Despite all the reporting about Jeffrey Epstein, there is still so much we don’t know. My colleague Jessica Mathews unpacks another layer of Epstein’s abuse in a new investigation published in Fortune.
Her story focuses on the International Peace Institute (IPI), a think tank affiliated with the United Nations that works to settle and prevent armed conflicts. One of IPI’s key funders was the Gates Foundation; Epstein connected the two organizations in 2013. The late convicted sex offender advised IPI employees on what to say to obtain their first $5 million donation from the Gates Foundation and Epstein worked behind the scenes with Bill Gates to speed up the process, Jessica reports. Between 2013 and 2015, the Gates Foundation contributed 20% of IPI’s total donations.
Meanwhile, Epstein was using IPI as another avenue to “control women and keep them in his orbit,” this story confirms. One of those women was Svetlana Pozhidaeva, who went on the record in this piece. A former Russian model, Pozhidaeva was 31 at the time and had been “a so-called ‘assistant’ to Jeffrey Epstein for about five years.”
She says she, like so many others, was sexually abused by Epstein. But these connections to elite leaders made her question whether anything was wrong. “If someone like this comes to [Epstein’s] house, maybe it’s me who doesn’t understand something here,” she remembers thinking.
She says that Epstein told her she would orchestrate a conference on preparing for pandemics with health experts and diplomats, in partnership with both IPI and the Gates Foundation. But she recalls that she was never given anything to do—and the promise of the job was “one of the hooks” Epstein used to keep her close to him.
The Gates Foundation said in a statement that “the harm Epstein inflicted on women and girls was horrific, and no one should ever have to experience what they did. It’s deeply troubling that, without our knowledge, Epstein used the Gates Foundation’s name to further his agenda.” IPI said in a statement that it “joins with those around the world who have expressed solidarity with the survivors of Epstein’s wrongdoings.”
Jessica’s story gives us more insight into what happened to women in Epstein’s orbit in the years after they were first connected to him. While Epstein targeted young women and teen girls, some of these women were trapped for years to come with these kinds of tactics.
Read Jessica’s full investigation here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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