Ever since the US Justice Department released over 3 million files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case over the weekend, countries around the world have been scrutinizing the files for local connections. Unfortunately, Moldova is no exception.
I spent quite some time going through the ~80 files where Moldova is mentioned and looking for indications of local politicians (oligarchs) or other clear connections. Before getting into it, let’s exclude a few things:
The files showed no evidence that Epstein ever came to Moldova
There are no apparent connections with Moldovan politicians or other known local figures
With that said, Epstein exchanges messages about Moldova with 3 different people in 2 very different contexts. They indicate that he is both aware of the country in terms of politics / geopolitics, and that the country figured somehow, even if peripherally, into his recruitment of women.
This release by the Justice Department is not the last of the Epstein files, so even though we don’t have much now let’s take a quick look in order to understand the scope of what we do know so far. We’ll start with the connections to a major EU diplomat and then move to a conversation with an unnamed “facilitator” / recruiter for Epstein’s sex trafficking network.