Economist Podcasts: "Check in the mail: our analysis of Epstein’s correspondence"

Date: February 16, 2026
Host: Rosie Blore
Guests: Dan Rosenheck (Economist's data editor), Tom Wainwright (media editor), Tom Standage (deputy editor)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Intelligence delivers a deep dive into the contents and revelations from the vast trove of digital correspondence and documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The Economist’s editorial team details the methodology and key findings from their data-driven investigation, providing a rare quantitative insight into Epstein’s powerful network and its patterns of contact. The episode also covers the global push to ban young people from social media—does it work, or do such efforts simply push problems elsewhere? The closing segment explores a quirky and timely experiment in wine tasting, highlighting a growing wine trend with climate change implications.

Key Segment 1: Analyzing the Epstein Digital Archive

[01:13–11:08]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Assembling the Archive

  • The Economist's data team gained access to an open-source database of Epstein’s emails, professionally extracted from PDFs and structured for analysis.
  • “There was this volunteer group of software engineers who extracted all of the text from these PDFs.” (Dan Rosenheck, [02:51])
  • The searchable database resembled a Gmail interface, facilitating advanced queries and AI-driven analysis.

• Aims of the Investigation

  • “We were looking for two things. First, just straight counts of who Epstein was in touch with. And second, what evidence was there of Epstein's crimes in these files?” (Dan Rosenheck, [03:23])
  • Advanced language models sifted 1.4 million emails, scoring their potential for explicit or criminal content.

• Who Did Epstein Email?

  • Interactions ranged from mundane logistics with staff to frequent, close communication with extremely powerful figures in finance, politics, and science.
  • A quarter of his non-staff contacts have a Wikipedia page; 19% worked in finance, 10% in science & technology, and 6% each in law and other business sectors.

• The Notable Correspondents

  • Katherine Ruemmler (Barack Obama’s ex-White House counsel) exchanged over 11,000 emails with Epstein between 2014–2019.
    • “She actually just resigned from Goldman after this came out.” (Dan Rosenheck, [05:34])
    • Their contact was near-daily: “On 70% of days. Out of every seven days of the week, on five of them they exchanged at least one email.”
  • Other frequent contacts:
    • Ariane de Rothschild (Rothschild banking family, 5,500 emails)
    • Larry Summers (former Treasury Secretary)
    • Tom Pritzker (Hyatt Hotels billionaire)
    • Ghislaine Maxwell (the only contact charged or convicted of crimes connected to Epstein)

• Nature and Red Flags in Correspondence

  • Vast majority of disturbing correspondence did not involve highly public figures.
  • AI highlighted about 1,500 threads as “explicitly disturbing”—most with lesser-known contacts.
  • A striking moment:
    • “Steve Tisch… had an exchange where they were discussing women to whom Epstein could introduce Tisch. And Epstein says… ‘Can you give me a number to call? I don’t like having written records of this stuff.’” (Dan Rosenheck, [07:41])
    • Tisch publicly stated regrets and insisted all introductions were to adult women.

• Limitations and What’s Missing

  • Only half (3m of 6m) documents were published by the Department of Justice; remaining under wraps.
  • Only emails (not all document types) were analyzed so far; further revelations may emerge.
  • Critical unanswered questions remain:
    • “How exactly did he get that sweetheart plea deal in 2008?... How did he manage to kill himself in a jail cell?... Who else was involved in his sex trafficking ring…?” (Dan Rosenheck, [09:24])
  • Example of obfuscated criminal evidence:
    • “There’s one example… of a message from a redacted sender that says… ‘your littlest girl was a little naughty to Epstein.’ We don’t know if that is from somebody who abused the littlest girl, somebody who provided the littlest girl. But name’s blacked out.” (Dan Rosenheck, [10:03])

Notable Quotes

• “Epstein’s network was unbelievably broad and balanced. He was messaging directly with very high level or top end or elite people.” (Dan Rosenheck, [04:27])
• “Emailing with Jeffrey Epstein is not a crime… and many of the people who did email with him say that they had no knowledge either of his crimes or of the scale of his crimes.” (Dan Rosenheck, [06:19])

Key Segment 2: Do Social Media Bans for Teens Work?

[12:33–21:48]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Context and Policy Moves

  • Australia banned under-16s from using major social platforms; other countries (Spain, UK, Malaysia, parts of the US) are considering or have enacted similar policies.

• Efficacy and Limitations

  • Teens easily circumvent bans: faking ages, making new accounts, using alternative apps.
  • Implementation so far is patchy:
    • “I wasn’t kicked off any of my social media accounts except for YouTube.” (Australian Teenager, [13:23])
    • “Really, there was no huge difference. They would easily fix the situation—make another account, get another device.”

