Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Jeffrey Epstein, Treasury Officials, and the Early Cryptocurrency Questions Around Iran (Part 1) (5/13/26)

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Jeffrey Epstein, Treasury Officials, and the Early Cryptocurrency Questions Around Iran (Part 1) (5/13/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Epstein Chronicles. I think it's well established at this point
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  that Jeffrey Epstein had his fingers in many pies, and
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  one of the places that his tentacles certainly spread to
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  was the world of crypto, and Jeffrey Epstein was involved
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  in that from basically its inception. And today we have
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  an article from drop site News that digs deeper into
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  how Epstein advised the US Treasury on crypto all the
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  way back when Barack Obama was the president and the
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  Treasury officials they consulted with Epstein about using crypto Dregon
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  negotiations with Iran over the nuclear deal. So I think
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  this article does a good job in really showing you
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  how Jeffrey Epstein was running his own game. This guy
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  was an asset to everyone, a friend to none. This
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  article was authored by Murtaza Hussein and Ryan. Over the
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  last year, drop site has been reporting what mainstream outlets
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  wont Jeffrey Epstein's deep ties to powerful figures in the
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  US government, the UAE, and Israel. Our latest investigation traces
• 1:14
  those connections back to the Obama administration's efforts to make
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  a nuclear deal with Iran, revealing Epstein's role in helping
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  the Treasury Department understand the emerging role of bitcoin and
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  other cryptocurrencies in financing terrorism and evading US economic sanctions.
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  We're documenting Epstein's financial operations and security dealings that implicate
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  governments around the world. Well that's good because remember when
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  dropsite first started talking about this, it was all about
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  Israel all the time. And again, not to absolve Israel,
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  they have a seat at the table. They most certainly
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  utilize a guy like Epstein without a doubt. Where I
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  take issue is when people try to set Epstein up
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  as some kind of Masad you know, superspy. He was
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  not that. The man was an asset. When you expose
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  that kind of power, those powerful interests come after you.
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  Our Epstein investigations are ongoing, but we can only continue
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  if we have the resources and legal protection to defend
• 2:14
  this work. Then they give a little link here to donate,
• 2:18
  So if you click on the link and you like
• 2:19
  their work, that will enable you to donate and help
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  support what they have going on. Today. Shipping companies are
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  paying cryptocurrency tolls to Tehran for a passage through the
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  Strait of horror moves as the Iranian government seeks to
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  show payments from seizure by the US Treasury Department's Office
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  of Foreign Assets Control. Roughly eight billion dollars flow through
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  Iran's cryptocurrency exchanges last year, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
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  Corps moves billions through foreign exchanges like Finance, where Chinese
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  firms can secretly pay for Iranian oil without fear of
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  US retaliation. And not to veer too far off the
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  subject here, but what if we accomplished with Iran? Has
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  there been any kind of gains geopolitically speaking? I don't
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  think so. More than a decade ago, however, the Iranian
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  government was reluctant to embrace cryptocurrency, suspicious of possible US
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  involvement in the development of bitcoin. The US was dubious
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  about the technology as well, seeing it principally as a
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  way the side step financial controls. Well, we can't have that, right,
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  got to make sure that you and I pay every
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  last dollar sidestepping the controls. That's only for people in Congress,
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  and they're friends. The US government thinks if Iran can
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  use bitcoin to bypass all the sanctions, and Iran thinks
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  this is all the game by the CIA, a spokesperson
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  for coin Ava, Iran's first crypto exchange, told coindesk in
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  twenty thirteen. Even so, Iran's National Cyberspace Center began the
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  process of regulating digital currencies in March of twenty fourteen,
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  while looking for hedges against the pressure of US sanctions. Well,
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  crypto gives you a perfect place to do that. You
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  want to talk about unregulated markets, Now they'll tell you
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  it's regulated, but we know the score. How are you
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  going to trace that shit, especially when we're talking about
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  state actors like Iran and their government. So crypto that's
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  a dream come true for regimes like Iran. The US
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  hesitance around cryptocurrency is evident in emails of Jeffrey Epstein,
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  a figure who was keenly interested in developing cryptocurrency and
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  consultant on it with the US Treasury Department. Epstein's interventions
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  came out of time when the US was pursuing a
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  detunt with Iran over its nuclear program, and the growth
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  and development of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were beginning to
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  reshape the global financial landscape. And there's a reason that
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  bitcoin is so expensive, right, We got all these people
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  in the know who jumped in, and the price is
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  just through the roof. Now, me personally, I'm not really
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  a big fan, to tell you the truth. Maybe it's
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  my age whatever, but I like tangible assets that I
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  can like hold, you know, gold, silver, platinum, shit like that.
