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What's up, everyone? And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. It's no secret that Jeffrey Epstein's crimes spanned continents. And it's certainly no secret that he was active in France. And when we think of France and Jeffrey Epstein, the first person that usually comes to mind is Jean Luc Brunel. But Epstein's connections to France went much higher up than just Jean Luc Brunel. And one of the people that Jeffrey Epstein was very, very close to was Jack Lang, and he's the former French Culture Minister. And according to Jack Lang, well, he hardly knew Jeffrey Epstein, just like the rest of these people. But the truth is, that's also a lie. And when you compare what Mr. Lang has said about Jeffrey Epstein to the emails in the evidence that we now have, it's rather obvious that he was telling us stories. And don't you know, in all those stories, he was just another bystander who was conned by the world's greatest con man. Today's article is from the New York Times and the headline, Epstein in Paris. How a Sex Offender Hustled for Access to France's Elite. This article was authored by Mark Landler. In his last days as a free man, busy in his part time home in Paris, Jeffrey Epstein did not appear like someone who dreaded a legal reckoning. There were meetings with architects and interior decorators, a dinner with Norwegian diplomats, appointments with a Russian French mathematician and a Kuwaiti former official. It was a Paris sojourn, like countless others for Mr. Epstein, whose every other month visit since the early 2000s had been a mix of restless networking with real estate, shopping, and according to testimony gathered by French prosecutors, systematic sex trafficking. Wait, I thought that never happened. You mean to tell me that we're being lied to by the doj? Come on, they've never dog walked us before. They've always told us the truth. They've always been up front and honest with the American people. Right. Can you imagine getting up there with a straight face and trying to tell the American people that Jeffrey Epstein wasn't trafficking countless girls and then thinking people are actually going to take you serious? It is some of the most absurd shit I have ever seen or heard in my whole entire life. It was a playbook used by Mr. Epstein in every place he lived from Manhattan to Palm Beach. He sought out well connected fixers to help him befriend influential people and then cultivated those relationships in a way that stamped the veneer of respectability on a life of sordid criminal activity. And that was his playbook as I've told you many times in the past, everything was transactional. There was nothing that Epstein was doing that was out of the kindness of his heart or to help somebody else. It was always about building more, a bigger war chest of compromise, more money, more information, whatever it might be. And the best way to do that is to ingratiate yourself to powerful people in whatever community you're in. Young women, some traffic to him by a French model scout, Jean Luc Brunel, according to prosecutors, were regular visitors to Mr. Epstein's grand, if garishly, decorated apartment. Mr. Epstein's arrest on federal sex trafficking charges came on July 6, 2019, after he made a final flight on his private plane from Paris to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where they quietly arrested him. By the way, no perp walk, no pomp and circumstance, no news cameras, nothing. Just quietly arresting Jeffrey Epstein. The 3 million plus pages of Epstein related documents released in January by the Justice Department provide for the first time an Insider's view of Mr. Epstein in Paris, a socially ambitious expatriate eager to mingle in franchise society, if not always successfully. His apartment on Avenue Folk, a tree lined boulevard that is the Park Avenue of Paris, was at once an opulent salon and an oversized I have no idea how to say this word, pia de terre. Some kind of French word. They think they're smart. I'm guessing it means garish, which is right in line with what we know about Epstein and the decorating. You look at those pictures and you say to yourself, holy, this dude was stuck in like 1970 or something. Imagine having the kind of dough that Epstein had and having your apartments in your house decorated the way they were. Talk about straight up weirdo behavior. Paris is great, Mr. Epstein said in a characteristically Typoflecked 2011 email to Terry Rod Larsen, a Norwegian diplomat with whom he had a long friendship. Wasn't there someone here you thought I should meet? Mr. Rod Larson replied with the name Olivier Colomb, whom he described as a close advisor to sarcophagus, a common nickname for Nicholas Sarkozy, the then president of France. Shall I set up a meeting? Mr. Rod Larson asked. And Sarkozy, if you remember, ended up in prison. Exactly the kind of