Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Jeffrey Epstein’s Post-Conviction Reinvention Through Global Institutions (Part 2) (5/11/26)

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Jeffrey Epstein’s Post-Conviction Reinvention Through Global Institutions (Part 2) (5/11/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up
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where we left off with a Fortune article talking about
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Jeffrey Epstein, the un and Bill Gates once again. This
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article was authored by Jessica Matthews. It was Jeffrey Epstein
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who first introduced the Gates Foundation and IPI. Epstein VIA's
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friendship with its president. Rod Larson had already been tied
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to IPI for a few years. By twenty eleven, Rod
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Larson was visiting Epstein's house in New York City and
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had stayed in his home in Paris and visited the island.
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In twenty thirteen, he personally borrowed one hundred and thirty
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thousand from Epstein, as was first reported by the investigative
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outlet DN and later confirmed in DOJ emails. Emails released
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earlier this year by the Department of Justice showed the
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extent to which the relationship was professionally intertwined. Yeah, it
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was a very deep relationship. Now. I know Terry Larson
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wants to lie here and say that that's not true,
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but we have the evidence to see for ourselves, and
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nobody's writing those kinds of emails back and forth if
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they're not buddies. Rob Larson regularly turned to Epstein for
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fundraising advice and sent them private IPI documents or exchanges
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to review. Several other IPI employees, including the director of
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its Vienna office, corresponded with Epstein via email. Epstein sponsored
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a fellowship with IPI in twenty twelve, and an email
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shows that IPI was trying to arrange payment to Epstein
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for serving on IPI's Mongolian Presidential Advisory Board, where Epstein
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and a group of others gave direct advice to the
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then Mongolian president. I can't even pronounce this guy's name,
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something something Elba Gorge, no idea, but like, what's Epstein
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doing in Mongolia? I thought he was just alone predator,
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just a guy with some messed up proclivities who you know,
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might have targeted a couple of people, but that's it. Meanwhile,
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this m effort is in the middle of all kinds
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of crazy shit, whether it's the promised software, whether it's Africa,
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whether it's Mongolia, whether it's Afghanistan. There's no far flung
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province that Epstein wasn't interested in. By the time that
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Epstein introduced Bill Gates to IPI senior leadership in March
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of twenty thirteen, around the time of a meeting at
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the residence of then Nobel Committee chair for Burn Jaglind.
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Epstein had already been working behind the scenes to secure
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the donation, and he'd also been working to try and
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get Bill Gates that Nobel Peace Prize. Remember, that's what
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Bill Gates wanted, That's what he was chasing, and he
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was trying to use Epstein to get there. He had
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been corresponding with Boris Nikolitch, bill Gates then advisor and
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someone who regularly interfaced with Epstein about IPI, sending him
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information about the institute and its work to eradicate Polio
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for Nicko to relate to Gates at the end of
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twenty twelve email show. Over the next several months, Epstein
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would work meticulously reviewing and editing emails to Gates Foundation
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employees and pushing Nickeolch about the donation. I thought he
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wasn't that close to them. Isn't that what Nikolitch told us. Meanwhile,
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Nikolich was one of the backups when it comes to
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executors for Epstein's will and Nikolich is another dude that's
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out here talking about Oh, I hardly knew the guy.
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You're not going to be made the executor of a
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will of somebody that doesn't know you. Over the next
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several months, Epstein would work meticulously reviewing and editing emails
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to Gates Foundation employees and pushing Nickolitch about the donation.
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In a statement to Fortune, a spokesperson for Nickolach said
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as email showed discussions between IPI and the foundation focused
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on expanding polio vaccine access in underserved areas, declining to
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comment further, Bill approved the five million. Epstein wrote to
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the head of IPI's Vienna office, when giving her advice
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about an upcoming conversation with the foundation, asked them if
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they read your analysis of the situation. He said Epstein's
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efforts were fruitful. In twenty thirteen, the Gates Foundation committed
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five million dollars to IPI to support polio eradication, and
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Epstein himself emailed Nikolch the wiring instructions for the money. Oh,
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I'm sure it all went to polio. I'm sure nobody
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patted their pockets. Do you really think Jeffrey Epstein didn't
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get pieced off of all people. You already know that
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Epstein made some money on that deal. It wouldn't stop there.
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Over the next seven years, between twenty thirteen and twenty twenty,
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the Gates Foundation donated more than eight and a half
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million to IPI. Public records from the foundation show, and
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I'm sure all of it's on the up and up right.
