice department officials in July. In those interviews, she denied seeing any inappropriate conduct by Trump during his interactions with Epstein.
The facility, FPC Bryant, is located about 100 miles (160km) from the Texas capital of Austin.
The family members of Giuffre, Sky and Amanda Roberts and Danny and Lanette Wilson, said in a written statement that they “remain hopeful that the DOJ will realize that she belongs in a maximum security prison, not the country club one she is currently in”.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas, the Bureau of Prisons said Friday, triggering an angry reaction from some of their victims.
No reason was given for Maxwell’s transfer but it comes a week after a top Justice Department official met with her to ask questions about Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for allegedly sex trafficking underage girls.
“We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,” a Bureau of Prisons spokesman said.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, interviewed Maxwell for two days at a Florida courthouse last week in a highly unusual meeting between a convicted felon and high-ranking Justice official.
Blanche has declined so far to say what was discussed but Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said she answered every question she was asked.
Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress about Epstein if given immunity and has also reportedly been seeking a pardon from Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein.
She had been subpoenaed to give a deposition to the House Oversight Committee on August 11, but Politico reported Friday it had been postponed indefinitely.
The former British socialite is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of recruiting underage girls for Epstein.
Two women who said they were sexually abused by Epstein and Maxwell and the family of another accuser who recently committed suicide condemned the prison transfer.
“It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,” Annie and Maria Farmer and the family of Virginia Giuffre said in a statement Friday.
“Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency,” they said.
“Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas,” they said. “This move smacks of a cover-up. The victims deserve better.”
US President Donald Trump has said he fell out with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he “stole” young women who worked at his Mar-a-Lago beach club spa.
The president made the remarks as he returned from Scotland, where he faced more questions over his relationship with the disgraced financier.
“He took people, I say ‘don’t do it anymore’, you know they work for me… beyond that, he took some others,” Trump said. “Once he did that, that was the end of him.”
It comes as the legal team for Epstein’s conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, indicated she would only testify before Congress on what she knows about the case if she is granted strict legal protections.
Amid public pressure for more disclosures in the Epstein case, a House of Representatives committee subpoenaed Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, to testify before lawmakers on 11 August.
In a letter obtained by the BBC’s US partner CBS, her legal team said she would only do so if granted immunity or pardoned, and provided with questions in advance.
Questions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein followed him on to Air Force One on Tuesday, where he was asked to expand on comments he made the previous day in Scotland where he said: “He [Epstein] stole people that worked for me.”
Asked if the employees were young women, Trump responded: “the answer is yes”, and added that they were hired “out of the spa” he ran.
Trump said that one of them was Virginia Giuffre, who had said she began working at Mar-a-Lago in the summer of 2000, when she was 16.
According to court documents unsealed in 2019, Giuffre alleged she was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell to give massages to Epstein while she was working at the spa.
Giuffre accused Prince Andrew and Epstein of sexual abuse, allegations they both denied. She died by suicide earlier this year in Australia.
Trump remark’s aboard Air Force One are his latest on how he and Epstein’s relationship ended.
Last week, the White House said Trump kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club “for being a creep”.
Pressed on whether there was a discrepancy between the reasons, Trump said: “You know, it’s sort of a little bit of the same thing.”
Trump and Epstein fell out in the early 2000s, after having been friends for more than a decade.
It also comes amid mounting pressure on Trump officials to release files related to Epstein and growing frustration with the administration’s handling of the issue, including its failure to deliver a rumoured “client list”.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump during a May briefing that his name was among hundreds that appeared in justice department documents related to Epstein. Being named in such files is no confirmation of wrongdoing.
The two were spotted together at parties throughout their friendship. At least two women who had attended those events later came forward with sexual assault allegations against Trump.
One of them was Jill Harth, who accused Trump in a 1997 lawsuit of forcibly kissing her and fondling her at a Mar-a-Lago event for young women where Epstein was also in attendance, the New York Times reported. Trump denied the allegations and the lawsuit was dropped.