guy that Jeffrey Epstein would love to be friends with. And as far as Mr. Larson goes, another liar. This guy told us we didn't really know each other. We we were hardly even close. All of our business was strictly to do with X, Y and Z. Well, lo and behold, I know this is going to come As a shock to you. But Mr. Larson, he lied, too. So if they're lying about basic relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, what else are they lying about? Mr. Colomb was to become one of Mr. Epstein's closest contacts. A well connected diplomat, he later worked as a banker for Ariane de Rothschild, the chief executive of Edmund, the Rothschild Group, who is also a friend of Mr. Epstein's. Boy, that circle, huh? And then the Rothschild bank in there. You're really throwing some red meat to people who have been following conspiracy theories for a long time. Anytime the name Rothschild gets brought up, forget it. And then you add to that the fact that they were in bed with Epstein. Yikes. Kind of led some credence to the whole entire Rothschild myth, no? The two men traded dozens of emails captured in the Justice Department files on subjects ranging from international finance to women. But access to Mr. Sarkozy was never far from Mr. Epstein's mind. All these other people like Mr. Larson, Mr. Lang, they're all stepping stones, right? For Epstein to advance in society and become closer to more powerful people, everybody becomes a useful tool. There's a tool for every job and a job for every tool. And Epstein was very good at exploiting that. In June 2013, after the president had left office, the Mr. Epstein suggested seeking a meeting during his next visit to Paris. He also inquired if Mr. Colon had made progress in recruiting a female assistant to work for him. Always a female involved too, right? Always some kind of creepy ass commentary about this woman or that woman or that girl or this girl. And when you look at that in the context of who's having these conversations, it's pretty disturbing, because what happened to all these girls? Where are they? And just how many are there that we don't know about? In June 2013, after the president had left office, Mr. Epstein suggested seeking a meeting during his next visit to Paris. He also inquired if Mr. Colon had made progress in recruiting a female assistant to work for him. Sarkozy leaves Paris on July 9, unfortunately, to go on vacation on the Riviera. Mr. Colomb replied. About your assistant, I'm asking around, he said, but you need to hire a not too good looking one. Yeah. Because whoever he's hiring him for probably is a pervert and will probably try to molest them. And I hate to even say that, but look who we're dealing with. Birds of a feather. And all right, fellow travelers, I don't hang out with people that I don't have much in common with. And I'm guessing the Same goes for Mr. Colon and the rest of these scumbags. With no date with Mr. Sarkozy on the calendar, Mr. Epstein raised the idea of a meeting again a few months later. Is Sarkozy around? He emailed Mr. Colon. I'd like to meet him, if you think fun. Mr. Colon promised to ask Mr. Sarkozy about it the following month. He can be fun, he wrote, and he can speak English now. Well, isn't that great? You guys can talk about your devious, disgusting bullshit in a common tongue. A representative for Mr. Sarkozy said he didn't know Mr. Epstein personally and had never invited him anywhere. Mr. Colomb cannot be reached for comment. He has expressed regret in the French media for his relationship with Mr. Epstein. And again, he's not sorry about the relationship. He's sorry that we all know about it. That's what he's sorry about. With Mr. Epstein, access was a two way street. His French friends were not shy about asking for favors. In 2013, Mr. Colomb emailed to ask, could you organize a discreet meeting between Sarco and Hillary Clinton in New York? Wait a minute. I thought Epstein had no access to the Clintons. I thought it was just a one way street. You mean to tell me that the Clintons perjured themselves when they spoke to Congress? Just like every single other person that has spoken to Congress about this? Because I'm telling you right now, every single one of those people that got up there were a lot closer to Jeffrey Epstein and know a lot more than they let on. Meetings with Hillary are not easily discreet. Mr. Epstein replied when Ms. Clinton, testifying before the House committee investigating the Epstein case in February, said she was not aware of any approach from him. I find it kind of weird because I know Sarkozy. She added, if somebody was seeking a meeting with me and Sarkozy, he would not have needed to go through anybody else. