The monstrous tentacles of sex offender and multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein did not discriminate. He sought power and tried to draw it from every sphere of life: politicians, academics, economists, hedge fund managers, artists, sports team owners and royalty. Although Epstein’s record — he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution — was well known, many chose to look the other way.
But the 3 million documents from the case released by the U.S. Justice Department in recent weeks expose another aspect: the sweeping geographic scope of the affair. Name after name, country after country, continent after continent. Figures of power who felt above the law and morality, who believed nothing would happen to them despite various ties to Epstein, including a frequent guest mentioned in thousands of documents, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who maintained business and social ties with Epstein even years after his conviction.
This is only an initial review of the documents, a task expected to take weeks more. For now, each new revelation widens the circle of alleged wrongdoing — those who knew and remained silent, those now finally facing consequences and, above all, public shame and ostracism. This report focuses solely on the European circles that intersected with Epstein, and there is more than enough material there.
Trouble in the kingdom
Only a rear-guard political battle by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer temporarily prevented his ouster this week, though it appears to be a brief reprieve before further challenges ahead. Some stem from the Epstein documents, which reveal the depth of ties between the financier and Peter Mandelson, whom Starmer appointed Britain’s ambassador to the United States in late 2024.
Those ties allegedly included financial grants to Mandelson and his partner and stays at Epstein’s apartment, whom Mandelson called "my best friend." The documents also suggest that while serving as a member of Parliament and Cabinet minister, Mandelson lobbied for Epstein’s interests and leaked secret and classified government documents related to Britain’s economic policy.
Mandelson’s connections to Epstein were public knowledge as early as 2019, the year Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail. But the new documents allege actions that approach outright betrayal and have led London police to open an investigation into Mandelson.
Starmer has also come under scrutiny for making the sensitive Washington appointment despite later acknowledging he knew Mandelson had continued his ties with Epstein after 2008 — a pivotal year in which the financier was first convicted and designated a sex offender. Mandelson, a leading figure in New Labour and a close Starmer adviser, was viewed as someone capable of building strong ties with President Donald Trump, particularly on trade and tariffs. Starmer survived an attempt to remove him after all Cabinet ministers, including rivals, expressed confidence in him and he pledged full transparency and referred the ambassadorial appointment to a parliamentary committee.
Mandelson, dismissed after just seven months as ambassador, could still face prison. But little surprises Britons anymore after Prince Andrew lost his royal titles and patronages in 2022 following a settlement with a woman who said she had sex with him when she was a minor and revelations about his ties to Epstein’s sex trafficking network. The new documents allege Andrew also shared confidential British government business documents with Epstein.
The Oslo failure
Relative to its population size, few countries appear to have had as many senior figures in politics, business and society linked to Epstein as Norway. His reach extended into its diplomatic corps, the prime minister’s office, the Foreign Ministry, the Nobel committee and even the royal household.
Mona Juul, 66, a former Norwegian ambassador to Israel, the United States and the United Nations, was suspended last week and later resigned as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq after her ties to Epstein were revealed. Newly released documents show that shortly before his death, Epstein drafted a will leaving $10 million to the two children she shares with her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, who also held several diplomatic posts in the Middle East.
The couple had faced scrutiny before. In 2002, Juul was fined by Norwegian tax authorities for failing to report $100,000 she received in 1999 from the Peres Center for Peace for her involvement in the Oslo Accords. Her husband resigned in 2020 from the International Peace Institute after his ties to Epstein and funds he received from him were exposed. Norway’s Foreign Ministry said Rød-Larsen also demonstrated poor judgment in his dealings with Epstein. The country’s economic crimes unit has opened a corruption investigation into the couple and searched their apartment.
According to the documents, the couple in 2018 purchased an apartment in a trendy Oslo neighborhood at a price significantly below market value after pressure allegedly exerted by Epstein on the seller. "I am slowly tightening the noose around his neck," Epstein wrote in an email. The couple also visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island with their children. Testimony cited in the documents alleges that attractive young Eastern European women with limited qualifications were temporarily employed at the International Peace Institute.