Another woman, model Stacey Williams, accused Trump of groping her after she was brought to Trump Tower in Manhattan by Epstein to greet Trump. The president has also denied her allegations.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had written a “bawdy” letter to Epstein in 2003 for his birthday.
It reportedly contained a joking reference that “enigmas never age” and allegedly ended with the words: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence
Trump and Epstein reportedly fell out in 2004 over a sought-after Palm Beach oceanfront property that had fallen into foreclosure. Trump ultimately outbid Epstein for the home.
In 2006, Epstein was indicted in Florida for solicitation of prostitution and later pleaded guilty to the charges. He was then arrested in 2019 over federal charges of sex trafficking, and died by suicide in prison before his trial.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was found guilty of helping Epstein sexually exploit and abuse young girls over the course of a decade.
She was subpoenaed by House Oversight chairman James Comer last week to testify before Congress.
Her lawyers made an appeal for clemency from President Trump, writing that if she “were to receive clemency, she would be willing – and eager – to testify openly and honestly”.
Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Comer said the Kentucky congressman “will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony”.
Comer told CNN last week that there were not “many Republicans that want to give immunity to someone that may have been sex trafficking children”.
Asked whether he would give clemency to Maxwell, Trump told reporters last week that doing so was within his powers, but that he had “not thought” about it.
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’ssuper powers as a public figure have long included the ability to redirect, evade and deny.
But the Republican’s well-worn methods of changing the subject when a tough topic stings politically are not working as his White House fends off persistent unrest from his usually loyal base about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Trump has scolded reporters, claimed ignorance and offered distractions in an effort to quash questions about Epstein and the suspicions still swirling around the disgraced financier’s case years after his 2019 death in prison. The demand for answers has only grown.
“For a president and an administration that’s very good at controlling a narrative, this is one that’s been harder,” said Republican strategist Erin Maguire, a former Trump campaign spokeswoman.
Unlike political crises that dogged Trump’s first term, including two impeachments and a probe into alleged campaign collusion with Russia, the people propelling the push for more transparency on Epstein have largely been his supporters, not his political foes.
Trump has fed his base with conspiracy theories for years, including the false “birther” claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Trump’s advisers fanned conspiracies about Epstein, too, only to declare them moot upon entering office.
That has not gone over well with the president’s right-leaning base, which has long believed the government was covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful.
“Donald Trump’s been running a Ponzi scheme based on propaganda for the better part of a decade and it’s finally catching up to him,” said Geoff Duncan, a Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia and Trump critic. “The far right element is just dug in. They’re hell bent on getting this information out.”
The White House has dismissed reporting about Trump’s ties to Epstein as “fake news,” though it has acknowledged his name appears in documents related to the Epstein case. Trump and Epstein were friends for years before falling out.
“The only people who can’t seem to shake this story from their one-track minds are the media and Democrats,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.
Before leaving for a trip to Scotland on Friday, the president again urged people to turn their attention elsewhere.
“People should really focus on how well the country is doing,” Trump told reporters, lamenting that scrutiny was not being given to others in Epstein’s orbit. “They don’t talk about them, they talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy.”
THE ART OF DISTRACTION
Trump in recent weeks has employed a typical diversion playbook.
He chastised a reporter for asking about Epstein in the White House Cabinet Room. He claimed in the Oval Office that he was not paying close attention to the issue. And, with help from Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, he explosively accused Obama of treason for how he treated intelligence in 2016 about Russian interference in the U.S. election.
On Thursday Trump took his distraction tour to the Federal Reserve, where he tussled with Chair Jerome Powell about construction costs and pressed for lower interest rates.
That, said Republican strategist Brad Todd, was more effective than focusing on Obama in 2016, which voters had already litigated by putting Trump back in office.
“The Tulsi Gabbard look backward, I think, is not the way for them to pivot,” Todd said, noting that Trump’s trip to the Fed highlighted the issue of economic affordability and taking on a Washington institution. “If I was him I’d go to the Fed every day until rates are cut.”
Democrats have seized on Trump’s efforts to move on, sensing a political weakness for the president and divisions in the Republican Party that they can exploit while their own political stock is low in the wake of last year’s drubbing at the polls.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month showed most Americans think Trump’s administration is hiding information about Epstein, creating an opportunity for Democrats to press.
