Jeffrey Epstein was running ‘the world’s largest honeytrap operation’ on behalf of the KGB when he procured women for his network of associates, intelligence sources believe.
The release of more than three million new documents relating to the late sex offender gives credence to incendiary claims made by senior security officials: that Epstein was working on behalf of Moscow, and possibly Israel, when he facilitated assignations for some of the world’s most powerful men.
The files include 1,056 documents naming Russian President Vladimir Putin and 9,629 referring to Moscow. Epstein even seems to have secured audiences with Putin after his 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.
The sources say it could explain why Epstein appeared to enjoy an ultra-wealthy lifestyle out of kilter with his career as a financier, although there is no documentary evidence linking Putin and his spies directly to Epstein’s illicit activities.
But the sources also claim that while US security services ‘monitored’ Epstein’s Russian connections for years, their UK equivalents were hesitant due to Epstein’s connection to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The cache includes an email claiming Bill Gates asked one of Epstein’s advisers to provide medicine to treat sexually transmitted diseases due to ‘sex with Russian girls’ – something he has dismissed as ‘completely false’.
It also contains a document confirming The Mail on Sunday’s October report that Epstein offered to introduce Andrew to a ‘beautiful’ 26-year-old Russian woman in August 2010 – two years after Epstein’s conviction.
American intelligence experts believe Epstein was inducted into the world of espionage via business deals with Robert Maxwell, the disgraced media magnate who – like Epstein – died in murky circumstances; in Maxwell’s case his body was found floating in the Atlantic in 1991, having apparently fallen overboard from his yacht.