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I'm sure none of it came from ill gotten gains,
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and I'm sure all of it was routed exactly where
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it was supposed to go. Oh wait, that didn't happen,
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got it at the onset? Emails released by the Department
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of Justice showed that Nikolicch was trying to speed up
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the grant making process, which he said in an email
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typically took six to nine months. We're trying to accelerate,
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he wrote in an email to Abstein and the head
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of IPIS Vienna office in August of twenty thirteen. Within
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one month of that email, several IPI staffers flew out
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to Seattle to meet with Gates Foundation, and in October
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the five million grant was awarded and two and a
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half million was wired to IPI, and boy, I wonder
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where it went from there. Do you really think it
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went to people who needed polio vaccines in Africa or whatever?
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Highly doubt that at least one employee of the Gates
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Foundation was surprised by the speed with which the Foundation
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move forward with the IPI. A former employee at the
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Foundation at the time who worked on the organization's polio
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eradication strategy recalls running into someone from IPI approximately a
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month after they first heard about the talks and was
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surprised to learn that the person was already laying the
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groundwork for it. I thought it was rather quick for
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a higher level grant. What employees at the Foundation did
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not know is that Epstein had been using multiple channels
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and personal connections over several years to try to influence
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Bill Gates. As Fortune has detailed in earlier reporting, Epstein
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would get involved lining up another donor to IPI two
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in twenty fourteen, the private equity scion Leon Black made
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two personal donations totaling nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars
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to the think tank. Donations Epstein was corresponding and asking
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about email show and the recent things move so quickly
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is because it's not on the up and up. Everything's decided,
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and everything that comes after is performative. As it turns out,
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there would be some favors Epstein would want from IPI
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in return for his generosity. What if I told you
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about Epstein? The guy didn't do things out of the
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kindness of his heart. He did it because he thought
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he could benefit. And when it comes to the IPI,
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United Nations or anywhere else, that certainly was the case.
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In August of twenty eighteen, Marna, the foreign assistant in
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her twenties at the time, texted Epstein that she had
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heard back from the Swiss embassy in Washington as she
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was trying to secure her student visa, her papers had
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not been approved. Within fifteen minutes, Epstein had message Rod Larson,
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who had previously agreed to help with the visa. Rod
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Larson responded to Epstein within five minutes, saying he would
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reach out to an ambassador and ask him to speak
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to the Console General. Soon after Epstein and rod Larson
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had apparently come up with a solution, Epstein texted Marna,
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you've been working for International Peace Institute Terry Larson, he wrote. Marna,
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seemingly confused, asked if the message was meant to her. Yes,
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if you get a call, that's the story you need
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to tell immigration fraud, just like I told you. Now
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there's proof of it and just another clue that were
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on the right track. Once we sniff something out around
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these parts, chances are it's true. And when it comes
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to immigration fraud, I don't know how anyone could deny that.
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Other women, however, had more direct connections to IPI. While
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an exact tally of women in Epstein's orbit who worked
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for IPI could not be learned, Fortune confirmed two of
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Epstein's assistants, including Posadiva, held roles as staff at IPI,
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and additional email exchanges reviewed by Fortune showed that Epstein
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either floated IPI as a potential career opportunity or a
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means to secure a VIAS application for at least two
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More So, who was approving all of it and whoever
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approved it? Those are the people that need to be
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looked at, who signed it and why. Epstein's numerous attempts
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to leverage the connection he had secured for Rod Larsen's
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organization would ultimately capture the attention of authorities. In December
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of twenty nineteen, Liaison prosecutor from the Norwegian Ministry of
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Foreign Affairs sent a memo to the US Department of Justice,
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according to an email exchange within the files. This was
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several months after Epstein had died by suicide, allegedly in
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New York after being arrested by the Department of Justice.
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The memo included testimony from an IPI employee saying that
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the individual had been asked on more than one occasion
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to attend a very short term trainees from Eastern Europe
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during their time working at IPI between twenty fourteen to
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twenty sixteen. These trainees were all young, beautiful females and
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without the education required to work at the think tank,
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the memo read, adding that some of the women took
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pictures at the un that were later sent to Epstein. Look,
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I think we can put the debate to bed when
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it comes to Epstein being a trafficker or not. It's
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obvious what he was doing. Now, if you want to
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discuss the scale, you want to discuss just how large
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ranging it was. Cool, we can discuss that, but you
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can't show up to the conversation without admitting the facts.