Trump’s supporters and many Democrats are eager to see a release of government files related to Epstein and his case, which the Justice Department initially promised to deliver.
“Yesterday was another example of the Trump folks trying to throw as much stuff against the wall to avoid the Epstein files,” Mark Warner, a Democratic U.S. senator from Virginia, said in a post on X on Thursday about Gabbard’s accusations against Obama.
Trump allies see the administration’s efforts to change topic as a normal part of an all-out-there strategy.
“They are always going at 100 miles an hour. Every department, every cabinet secretary, everybody is out there at full speed blanketing the area with news,” Republican strategist Maguire said.
Trump has weathered tougher periods before, and his conservative base, despite its frustration over the files, is largely pleased with Trump’s work on immigration and the economy. In a July Reuters/Ipsos poll, 56% of Republican respondents favored the administration’s immigration workplace raids, while 24% were opposed and 20% unsure.
Pollster Frank Luntz noted that Trump had faced felony convictions and other criminal charges but still won re-election last year.
“We’ve been in this very same situation several times before and he has escaped every time,” Luntz said.
The words “Epstein files” have been haunting the Trump administration for weeks as it grapples with a growing crisis stemming from the sex crimes of late convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Pressure has been growing from President Donald Trump’s own supporters and from voices within his own Republican Party for more transparency on what the investigations into Epstein uncovered.
Reports have emerged that Trump himself was told in May by his attorney general that his name appeared in files related to the investigations.
He was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, and being named is not evidence of any criminal activity, nor has Trump ever been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein matter.
The president said while campaigning for the 2024 election that he would be open to making public more information.
But he changed his position earlier this month, saying the case was closed and even criticising his own supporters who have continued to press him on it.
What are the Epstein files?
In 2008, Epstein reached a plea deal with prosecutors after the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home.
Photos of girls were found throughout the house, and he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender and escaped a heavy jail sentence as a result of the deal.
Eleven years later, he was charged with running a network of underage girls for sex. He died in prison while awaiting trial, and his death was ruled a suicide.
These two criminal investigations amassed a vast trove of documents including transcripts of interviews with victims and witnesses, and items confiscated from raids of his various properties.
There was also a separate investigation into his British co-conspirator and ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to traffic girls for sex.
Both Epstein and Maxwell were also the subject of civil cases.
What has already been released on Epstein?
At various stages over the years, some materials have been put into the public domain relating to both Epstein and Maxwell.
One batch, in January 2024, contained 1,400 pages of records, including depositions with both. A trove of documents in the Maxwell case was also made public, in which several high-profile figures were named. But they contained no new revelations about Epstein or his associates.
In February this year, weeks after Trump took office, the Department of Justice and the FBI released what they described at the time as the “first phase of the declassified Epstein files”.
A group of right-wing influencers were invited to the White House but they were left disappointed when they realised that the 341 pages handed to them were mostly material that was already out there.
it included flight logs from Epstein’s plane and a redacted version of his contacts book containing the names of famous people he knew.
In July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a memo that no more material would be released.
Who is named in the Epstein files?
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump himself is named in unreleased documents that relate to Epstein, and was told as much by Attorney General Pam Bondi in May. The paper noted that being named in the files was not evidence of wrongdoing.
The White House gave mixed messages in response. Spokesman Steven Cheung pushed back, calling the story “fake”, although an unnamed official speaking to Reuters said the administration did not dispute that Trump’s name was included.
Although the contents of any unreleased documents remain unknown, the existing materials in the public domain mention a number of high-profile figures who were connected Epstein.
Again, this does not imply any wrongdoing by those individuals.
Dozens of names were mentioned in a release of court documents in 2024. Prince Andrew, former US President Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson were among the associates, friends and alleged victims named in the 900 pages that were unsealed.
Both the former US president and the British royal deny any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Jackson died in 2009.
The release of documents related to the case of Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for child sex trafficking.
Is there an Epstein client list?