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  That's where you're gonna find me if I'm making investments.
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  That's what I'm doing. And it's not because I don't
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  think bitcoin is profitable. I do, But when you look
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  at all the people the architects of cryptocurrency, a lot
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  of them are hustlers. So I'll leave the cryptocurrency gain
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  to other people. In August of twenty fourteen, the same
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  summer Iran began regulating cryptocurrency, Epstein traveled to Washington, D C.
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  For a meeting with the US Treasury Department as the
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  Obama administration prepared a new round of sanctions on Iran's
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  energy sector. Epstein was accompanied by Philip West, chairman of Steptoe,
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  a law firm involved and sanctions related work. And if
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  you're wondering why the files were never released back then,
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  this is why. Just like I told you, Epstein was
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  being protected by both sides. They knew that he was
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  an asset, somebody that could help them out in situations
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  like this, and because of that, they were willing to
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  overlook all the disgusting bullshit he was involved in. Epstein
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  was more familiar with the issue of Uranian sanctions since
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  the nineteen seventy nine Islamic Revolution and had extensive experience
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  and interest in clandestine movements of capital. In the early eighties,
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  Epstein shared a penthouse office with Stan Pottinger, a lawyer
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  who was moving in bargoed arms through shell companies to
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  fuel the war between Iran and Iraq. Epstein also worked
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  at one point for Saudi financier at Non Koshogi, who
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  used poorly regulated financial institutions like the Bank of Credit
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  and Commerce International to longer money from covert arm cells
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  and what became known as the Iran Contra affair. And
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  that's how Jeffrey Epstein built the bones of his new operation.
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  He just moved the template over right, and instead of
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  trafficking guns lets, traffic women instead. According to Epstein's notes
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  from the meetings, officials from the Office of Terrorist Financing
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  and Financial Crimes wanted the financiers insight into how cryptocurrency
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  could be used for arm shipments and nuclear proliferation payments.
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  Mind you, he's already a convicted sexual offender, so why
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  is the US government reaching out to a non predator.
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  There's nobody else that knows anything about Crypto. Huh, gotta
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  have Jeffrey Epstein involved. Epstein was not impressed by the
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  Treasury officials that he met, describing them in an email
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  to Joy Eto, director of MIT's media Lab, is not
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  very bright and very opinionated. Not an audience I enjoy.
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  He later complained to Katherine Rummler, who had recently left
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  her post as Obama's White House Council, that the meeting
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  was like lecturing at Queen's Community College. After the meeting,
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  Epstein returned to Steptoe's office to meet privately with Deputy
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  Secretary of State William Burns, who had been leading the
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  negotiations to restrict Iran's nuclear program. The next day, Epstein
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  wrote a pallentteer co founder Peter Thiel, offering to arrange
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  a meeting between Burns and thel. He described Burns to
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  Thiel as the best and most respected diplomat in the administration,
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  and by the way, William Burns. He went on to
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  run the CIA. But sure, nothing to see here. It's
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  all just a big contrived joke. Though Washington meetings occurred
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  at the exact moment, the Treasury and State Departments were
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  trying to maximize leverage during the Iran nuclear talks. After
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  the US and Iran extended the Joint Plan of Action
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  in July of twenty fourteen, a small window opened for
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  the US to ratchet pressure on Iran before a comprehensive
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  deal signed the previous year. Epstein had been working closely
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  with former Israeli Prime Minister at Wood Barack to convince
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  US officials to strike Iran. It's all a financial decision.
