1/ This is a thread about Jeffrey Epstein and 13 ways he was connected to an interrelated network of people that created the foundations of today’s crypto space. This could indicate that the crypto ecosystem after 2013 (or even earlier) was part of an intelligence operation. 🧵
2/ In 2017 Epstein shared his thoughts on Bitcoin and a WSJ source mentioned that he “claimed to work for the U.S. Treasury Department on cryptocurrency”. We decided to analyze Epstein’s crypto connections, in light of and taking into account his criminal/financial “track record"
3/ In the 1980s, Epstein was involved in one of the largest Ponzi schemes: Towers Financial. Its CEO, Steve Hoffenberg was jailed for 20 years while Epstein escaped justice. They were introduced via a British arms dealer, Douglas Leese (son Nick is listed in Epstein's black book)
4/ Leese is a shadowy figure who played a key role in the £40bn Al-Yamamah arms deal, the largest in UK history. It is surrounded by controversy & bribes. Louis Freeh did the investigation for his client Prince Bandar (listed in Epstein’s black book) & defended Alan Dershowitz.
5/ From 2001-2007, Epstein was chairman/director of a secretive offshore entity called Liquid Funding, 40% owned by his former employer Bear Stearns (60% remains a mystery). It had $6.7bn in outstanding liabilities when it collapsed. In 2014, Epstein received a bank license.
6/ Epstein was part of the exclusive TLC & CFR, and Alexander Acosta claimed he “belonged to intelligence” & was above his paygrade. That he was allowed to spend 12/16 hours per day outside of prison could indicate his critical role. He flew to Riyadh during the 2016 US elections
7/ To rehabilitate himself after his 2009 conviction, Epstein organized the Mindshift conference in Jan 2011. Brock Pierce, who co-f(o)unded many crypto companies, was invited around Nov 2010 to talk about “virtual currencies”. Later he had more crypto interactions with Epstein.
8/ Pierce indicated that he was invited by the organizer of Mindshift, Al Seckel, a man with a checkered history & partner of Isabel Maxwell from 2007 until 2015, when he died under mysterious circumstances in France. Isabel is Ghislaine Maxwell’s sister and Pierce also knew her.
9/ Pierce has an unusual history. After a career as child actor he moved in with the later convicted pedophile Marc Collins-Rector, who organized parties with underage boys & prominent people in Hollywood. Pierce features in a documentary about this titled “An Open Secret”.
10/ When Pierce & Collins-Rector were criminally charged, they “fled” to Marbella. They were arrested 1.5 years later and the police found machetes, guns & child porn when they raided their villa. Pierce was never convicted, but never explained the guns & why he left to Spain.
11/ Pierce traveled to Liberia in order to get a passport for Collins-Rector and seemingly succeeded. This is unusual just like the fact that the lawsuit in which this was disclosed became sealed. Pierce started a crypto paradise in Puerto Rico, where Epstein had 2 bank accounts.
12/ Al Seckel’s picture on Wikipedia was taken by Joi Ito in 2009 at Kinnernet. Ito has deep ties to crypto/Epstein via his role at MIT Media Labs, which received funding by Epstein. MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative included influential Bitcoin coders (eg Wladimir van der Laan).
13/ Reid Hoffman was on MIT Media’s board & started to meet Epstein in 2013, introducing him to Peter Thiel. Both started to invest in crypto in 2014, attributed to Wences Casares, BTC’s “Patient Zero” in Silicon Valley who founded Xapo & mentored by Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s Endeavor
14/ Bronfman Jr & his father were close to Epstein. Thiel, “Silicon Valley's most secretive man”, sponsored Vitalik Buterin, who was working in Israel in 2013 and created Ethereum. Thiel moved out of crypto just before the Terra/Luna crash and joined again at the right time.
15/ The same applies to Dan Morehead’s Pantera & Mike Novogratz, who could reap an additional $1bn from the FTX bancruptcy. They all go way back to their college/Goldman Sachs/Fortress days with Pete Briger, who purchased $20 million BTC in 2013 with Fortress Investment Group.
16/ Epstein became involved with Fortress when they took over the assets of the Zwirn fund. Novogratz mentions in an interview that he was introduced to Ehud Barak via an investor (that could be Epstein). Barak has long standing ties to Epstein and is Novogratz’ mentor & investor
17/ Novogratz mentioned that Barak is also associated with Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital. Bacon, Novogratz & Alan Howard invested in BlockOne/Bullish with Thiel. The 2013 Federal Reserve Bank of New York committee records show the same names, incl Jes Staley, Epstein’s JPM banker.
18/ Barak has ties to violinist Itzhak Perlman, who accompanied Epstein to Interlochen Center for the Arts & flew on his plane. First reported by @_whitneywebb, his son Noah was Head of Compliance at Gemini, Binance & part of FTX-linked Moonstone Bank with Deltec’s Jean Chalopin.
19/ Barak invested in 2015 together with Epstein & Thiel in an Israeli company called Reporty Homeland Security (renamed to Carbyne). Epstein used opaque shell companies to do that via a close confident, Nicole Junkermann, a founding investor in Revolut & early investor in China.
20/ Junkermann invested in Consensys, Blockchain/com & Web3/NFT companies. She flew alone with Epstein from Paris to Birmingham (UK) in 2002 and @johnnyvedmore has written 3 in-depth articles about this. Evidence suggests they met at Foxcote House, an estate owned by Les Wexner.
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