It has been suggested that unreleased Epstein files could contain a so-called client list that might implicate high-profile associates besides Maxwell in his criminal operation.
In their memo in July, the DoJ and FBI stated that no such list existed. However, conspiracy theories persist.
The purported list has sometimes been conflated with the wider Epstein files, and remarks by Bondi have fuelled the confusion.
The statement by Bondi’s justice department that there was no client list appeared to contradict her comments earlier in the year. When asked by Fox News interviewer about the rumoured list in February, she responded: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Bondi’s spokesman later clarified that she had been referring to overall files in the Epstein issue.
Jeffrey Epstein and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell
Why are people so interested in Epstein?
Die-hard members of Trump’s MAGA movement have long believed officials are hiding key truths about Epstein’s life and death.
Some of them have theorised that a child-molesting cabal has been operating at the highest levels of US society, protected by the state. The theory spread through cryptic messages posted by a pseudonymous character called Q.
In one of the conspiracy theories pushed by some MAGA influencers, Epstein was an agent of the Israeli government.
There are several unanswered questions about Epstein shared by the wider population too – particularly why he was given such a lenient sentence in Florida, whether he and Maxwell were really acting alone and how he was allowed to take his own life in prison.
Trump and his team hyped up the theories when they were running for office but now they are in power they have found themselves unable to convince their supporter base that there are no more questions to answer.
It has been suggested that unreleased Epstein files could contain a so-called client list that might implicate high-profile associates besides Maxwell in his criminal operation.
In their memo in July, the DoJ and FBI stated that no such list existed.
However, conspiracy theories persist.
The purported list has sometimes been conflated with the wider Epstein files, and remarks by Bondi have fuelled the confusion.
The statement by Bondi’s justice department that there was no client list appeared to contradict her comments earlier in the year. When asked by Fox News interviewer about the rumoured list in February, she responded: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Bondi’s spokesman later clarified that she had been referring to overall files in the Epstein issue.
What do we know about Trump/Epstein relationship?
Trump and Epstein appear to have been friends for a number of years, keeping a similar social circle.
Previously released files show that Trump’s details were in Epstein’s so-called black book of contacts. Flight logs also showed Trump flying on Epstein’s plane on several occasions.
They were pictured together at elite events in the 1990s, and photos recently published by CNN purport to show Epstein in attendance at Trump’s wedding to then-wife Marla Maples.
In 2002, Trump described Epstein as a “terrific guy”. Epstein would later remark: “I was Donald’s closest friend for 10 years.”
According to Trump, they fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested. By 2008, Trump was saying that he had not been “a fan of his.”
The White House has recently suggested that their fallout was connected to Epstein’s behaviour, and that “the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep”.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, has suggested that the breakdown in their relationship was due to their rivalry over some real estate in Florida.
Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of “treason”, claiming he plotted to sabotage his first presidency by linking him to alleged Russian election meddling.
“They tried to steal the election,” Trump said at the White House as he claimed Obama had sought to undermine his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton.
A spokesman for Obama issued a rare retort, calling Trump’s attack “a weak attempt at distraction”.
Trump was referring to a report from US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard last week that accused Obama and his national security team of a “years-long coup against President Trump” – findings that Democrats have branded false.
Trump’s comments on Tuesday came as he faced questions from reporters about late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The president’s administration has been under pressure to release more information about the well-connected convicted paedophile.
“The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold,” Trump told reporters.
“It’s time to go after people, Obama’s been caught directly,” he added.
“He’s guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of,” Trump said.
His comments came as he hosted Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the Oval Office.
Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said: “Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response.
“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”
Obama and Trump pictured in January at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter
Friday’s report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declassified emails between Obama aides, and argued they had suppressed intelligence findings that Russia had failed in probing attempts to hack US election databases.
A declassified copy of the president’s daily briefing prepared by US security service chiefs for Obama weeks after Trump beat Clinton and dated 8 December 2016 said: “We assess that Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.”
But the FBI dissented from the findings it had initially co-authored, and a meeting was held at the White House a day later with top officials, according to the report.
Afterwards an aide to then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper emailed intelligence chiefs asking them to create a new assessment “per the president’s request” detailing the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election”.