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And the facts are Jeffrey Epstein and his buddies over
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at IPI. We're trafficking these girls. Well incorporated into our
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investigation and or follow up as appropriate, the Assistant US
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Attorney General for the Southern District of New York wrote
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in a response to receiving the information from the Department
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of Justice liaison prosecutor, who passed it along. In a
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January twenty fourteen exchange with a woman whose name is
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redacted in the records, apart from her initial m Epstein
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offered up work at IPI as one of his many
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ideas he had for her. Also Peace Institute in Vienna
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sounds like a great idea, and responded to Epstein, please
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tell me more details. I still receive my options from
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my booker, but modeling is not my goal anymore. Thank
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you for the great offers and aid. Oh yeah, I'm
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sure it was a great offer and great aid. What
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he's really doing is hustling this girl to get her
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to do what he wants her to do. Posadiva had
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a degree from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations
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and had been modeling for a European fashion brand before
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meeting Epstein, who had helped her secure a US visa
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and secure her housing. As the Wall Street Journal first
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reported Posidiva would work at IPI on and off between
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twenty twelve and twenty sixteen. She recalls emails she shared
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with Fortune show notes she took from a meeting she
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sat in with Iserbaijan President Ilam Aliev, as well as
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attending a trip to Kazakastan. Posadiva was also included in
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logistical correspondence regarding a trip that former US Treasury Secretary
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Larry Summers took on behalf of IPI. I felt like
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I was so out of place, she told Fortune about
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her time attending the pandemics conference. People were making comments
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that I looked very young and yo. Knowing everything we
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know about these people, are you really comfortable that they're
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the ones that are holding pandemic conferences? Pretty terrifying if
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you ask me. A separate Russian model, an Epstein assistant
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named Ada, whose real name Fortune is withholding in an
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effort to protect her privacy, also got a job as
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a result of the Epstein IPI connection. She worked at
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IPI as an intern, a full time employee in a
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newly created external relations assistant position, then a volunteer due
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to her visa status for more than two years. According
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to the woman's offer letters of employment, as well as
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an email to Rod Larson from an IPI employee that
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outlined the woman's role and how much she had cost
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IPI during her time at the organization. Total expense to
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IPI between October twenty sixteen and July twenty eighteen was
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an estimated seventy one thousand dollars, the employee wrote to
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Rod Larson. In February of twenty nineteen, Epstein confirmed in
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an email exchange with Ada that he was bankrolling out
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his salary at IPI himself. Didn't you give them one
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hundred K for my full time employment at asked Epstein
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in January of twenty eighteen. You're right, he responded. During
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her time at ipl Ada gave Epstein updates about her
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work at the Thing Tank and alerted them when she
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had co published an article about water conservancy on IPI site.
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My first piece on water published at a enthusiastically email
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to Epstein in April of that year. She would go
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on to co byline another Q and A as well.
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In one exchange, Epstein even floated a job directly at
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the Gates Foundation. You could work for the Human Rights
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Commission in Strausburg, Gates Foundation in Ivory Coast, etc. He
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wrote in an email in January twenty fourteen about a
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potential summer internship. IPI proved to be a particularly alluring
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opportunity to some of his assistants due to its affiliation
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with high profile institutions like the United Nations and the
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Gates Foundation. Those are some of the most respected international
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organizations in the philanthropic world. Puls A Divi said. Puss
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A Dive to share an email with Fortune that she
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had sent to her mother in twenty twelve, who was
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still in Russia, where she excitedly told her that Epstein
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had relayed that conversations with IPI seemed to be moving forward.
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Epstein dangled opportunities to perpetuate sexual abuse and recruit more
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women into the fold. The former assistant Marna explains, Epstein
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would find something each of us wanted, something appealing, and
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use it as leverage. Sometimes he would actually deliver an
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internship at IPI, or a semester or a course at
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a good school, and whenever he did this for someone,
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he made sure to brag about it to everyone else.
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She said. He would then use the promise of providing
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something similar the mirage of it to continue the abuse,
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to keep the women tethered to them, and to pressure
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them into recruiting others. Wait a minute, I didn't think
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that happened. I thought this was just a lone wolf.
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Oh wait, it's not that such established institutions could end
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up so intertwined with the sex offender. Is now puzzling
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insiders who are never aware of the organization they worked
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for had he ties to Epstein until earlier this year.
