US have tracked Epstein’s Moscow hyperlinks for the reason that Nineteen Seventies, claims ex-MI6 Russia chief
Jeffrey Epstein was ‘very likely’ recruited by the KGB during the Cold War to run a blackmailing scheme against the West’s elite, an ex-MI6 chief has claimed.
Christopher Steele, former head of the Russia desk at the spy agency, revealed details of the ‘kompromat operation’ between Russia and Epstein as he warned of the ‘bigger picture’ behind the latest files.
Mr Steele said American intelligence agencies had been tracking the US financier’s activities going back to the 1970s.
It comes after the Mail on Sunday revealed suspicions Epstein was running ‘the world’s largest honeytrap operation’ on behalf of the KGB when he procured women for his network of associates.
Mr Steele told Times Radio on Tuesday: ‘My understanding from sources in America is that they [the FBI] have tracked Epstein’s activities and operations back to the 1970s, as far back as that.
‘Epstein was effectively involved with Russian organised crime in Brighton Beach in New York and through them with the Russian mission in New York and was almost certainly recruited by them at that time.’
Mr Steele suggested Epstein’s millions – which he lavished on his influential friends – derived from the Kremlin, saying: ‘Possibly the majority of his investment funds, which seem to never have been explained, actually came from the Soviet Union.’
Jeffrey Epstein pictured in 1975, around the time he was ‘very likely’ recruited by the KGB, according to former MI6 chief Christopher Steele
Former MI6 head of Russia desk Christopher Steele
Epstein pictured wearing a communist style cap. American intelligence experts believe Epstein was inducted into the world of espionage via business deals with Robert Maxwell
The release of more than three million new documents relating to the late sex offender gives credence to incendiary claims made by senior security officials: that Epstein was working on behalf of Moscow, and possibly Israel, when he facilitated assignations for some of the world’s most powerful men.
The files include 1,056 documents naming Russian President Vladimir Putin and 9,629 referring to Moscow. Epstein even seems to have secured audiences with Putin after his 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.
Mr Steele said he expected more evidence to come to light. He told the radio station: ‘My understanding is that the Americans have this sort of evidence. It hasn’t been made public. And I suspect that as we go through their stories, it’s going to unfold over time, that that will become clearer.’
He speculated that British intelligence services would have had access to some of the material, given the close working relationship between the two countries, adding: ‘When Mandelson was being vetted for the ambassador in Washington, this information should have been shared by the American government with our security services. I don’t know whether it was, but it certainly should have been.’
American intelligence experts believe Epstein was inducted into the world of espionage via business deals with Robert Maxwell, the disgraced media magnate who – like Epstein – died in murky circumstances; in Maxwell’s case his body was found floating in the Atlantic in 1991, having apparently fallen overboard from his yacht.
Maxwell’s daughter, Ghislaine, is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking and other offences linked to her association with Epstein, who she is said to have met shortly after her father’s death.
Maxwell, a former British politician and newspaper owner, reportedly worked as a Soviet asset in the 1970s, and also helped Israeli intelligence agency Mossad extradite Jewish people from the Soviet Union to Israel.
He is suspected of laundering money from Russia to the West with the help of Epstein in return, Mr Steele said.