Gabbard argued the emails showed evidence of a “treasonous conspiracy” to harm Trump, and she threatened to refer Obama administration officials to the justice department for prosecution.
But Obama’s spokesman said in his statement on Tuesday: “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”
The US intelligence community published an assessment in January 2017 concluding that Russia had sought to damage Clinton’s campaign and boost Trump in the vote three months earlier.
US officials found this effort had included Russian bot farms on social media and hacking of Democratic emails, but they ultimately concluded the impact was probably limited and did not actually change the election result.
A 2020 bipartisan report by the Senate intelligence committee also found that Russia had tried to help Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was a senator at the time, was among the Republicans who co-signed that report.
The first two years of Trump’s first presidency were overshadowed by an investigation from his own justice department into whether he had conspired with Russia to sway the 2016 outcome.
The resulting Mueller report found a lack of evidence that Trump or his campaign co-ordinated with the Kremlin, and no-one was ever charged with such crimes.
A subsequent special counsel inquiry, the Durham report, found the original FBI probe had lacked “analytical rigor” and relied on “raw, unanalysed and uncorroborated intelligence”.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, has died by suicide aged 41, her family has said.
Ms Giuffre was one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend. She alleged they trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17, which Prince Andrew has strenuously denied.
Relatives said in a statement on Friday that she had been a “fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse”, and that the “toll of abuse… became unbearable”.
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” they said.
The statement described the mother of three “as the light that lifted so many survivors” and said she died on Friday at her farm in Western Australia.
West Australia police said they were called to a home in the Neergabby area on Friday night, where Ms Giuffre was found unresponsive.
A statement continued: “The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”
Ms Giuffre – who was born in the US – had been living with her children and husband Robert in the suburb of North Perth, although recent reports suggested the couple had split after 22 years of marriage.
Three weeks ago, Ms Giuffre posted on Instagram to say she had been seriously injured in a car accident, which her family later said she had not intended to make public. Local police later disputed the severity of the crash.
In a statement, Ms Giuffre’s long-time spokesperson Dini von Mueffling described her as “one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.
She said Ms Giuffre was a “beacon to other survivors and victims” and that “it was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her”.
After making her abuse allegations public, Ms Giuffre became a prominent campaigner and was closely associated with the Me Too movement.
Ms Giuffre alleged that Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to Prince Andrew when she was 17.
The prince, who has denied all claims against him, reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022.
The settlement included a statement in which he expressed regret for his association with Epstein but contained no admission of liability or apology.
Ms Giuffre said she became a victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager.
She said she met Maxwell, a British socialite, in 2000.
From there, she said she was introduced to American financier Epstein and alleged years of abuse by him and his associates.
Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019, where he was being held awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
He was previously convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US for her role in Epstein’s trafficking and abuse.
The United States Department of Justice released a trove of long-awaited documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday evening (February 27).
The release included contact lists, flight logs from his private jet, the Lolita Express, and other evidence amassed against the convicted sex offender. However, despite widespread anticipation, the roughly 200-page document dump contained no major revelations. Instead, it largely confirmed the names of celebrities and politicians already known to have associated with the notorious figure.
What’s in the Documents?
The documents include a contact list of individuals who associated with Epstein, though it is not a “client list.”
Addresses and phone numbers were redacted to protect privacy.
Among the high-profile names in Epstein’s contact list are Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Ethel Kennedy, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and Courtney Love.
Other notable names include Ivana Trump, Ivanka Trump, Bob Weinstein, businessman David Koch, former Senator Ted Kennedy, actor Ralph Fiennes, and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
Key Details
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005. Photo: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Epstein was known for hosting famous individuals on his private island, Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He frequently flew guests to the island on his private jet, leaving a written record of who traveled there.
Ninety names were unsealed from a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged trafficking victim, against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend. Maxwell, 61, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in December 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit and sexually abuse underage girls.
Epstein, a financier accused of preying on underage girls as young as 14, died by suicide in August 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in a New York jail cell.