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Oh give me a break. I've been talking about the
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IPI and the Gates Foundation and Epstein for years. Have
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a clue about Epstein, says the former employee at the
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Gates Foundation, who says they were shocked to learn that
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Epstein had been involved in the IPI grant and he
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corresponded with Gates. Since the latest batch of the Epstein files,
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Bill Gates issued an apology to foundation staff sharing a
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town hall in February over his personal correspondence and interactions
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with Epstein and the reputational risk it has posed on
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the foundation's work. As first reported by The Wall Street
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Journal in March, the Foundation commissioned an external review to
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assess its past engagement with Epstein. And to review its
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current policy for vetting and developing new philanthropic partnerships. That
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review is under way and we expect the board and
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management will receive an update this summer, the foundation wrote
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in a statement that was published in April to a
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little too late, anybody who was abused by Epstein and
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any of these institutions had any part in it, I'd
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sue them. Rod Larson resigned as president and CEO of
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IPI in twenty twenty, the same month that information of
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his ties to Epstein was first reported by the investigative
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outlet DN. In the week since the latest release of
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the DOJ documents from the Epstein files, Rod Larson's wife,
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Mona Jewel, resigned as Norway's ambassador to Jordan and Iraq,
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and Norwegian authorities of open corruption investigations into the two
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of them. Well, yeah, they were obviously corrupt. In statements,
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both individuals have denied the charges. Their son, Edward Jewel
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Rod Larson, whom Epstein mentored and left five million dollars
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in his will, died by suicide in April. I'm not
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going to really talk on that too much because I
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don't know enough about it, and I'm not going to
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dive into a topic like somebody taking their own life
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and say it's all about Epstein when I don't know.
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But what I will say is this, if anybody out
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there is contemplating doing that, there's options. Man, reach out,
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talk to somebody, send an email, call somebody, whatever it
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might be. You're not alone out there, and there's people
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out there that actually care about you. I know it's
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hard to believe, but there are people out there that care,
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and the world's a better place with all of you
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in it. The lawyer representing Rod Larson, John Christian Elden,
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said in a statement earlier this year, that Rod Larson
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is currently seriously ill and has recently suffered multiple strokes
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and is significantly cognitively impaired. This causes major difficulties for
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him in expressing himself, both in writing and orally, and
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it also complicates the legal team's work and establishing the facts.
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Elden wrote, I asked for calm and human consideration towards
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Rod Larson and his family at this time. Yo. Look,
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I'm not gonna pile on, but there's questions that need
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to be answered, and I feel sorry for Rod Larson
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kid doing what he did and his own health troubles,
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but that doesn't absolve you of the role that you
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played in helping Jeffrey Epstein spread his madness. At the IPI,
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there's been a reckoning over its ties to Abstein for
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several years now. After Rod Larson's resignation, the subsequent acting
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chief executive of the institute moved swiftly to address financial
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ties to Abstein that had begun to surface. The board
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commissioned an internal forensic audit and made those results public.
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But the audit focused squarely on the financial trail between
18:34
Epstein and the think tank. It never mentioned that it
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was Epstein himself who had brokeered one of the institute's
18:40
most important Granmar relationships, and the IPI said that its
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review had found no evidence of Epstein deriving any personal
18:48
benefit from IPI in exchange for his donations. Oh, I
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am sure he just did it for kicks, right, That's
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exactly who Epstein was. It didn't acknowledge that Rob Larson
19:00
had helped secure visas for women in Epstein's orbit, nor
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that Epstein had placed women who work for them directly
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on the IPI payroll, and that some of its events
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or trips for those women, such as pos A Diva.
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Details of their presence at IPI are only just coming
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to light. Posa Diva says that since she has forgiven
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Rod Larson for his role, she went on to co
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found a venture capital fundraising platform and says she is
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proud of her current career, but she says that the
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IPI job, well impressive on paper, didn't help her in
19:31
that effort. It was primarily used by Epstein to entice
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her to stay put. Despite Epstein's promises, pos A Diva
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obtained no real experience, work, or connections to start a
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meaningful career. She says. Indeed, the gaps in her resume
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seemed to widen the longer she stayed with them, and
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she felt trapped. I didn't see a way out for myself.
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And look, folks, I think that story is pretty common
19:55
when it comes to Epstein and how he was running
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this hustle. But now we have pe coming forward and
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telling you exactly how it went down and that Jeffrey
20:03
Epstein was indeed trafficking women. And in a story that's
20:07
full of doubt, there's no doubt about that. All the
20:12
information that goes with this episode can be found in
20:15
the description box