Chapter 1: Was Jeffrey Epstein connected to intelligence agencies?
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Chapter 2: What were the implications of Epstein's connections in the U.S.?
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Well, welcome to The Rest Is Classified. I'm David McCloskey. And I'm Gordon Carrera. And we are starting, Gordon, a two-part series looking at a single question, which I think is very elevated in the public consciousness right now, as we'll talk about. And that question is, was financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein working for or with an intelligence service? And
I think we should say right up front a little bit about why we're going to look at this.
Chapter 3: How did Epstein's wealth influence his relationships?
And I think the answer, at least, I don't know how the story has resonated in the UK, but in the US, the overall kind of Epstein affair or drama. has taken on... It has an enormous gravitational pull here at the States. I can anecdotally say that at every single book event and talk I did this fall, during the Q&A, I got a question about Epstein.
Wow.
And his connection to Mossad, to CIA, whatever. Just every single time, there was a question. It's having real political repercussions, kind of creating some cracks in... the MAGA movement, and even this past week with the events in Venezuela, we should say. We're recording this episode just a few days after Nicolas Maduro was apprehended in Operation Absolute Resolve.
In some ways, the operation in Venezuela may have been an attempt by the Trump administration to sort of distract
Chapter 4: Who were the key figures in Epstein's life?
the public from not releasing aspects of the Epstein files.
It's wild, isn't it?
An idea, by the way, that I think neither of us give any credence to, but we mention it because any sort of global event, there's an effort, I think, to sort of tie it to Epstein. The story has... really outsized importance right now in the American political consciousness? I don't know how it's going or how it's sort of seen in the UK.
Oh, it's certainly played big over here, obviously relating partly to the royal family. The prince formerly known as Andrew, who certainly had a social acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein at various points, although he's obviously denied any role in criminality.
But that question about intelligence services and the links to Epstein is one that's kind of moved, I suppose, from the fringe to the mainstream. And I think it is one which is important to look at in a kind of sensible, rest is classified way rather than in a conspiratorial way.
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Chapter 5: What role did Ghislaine Maxwell play in Epstein's operations?
And what we're not going to do, though, we should say as well, is we're not going into the whole... bigger drama of who is or isn't implicated in the files, whose names are in there, how they knew Jeffrey Epstein. We're not going into the connections with any royals or with President Trump.
We're not going deep into some of the questions about whether he killed himself or the legal criminal dimensions to this. Instead, I think we're taking a specific lens, which is to look at that question you posed about whether it's plausible as some have claimed, that there are links between Jeffrey Epstein and the intelligence world.
That's right, Gordon. And I mean, I guess it's also probably wise upfront to offer this sort of disclaimer or to flag that very often the theories and, dare I say, conspiracy theories about Epstein's connections to intelligence services often drift into, or frankly, are motivated by, just blatant anti-Semitism.
That obviously is not a stance that we're going to be taking on The Rest Is Classified, and we're going to be looking at this question with a very kind of sober and fact-based lens to try to understand
Chapter 6: What is the theory behind Epstein's alleged blackmail operations?
whether there's any truth to the idea that he may have had connections to a foreign intelligence service.
I think it is also worth saying that we're not going to be focusing deeply on the victims and their stories, but I think it is important to acknowledge upfront at this point the terrible suffering that some people endured at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and some of those around him. which is truly awful and horrific. And some of those details really are horrific.
So even though we're not going to be delving deep into those stories, we just think it's important to acknowledge how awful it is and some of the things that happened around him and to people who were used and abused by him really were.
Gordon, with the table set and the caveats out there, maybe it's helpful we just start with a brief setup of who Epstein was, a bit of his biography. This will not be comprehensive, but we've crafted this with an emphasis on the sort of experiences and connections and assets he would potentially have brought to an intelligence service as we're sort of talking about the man.
So Jeffrey Epstein, born in Brooklyn. Raised in a middle-class Jewish family. In the mid-70s, he begins working as a teacher at the Dalton School, which is an elite private school in Manhattan.
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Chapter 7: What evidence supports claims of Epstein's espionage connections?
In the 70s and 80s, Epstein transitions to work in finance. He works briefly at Bear Stearns for establishing his own firm, which he liked to claim managed money exclusively for billionaires. And the money... surprise, surprise, is one piece of this story that has fed a lot of the conspiracy theories around Jeffrey Epstein and his connection to the spy world.
Yeah, we should say, I think we'll come back a little bit later to the precise source and scale of his wealth, because there is some mystery around that. And that is part of some of those claims about intelligence services links. But yeah, we'll come back to that. The money and the fact he's managing wealth for incredibly wealthy people is means he's incredibly well connected.
And he builds on those connections, doesn't he?
Chapter 8: How did Epstein's lifestyle facilitate his alleged intelligence activities?
Not just in the financial world, but across politics, business, even academia and entertainment and wider sectors.
Yeah, he is very, very well networked and connected. And I think The most important of those connections in that period was a billionaire named Les Wexner, who Jeffrey Epstein met in the mid-1980s. Now, at the time, Epstein is a relatively obscure financier. Wexner is one of the wealthiest businessmen in the U.S. He's the founder of L Brands, which is the retail conglomerate that includes
Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, and a lot of other chains. Now, Epstein quickly becomes deeply embedded in Wexner's kind of personal and financial affairs. We should say that the accounts of this have been confirmed by Wexner himself. So this is not about any of Epstein's criminality. This is about his sort of financial relationship and personal relationship with Epstein.
Yeah, which Wexner has said he, I think, regrets, but they're kind of confirmed that he had those relationships and that he did hand over some of that influence to Jeffrey Epstein.
Yeah, which included giving Epstein broad power of attorney, giving him control over large portions of Wexner's finances. Things, when you look back on it, seem almost inexplicable. In the early 1990s, Epstein meets another key character in the story, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Yes, and Ghislaine Maxwell is also going to be an important part of our story. And again, we're going to come back to her a bit later because she's a fascinating character in her own right and her father is a very interesting figure. But she becomes the kind of girlfriend, doesn't she, of Jeffrey Epstein at this point in the 1990s and a close confidant and companion from then onwards.
Yes, and the relationship, you know, it blends personal intimacy, business, eventually criminal coordination. Ghislaine Maxwell is and will become Epstein's principal accomplice. She's responsible for recruiting, grooming, and facilitating you know, the abuse and trafficking of underage girls. She's also, she's living in Epstein's residences. She's managing aspects of his household.
She's acting as a gatekeeper for him. So, you know, she's a very important and influential figure in his life. And she is the daughter of Robert Maxwell, who has his own role to play in the story and will look in more depth at him in our next episode.
That's right, because he's a really interesting figure and who certainly did have ties to the intelligence world. I think that is also part of the theory and the claim about Jeffrey Epstein is that link, if you like, through Robert Maxwell, through Ghislaine and into Jeffrey Epstein. But that friendship which starts around 1991, which is when Robert Maxwell, the father, dies,
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