Authorities ruled his death a suicide. Epstein had previously been convicted in 2008 by a Florida court on charges of soliciting prostitution, including from a minor.
The flight logs released in January 2024 do not imply wrongdoing by those named. Most individuals are believed to have traveled to Epstein’s island for legitimate business, social, or political reasons.
New York federal judge Loretta Preska found no legal justification for withholding the names and ordered their release.
Among the names listed are former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, both of whom have vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Four names were redacted to protect the identities of alleged victims who traveled on Epstein’s private jet.
Notable Names in the Documents
The released names include:
Ghislaine Maxwell
Virginia Lee Roberts Giuffre [Epstein victim]
Prince Andrew of England
James Michael Austrich
Philip Barden
REDACTED
Cate Blanchett
David Boies
Laura Boothe
Evelyn Boulet
Rebecca Boylan
Joshua Bunner
Naomi Campbell
Carolyn Casey
Paul Cassell
Sharon Churcher
Bill Clinton
David Copperfield
Alexandra Cousteau
Cameron Diaz
Leonardo DiCaprio
Alan Dershowitz
Dr. Mona Devanesan
REDACTED
Bradley Edwards
Amanda Ellison
Cimberly Espinosa
Jeffrey Epstein
Annie Farmer
Marie Farmer
Alexandra Fekkai
Crystal Figueroa
Anthony Figueroa
Louis Freeh
Eric Gany
Meg Garvin
Sheridan Gibson-Butte
Robert Giuffre
Al Gore
Ross Gow
Fred Graff
Philip Guderyon
REDACTED
Shannon Harrison
Stephen Hawking
Victoria Hazel
Brittany Henderson
Brett Jaffe
Michael Jackson
Carol Roberts Kess
Dr. Karen Kutikoff
Peter Listerman
George Lucas
Tony Lyons
Bob Meister
Jamie A. Melanson
Lynn Miller
Marvin Minsky
REDACTED
David Mullen
Joe Pagano
Mary Paluga
J. Stanley Pottinger
Joseph Recarey
Michael Reiter
Jason Richards
Bill Richardson
Sky Roberts
Scott Rothstein
Forest Sawyer
Doug Schoetlle
Kevin Spacey
Cecilia Stein
Mark Tafoya
Brent Tindall
Kevin Thompson
Donald Trump
Ed Tuttle
Emma Vaghan
Kimberly Vaughan-Edwards
Cresenda Valdes
Anthony Valladares
Maritza Vazquez
Vicky Ward
Jarred Weisfeld
Courtney Wild
Bruce Willis
Daniel Wilson
Kathy Alexander
Miles Alexander
In addition to the contact list, the DOJ released redacted records of 254 masseuses—victims whose names remain confidential—and flight logs from Epstein’s private jet, the *Lolita Express*. A significant portion of the documents was blacked out to protect victim information, according to the *New York Post*.
More Releases to Come?
The binder, labeled “Phase One,” suggests that additional document releases could follow. It was reportedly provided to 15 conservative influencers before being made public.
Podcaster Liz Wheeler, reviewing the release in a livestream, expressed frustration: “We’re all waiting for bombshells. We’re all waiting for juicy stuff. And that’s not what’s in this binder. That’s not what’s in this binder at all. And that’s exactly how the attorney general presented it to us.”
Push for Transparency
Critics have demanded greater transparency. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), head of a House GOP transparency task force, expressed dissatisfaction with the limited scope of the release.
“THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment,” Luna posted on X. “GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!”
“Something about this Epstein release doesn’t feel authentic. Why do we need “phases” of the release and why not just release it to the entire public at large to comb through?” Candace Owen’s posted.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly given the FBI’s New York field office until Friday to turn over additional materials for public release.
“The first phase of files released today sheds light on Epstein’s extensive network and begins to provide the public with long overdue accountability,” she said.
FBI Director Kash Patel vowed that there would be “no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned,” adding that anyone who tries to undermine this effort “will be swiftly pursued.”
“If records have been hidden, we will uncover them,” he declared. “And we will bring everything we find to the DOJ to be fully assessed and transparently disseminated to the American people, as it should be.”