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  For Epstein, chaos is a latter, and like little Finger,
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  he understood that. One week after Epstein's visit, on August
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  twenty ninth, the Treasury and State Departments jointly announced a
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  new round of Iran sanctions. The package targeted more than
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  twenty people, companies, banks, and vessels accused of supporting Iran's
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  nuclear program, helping the country evade sanctions, or assisting terrorism.
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  On September fourth, Burns, who later served as CIA Director
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  under President Joe Biden, and a group of Treasury officials
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  met with Iranian officials in Geneva to conduct the third
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  round of bilateral talks on a nuclear deal. David Cohen,
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  the under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at Treasury,
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  credited the sanctions for Britain bringing the Uranians to the
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  negotiating table. Later that month, Burns traveled to New York
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  for more talks with the Iranian officials, and he scheduled
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  another appointment with Epstein the same week. After the meeting,
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  Epstein connected Burns and deal by email, because that's what
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  Epstein did. At the end of the day. He was
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  a facilitator. If you needed something, Epstein was your guy.
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  A girl, some guns, some money, a hookup, a contact.
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  Epstein was the guy to talk to. But everything came
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  with a price. When you're dealing with Jeffrey Epstein, and
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  even from the grave, those bills are come and do.
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  In an emailed statement to drop Site, a spokesperson for
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  Burns said that he recalled being introduced to Ebstein and
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  then he met with him once briefly in New York City.
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  The spokesperson said that Burns deeply regrets every meeting with
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  him and did not know anything about him before those
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  two brief meetings. Other than that, he was introduced as
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  an expert in the financial sector and offered general advice
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  on transition to the private sector. When Ambassador Burns learned
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  about mister Epstein's record not long after those two brief meetings,
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  he was appalled. He never met with him again. They
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  had no relationship. Oh, I don't buy that. Sorry. Whether
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  it was through an intermediary or there were a meeting
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  in a clandestine fashion, I don't buy it. The spokesperson
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  also said that Burns did not discuss the Iran nuclear
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  deal or a cryptocurrency with Epstein during their twenty fourteen meetings. Well,
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  that's easy to say. It can't be proven one way
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  or the other unless other people were at that meeting.
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  So the denial is certainly the way to go for
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  a guy like Burns. But when people talk about, oh,
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  Jeffrey Epstein was friends with this one in the Masad
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  or this one over in Russia, they always conveniently leave
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  out that Jeffrey Epstein's biggest supporters and biggest friends and
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  the people that really kept him out of trouble were
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  right here in the good old US. Say, and I
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  know it's a hard pill to swallow. I don't like
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  talking about it. I don't like saying that. I'm not
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  one of these people that hates America. I fucking love
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  this country. And that's why I'm so incensed about what's happening,
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  because this is not the America I want to live in.
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  I do not want to be governed by people like this.
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  Catherine Rummler, Joiito, and Peter Thiel did not respond to
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  request for comment. Well, yeah, they're not gonna say shit.
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  None of them want to talk about it. They want
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  it to go away. But unfortunately for them, that shit's
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  not gonna happen, not anytime soon. So they can throw
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  up as many roadblocks, as many distractions, as many wag
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  the dog situations as they want. It's not going to
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  change the fact that none of this is going away.
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  So instead of running from it, they should embrace it
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  and answer all the questions and be transparent. But they
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  won't be because they can't be. And that's because, unfortunately, folks,
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  they've been lying to you for all these years. All Right,
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  we're gonna wrap up part one right here, and in
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  the next episode we're gonna pick up where we left off.
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  All the information that goes with this episode can be
• 13:09
  found in the description box.