Deceased US financier and notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein attempted to use a Swiss, Rothschild-run private bank to raise money for Israeli cyberweapons development, according to leaked emails from the inbox of former Israeli premier Ehud Barak.
The emails were obtained from a hack carried out by non-profit whistleblower Distributed Denial of Secrets, and cited in a report released by Drop Site News.
In 2019, Bloomberg revealed that Ariane de Rothschild, CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Group (then vice chairman), visited Epstein’s New York mansion in 2015. Epstein was found dead in his prison cell less than two weeks later.
The bank denied it at the time, but admitted four years later that de Rothschild met Epstein as part of her “duties” at the institution – coming after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) released the sex offender’s meeting calendars.
Epstein provided introductions to US finance leaders and law firms and provided tax and risk consulting, the bank said, while also assisting de Rothschild personally on “a couple of occasions” with estate management advice.
However, emails released by the US House Oversight Committee earlier this month revealed a closer relationship between Epstein and de Rothschild. Epstein had arranged to see a play with her, and had also planned a trip to Montreal with her.
The Barak emails obtained by Handala show that Epstein tried to use his friendship with de Rothschild to fundraise for Israeli cyberweapons development. After retiring from government in 2013, Barak worked with Pavel Gurvich – a graduate of the Israeli army’s Unit 81 technology unit – to find cyberweapons startups linked to the Israeli intelligence community.
Conversations between Barak and Gurvich included a variety of cyberweapons concepts and ideas derived from Israeli army research and inspired by the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) vast surveillance network.
Epstein also pushed plans to finance these cyberweapons companies and sought to get support from de Rothschild.
The emails show Epstein played the role of middleman between the former Israeli prime minister and de Rothschild.
“If Ehud wants to make serious money, he will have to build a relationship with me. Take time so that we can truly understand one another,” said a message from de Rothschild relayed to Barak by Epstein.
“I’m ready. But I need your advice re HOW? (ladies is your forté),” Barak responded to Epstein.
“It’s not clear whether the Rothschild bank ultimately participated directly in Epstein and Barak’s cyberweapons efforts – but in October 2015, de Rothschild negotiated a $25 million contract with Epstein’s Southern Trust Company, the same entity Epstein used to fund Barak’s intelligence-linked security startup Reporty Homeland Security (now known as Carbyne) earlier that year,” Drop Site News revealed.
Earlier this month, Drop Site News also revealed via leaked emails that Epstein and Barak helped Israeli intelligence shape the security apparatuses of several African nations, most notably in Cote d’Ivoire.
The new US House Oversight Committee disclosures from earlier in November show that de Rothschild and Epstein remained close over the years.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution but was given a non-prosecution plea deal by the Miami US attorney, Alexander Acosta, who stated that he was warned to “back off” because the convict was connected to an unnamed intelligence agency.
The sex offender was again arrested in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges. He died while in prison awaiting his trial, under mysterious circumstances.
Prison authorities claim he committed suicide, yet this is disputed.
Hellbound and Down 