Emails Show Jeffrey Epstein Leveraged International Peace Institute and Gates Foundation Ties

Emails released by the Department of Justice earlier this year show how Jeffrey Epstein used relationships with the International Peace Institute and the Gates Foundation after his 2008 conviction as a registered sex offender. The documents, along with accounts from two women who worked as his assistants, describe a pattern in which Epstein offered career opportunities at respected institutions to young women from Russia and Eastern Europe.

On September 12, 2015, more than three dozen health experts and diplomats gathered at the Palais des Nations in Geneva for a conference on pandemic preparedness hosted by the International Peace Institute.

The attendee list included the director-general of the World Health Organization, the president of the National Academy of Medicine, an associate director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a senior executive from the Gates Foundation.

Svetlana Pozhidaeva, then 31 and a former Russian model who had worked as Epstein’s assistant for about five years, attended the event. Pozhidaeva told Fortune that Epstein had informed her she would coordinate the event with the International Peace Institute and the Gates Foundation.

She wore a dress he had purchased for her in Paris and instructed her to wear. ” Pozhidaeva said she was kept at arm’s length from actual planning and was given nothing to do. She recalled feeling out of place at the conference, with attendees asking why she was present.

She also said she accompanied Epstein on a visit to the Gates Foundation during the same period but was not allowed into the meeting. Epstein had introduced the International Peace Institute to the Gates Foundation in 2013. He advised institute employees on communications and worked with an adviser to then-Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to secure an initial $5 million donation.

IRS records show the Gates Foundation accounted for more than 20 percent of the institute’s annual donations between 2013 and 2015. Epstein was also involved in directing $950,000 in gifts from Leon Black to the institute. In return, Epstein used his leverage with institute leadership to secure jobs or U.S.

visa recommendation letters for at least four women in his circle, the records show. Pozhidaeva said she eventually came to view the promised role at the institute as “one of the hooks he used to keep me around,” part of a pattern of unfulfilled career promises that maintained her dependence on him.

After his 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage woman for prostitution, Epstein recruited young-looking foreign women over 18 with offers of jobs, education and career help.

He often referred to them as assistants, paid for visas, housing, clothing and schooling, and expected obedience in return. Several of the women, including Pozhidaeva and another who spoke to Fortune under the name Marna, said they were sexually abused by Epstein during this period.

Both women said Epstein’s visible relationships with prominent figures and institutions made his offers appear legitimate and made them hesitant to question his intentions.

“Being able to meet tech executives or prime ministers when you come from a small country or from Russia or Ukraine—it changes your perspective,” Pozhidaeva said. ” The statement noted that the institute had acknowledged its former president Terje Rød-Larsen’s connection to Epstein when it announced his resignation in 2020 and no longer has contact with him.

The Gates Foundation said that “the harm Epstein inflicted on women and girls was horrific, and no one should ever have to experience what they did.

” There is no evidence in the released materials that Rød-Larsen knew Epstein was abusing the women for whom he helped obtain visas and jobs. The law firm representing Rød-Larsen referred to prior statements in which he expressed regret for his association with Epstein and sympathy for those affected.