Juul is not the only Norwegian public figure tied to the affair. Crown Princess Mette-Marit remained in contact with Epstein from 2011 and visited his estate in Florida. In one message she said she missed her “crazy friend,” and in another remarked that Paris was well suited for affairs while Scandinavia was a good place to find a wife. Last Friday, she apologized to everyone she had disappointed and described her association with him as entirely shameful.
Meanwhile, Norway’s economic crimes unit has opened an investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who served as chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee. Authorities are examining whether he received gifts, travel expenses or loans from Epstein in connection with his role, and whether he facilitated contact between the financier and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Norway’s Foreign Ministry approved a police request to lift Jagland’s immunity, granted during his tenure as secretary-general of the Council of Europe. The council confirmed Epstein attended at least two events at Jagland’s official residence in Strasbourg.
Norwegian journalist Geir Jørgensen said it is a source of national embarrassment that the world is questioning why so many figures from a country known for promoting human rights and development assistance were deeply entangled with a convicted pedophile. At the same time, he said, there is a measure of reassurance in the fact that, unlike in the United States where little appeared to change after the revelations, the affair has become a major story in Norway. That, he added, reflects a functioning press, a culture of accountability and, above all, a sense of public shame among those involved.
Deutsche Bank acknowledged this week that Epstein managed more than 40 accounts at its branches. Johanna Rubinstein, a Swedish U.N. official, resigned after it emerged she visited Epstein’s Caribbean island in 2012. Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakia’s national security adviser, stepped down after emails surfaced in which he and Epstein discussed diplomacy and "beautiful girls." Latvia, Lithuania and Poland announced official investigations into links between their nationals and Epstein, as well as possible connections to Russian intelligence.
In a statement, Poland’s Foreign Ministry said Epstein cultivated relationships not only with those already in positions of power but also with individuals rising toward senior roles. The ministry said authorities plan to investigate whether he sought to influence elections or shape policy, and whether any public officials may have been susceptible to blackmail by the Kremlin.
The French connection
Epstein also extended his reach into France, where he owned a large apartment near the Arc de Triomphe. He followed local politics obsessively, and the names of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen appear hundreds of times in his documents. So does the name of former Culture Minister Jack Lang, who resigned as head of a major cultural institute, and his daughter Caroline, who stepped down from her role at an independent filmmakers’ association after documents revealed Epstein invested in her film projects, transferred $5 million to an account in her name in the Virgin Islands and mentioned her in his will. Lang said in an interview that mutual friend Woody Allen introduced them. Asked about Epstein’s crimes, he replied that he does not investigate the criminal past of people he meets.
Everyone knew. Many of those involved in the Epstein affair are highly educated individuals. No one could have missed his 2008 conviction, which resulted in a lenient 18-month sentence. The internet already existed, and even those using dial-up connections could read The Daily Beast’s 2010 investigation under the headline "The Pedophile Billionaire and His Sex Den."
Everyone knew and chose to ignore it, partying with vulnerable young women from Eastern Europe in an apartment in Paris, on the Caribbean island, in New York. Bill Gates and Noam Chomsky are among the names, alongside a long list of lawyers, Hollywood producers and hedge fund managers. Many did not need Epstein’s money, yet accepted gifts such as flights or Apple watches and exchanged suggestive emails describing women as commodities.
None of the European figures mentioned here reached the level of hypocrisy and moral blindness of Steve Bannon, a leading figure in the "Make America Great Again" movement who fashioned himself as an opponent of elites. In 2017, he offered Epstein public relations assistance and began preparing a documentary intended to rehabilitate his image. In documents released by Congress last year, Bannon told Epstein that they needed to oppose rapists who traffic in girls exploited by some of the world’s most powerful and wealthy men, adding that such acts are beyond redemption.