• Public Perception

  • Widespread global support among all political and demographic groups.
    • “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more popular policy than this… There’s huge support for this among adults pretty much all over the world.” (Tom Wainwright, [15:41])
  • Different motivations: left-leaning adults want to rein in corporate power; right-leaning, a return to ‘traditional’ childhood.

• Expert and Advocacy Group Concerns

  • Bans may isolate already vulnerable children and deny them vital social lifelines.
    • “As a social worker, I’m really concerned about the socially isolated kids… I think the threat to their wellbeing and lives outweighs the benefit of a poorly implemented ban.” (Australian Parent, [17:26])
  • Child protection groups generally oppose outright bans:
    • “The problems of bad actors and criminality won’t disappear. They will simply migrate to where children go.” (Andy Burrows, Molly Rose Foundation, [17:57])

• Wider Social Impacts

  • The “idealized” pre-digital childhood is largely gone.
  • Teen perspectives highlight increased isolation, increased risk with unregulated workarounds, and concerns for missing out on opportunities and social connection.

• Alternatives: Designing Safer Platforms

  • Focus is shifting from content moderation to platform design changes (endless scroll, autoplay, personalized algorithms) that affect mental health and habit formation.
  • Lawsuits in the US (against Meta/YouTube) and regulatory action in the EU (against TikTok) may reshape features for safety.
  • “If these design features of the apps are now in the crosshairs, the result could be that these apps turn out to be quite different things, not just for teenagers, but for adults too…” (Tom Wainwright, [21:38])

Notable Quotes

• “Australia hasn’t banned young teenagers from messaging apps or from multiplayer online games, so cyberbullying may continue on those.” (Tom Wainwright, [19:35])
• “We can’t go back to the 80s. That’s not realistic either.” (Australian Teenager/Parent, [18:38])
• "Not having social media is honestly kind of harmful." (Australian Teenager, [20:07])

Key Segment 3: Wine Tasting Experiment—Rise of the “Blouge” Wine

[22:05–27:05]

Key Discussion Points & Insights

• Blindfold Wine Test

  • Deputy editor Tom Standage leads Rosie Blore through a blind tasting, introducing the hybrid “blouge” wine (blend of blanc/white and rouge/red).
  • Blouge: White and red grapes fermented together—offers features of both, easily chilled, versatile for food pairing, and marketed in a “craft beer” style.

• Wine and Climate Change

  • “The trouble with red wines right now is… the red grapes are over ripening… You get a very alcoholic wine, 15 or 16% sometimes.” (Tom Standage, [25:08])
  • Mixing in white grapes when co-fermenting helps control alcohol content, increase freshness, and offset the negative effects of heatwaves.

• Market and Cultural Shifts

  • No universally tracked category for blouge; known variously as “chillable red” in the US and Australia.
  • Growing sales among young, adventurous consumers.

Notable Quotes

• “With names like Boogie Woo and Super Bloom… It’s fantastic for, you know, a barbecue on a Sunday. Do you want red or white? Well, you don’t have to choose. You can kind of have both.” (Tom Standage, [24:03])
• “People like to chill red wines as well, actually, to make them less flabby, give them a bit more definition. So this is a wine style that is designed to be consumed just out of the fridge.” (Tom Standage, [26:32])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Epstein’s Archive, Data Analytics, Notable Contacts, Missing Evidence: [01:13–11:08]
• Social Media Bans & Teen Mental Health: [12:33–21:48]
• Wine Tasting & “Blouge” Trend: [22:05–27:05]

Memorable Moments

• On the scale of Epstein’s network:
  • “Of the non staff contacts, fully a quarter have their own Wikipedia page in lots of different industries.” (Dan Rosenheck, [04:27])
• On social media bans:
  • “It’ll be a long time until we know exactly how the Australian plan has gone, but so far it seems as if implementation isn’t without its problems.” (Tom Wainwright, [20:20])
• On the potential of new wine styles in the face of climate change:
  • “With climate change, this is a really, really good hedge…” (Tom Standage, [25:08])

Summary

This episode offers a compelling examination of the complexities behind headline stories. The thorough, data-driven exploration of Epstein’s emails reveals the enduring challenges facing transparency and justice in his case—and the vastness and regularity of his engagement with the global elite. The social media ban analysis exposes the patchy efficacy, hidden hazards, and nuanced debate over digital childhoods, as well as promising directions in platform reform. The closing wine segment brings levity while showcasing a genuinely meaningful trend in global wine culture. The reporting is rigorous, nuanced, and humane—a distinctive Economist blend.