An Epstein in Paris: Networking, real estate buys and sex trafficking
· Toronto Sun
Even as the walls closed in on his odious sex trafficking enterprise, billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein skipped off to Paris seeking respectability.
Epstein visited the City of Light every other month for years, keeping a posh apartment at a trendy address.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
According to The New York Times , during Epstein’s final days as a free man, he again flew to Paris , where he met with architects, interior designers, dined with Norwegian diplomats and met with others.
French prosecutors noted that the twisted financier also engaged in his favourite hobby of sex trafficking.
It was Page 1 of the Epstein playbook: Wherever he went or did business, the sleazy former teacher sought out the connected who would introduce him to local powerbrokers. For a time, that vast network gave Epstein a veneer of respectability.
And he had a like-minded pal in Paris: French model scout, Jean-Luc Brunel, who prosecutors said provided him with a veritable army of young women and girls. It was Brunel who allegedly proffered 12-year-old Russian twins as a birthday present for the hedge fund manager.
First look at Paris trips
But the gaiety in Paris ended when Epstein’s private jet landed in New Jersey on July 6, 2019. When the pedophile disembarked, he was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.
The Times reports that the three million pages of Epstein documents released by the DOJ in January offer a first peek at the financier in Paris. The newspaper described him as a “socially ambitious expatriate, eager to mingle in French high society, if not always successfully.”
“Paris is great,” Epstein said in an email to an old friend, Norwegian diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen, “wasn’t there somenone here you thought i should meet?”
One of those targeted for the Epstein touch was then French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Rod-Larsen offered to broker a meeting.
“Sarkozy leaves Paris on 9 July unfortunately to go on vacation on the riviera….” a flunky replied. “About your assistant, am asking around. But you need to hire a not-too-good-looking one…”
Brokering meeting with Sarkozy
Epstein pressed for a meeting. Sarkozy denied ever meeting Epstein. But the middleman asked Epstein if he could arrange a “discreet meeting between Sarko and Hillary Clinton in NY?”
Still, even though he had racked up connections and a portfolio of pricey properties, Epstein struggled to make inroads with the country’s political elite. He did, however, strike up a friendship with former culture minister Jack Lang.
He left Lang’s daughter Caroline $5 million in his will. Now, French prosecutors are investigating Lang and his daughter for “laundering of tax fraud proceeds.”
Lang’s lawyer said his client never accepted any freebies from Epstein and that the two men met twice a year in “entirely social and mundane circumstances.” His daughter said she was stunned to learn Epstein had left her money.
Bannon replied: ‘Powermove’
But about five months before Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell, Lang invited him to attend a cultural celebration. Epstein texted his new friend, former adviser to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon.
“Now at the pyramid. With the entire govt.,” Epstein texted, attaching a photo of himself with Lang. “The ministers of the elite.”
Bannon replied: “Powermove.”