New Delhi:
Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein presented himself to Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani as a White House insider and also offered advice to the business tycoon “as a friend” when his financial troubles began, The New York Times has reported.
Exchanges released by the US Department of Justice suggest that Anil Ambani wanted to understand where India might fit into Donald Trump’s national security strategy when the Republican leader took charge in his first term. This led him to Epstein, and the two exchanged hundreds of messages between 2017 and 2019, a review by the NYT found.
“Will need ur guidance on dealing wth white house for india relationship ad defense cooperation,” Ambani wrote to Epstein soon after they connected online. Epstein responded with a promise that he would get Ambani some “inside baseball”.
Epstein shared with Ambani nuggets of information on foreign policy and Trump appointments before they became widely known. “Whether he just got lucky or not, his messages indicated he sought and received accurate information from unnamed people about the White House’s thinking in response to Mr. Ambani’s questions,” the NYT report states.
For example, Ambani asked Epstein in March 2017 if David Petraeus, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, would be named US ambassador to India. Epstein said, “I’ll ask.” He later told Ambani that Petraeus was not on the “front burner”. The role went to Kenneth I Juster that November.
Epstein, the report says, also offered to introduce Ambani to people known to be close to President Trump. These included Stephen K Bannon and Thomas J Barrack Jr. Epstein suggested to these two men that they might find it useful to meet Ambani.
Anil Ambani has faced no allegations of sexual misconduct. The NYT report says he did not respond to a request for comment; neither did Bannon and Barrack. A White House representative that the NYT reached out to cited comments by Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, stressing Trump’s denial of any wrongdoing.
Ambani and Epstein, it has been found, spoke over the phone and used encrypted platforms such as Signal and Telegram, where Ambani, 66, went by the handle “Armani A”. These conversations took place years after Epstein served jail time after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The NYT report says Epstein and Ambani were connected by Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who stepped down as chairman and chief executive of DP World, a Dubai-based ports company, after his ties to Epstein were revealed.
The report says Ambani communicated frequently with Epstein in 2019 as his business struggled. “Mr. Epstein sent sympathetic messages, telling Mr. Ambani to stay ‘mentally strong.’ He repeatedly offered advice, but underscored that he was acting only as a friend,” the NYT report says.
On April 20, 2019, Epstein wrote: “No money for me. I have enough.” Around two weeks later, he received an email from a sender named Anil. “Dear Jeffrey. Transaction done. Will come to say Hello and have coffee,” it read. Ambani met Epstein on May 23, 2019, at his Manhattan home. Earlier, Epstein offered to “devote as much time as needed” when the two met, “again, only as a friend.”
About two months later, Epstein asked Ambani if he was taking “rest time”. Ambani responded that he was working and Epstein replied with a smiley face “:)”. Three days later, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors.