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure it would have just been nice and easy. Quick transition, right, Hillary? With his money and acquisitive eye, Mr. Epstein seemed intent on collecting a portfolio of trophy properties in France. He took a long look at Chateau de Gramontes, an 18th century estate east of Paris, before backing out because it was too noisy, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sensitivity of the matter. He also made a bid for Hotel Lambert, a mansion in Paris, which he talked of converting into a mathematics institute. After the owner sniffed at his offer of 55 million euros, Mr. Epstein asked for a signed contract at 60 million euros, these two people said, saying he did not want to bid against himself. It was later sold to an Arab prince. But Mr. Epstein seemed to be at home in the apartment at 22 Avenue Folk, holding onto it from 2001 until his death in August of 2019, which has been ruled a suicide. Well, I don't know if that's what the documentation says. They might have ruled it that, but are you confident that that was a suicide after everything we've been through? And, folks, we still have the deposition from the warden, from Darden, from the camera technician, and I'm telling you, all of it's disturbing. So they can say that Epstein died from suicide all they want, but I don't buy it. Mr. Brunel was also found hanged in his prison cell in 2022 while facing rape charges. A Bulgarian businessman, Georgi Tuchev, bought the apartment from Mr. Epstein's estate in 2022 for about 10 million euros, according to Bloomberg News. And of course, they had to sell everything off for the compensation fund. They had to have the liquidity to be able to pay out the settlements. Sprawling over nearly 7,400 square feet on the second floor of an early 19th century building, the apartment featured a study with padded orange walls and a cavernous gym with images of women's body parts, according to police records. Like his other houses, it had a massage room. So remember, when we say massage with Epstein, we mean sex, rape, the whole thing, because that's what the massages were. That was the icebreaker, right? Ah, well, I'll have him over here for a massage, but. And that was Epstein's M.O. in 2015, according to documents released by the Justice Department, Mr. Epstein paid 1.2 million euros to have the apartment redone by a Parisian decorator, Alberto Pinto. The living room alone cost more than €665,000. Pictures taken during a police raid and published by the French media showed tabletop photographs of Mr. Epstein with famous figures kneeling before Pope John Paul II and dining with Woody Allen. Mr. Epstein, however, struggled to fully ingratiate himself with France's political elite. His most lasting contact was with Jack Lang, who served as Cultural Minister during the 80s under President Francois Mitterrand. A charismatic figure who created popular culture events, Mr. Lang, 86, nevertheless had long lost the political influence he wielded during the heyday of his career. Still, Mr. Epstein savored the association, dining with Mr. Lang at chic restaurants and joining him at art exhibits and film premieres. According to emails In May of 2018, Mr. Lang's daughter Caroline, a film producer, emailed Epstein to propose that he join her father at a reception at Luxury Hotel. There will be a lot of other intellectuals, she promised. Well, Jeffrey Epstein was the intellectual's favorite person, huh? Every time you turn around, it's the smartest men in the room hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein. And then those men will tell you, I had no idea who he was. I'm too stupid to know that. Okay, he replied with customary brevity. Mr. Epstein liked to play the role of deep pocketed friend. In March of 2014, he emailed Mr. Lang to say he would pick up all expenses for a trip to New York or the Caribbean. Mr. Lang, his wife Monique thanked Mr. Epstein for the nice gesture and agreed to accompany him on a subsequent trip to Marrakech, Morocco. Now remember, Jeffrey Epstein was kind of a big deal in Morocco, went to the royal wedding, etc. Etc. The largesse extended to Mr. Lang's daughter. Mr. Epstein jointly owned an offshore fund with Caroline that said that she and Mr. Epstein started to support up and coming artists. According to a French investigative website, Media Part, Mr. Epstein also left Caroline 5 million in his will, according to Media Part. Well, $5 million, huh? Seems like a large amount of money to leave somebody in your will that you're not close to. So just how close were Jeffrey Epstein, Jack Lang and Caroline Lang? French Prosecutors are investigating Mr. Lang and his daughter for laundering of tax fraud proceeds. Yo, this is where they're going to get people. And it's the same theory they used with the Mafia and guys like Al Capone. Oh, we can't get him for blowing up the bar, but we got his ass for tax evasion. And at the end of the day, as long as people end up behind bars for their, I'll be content with that and I'll just go on record right here and right now. My firm suspicion is everybody that did business with Jeffrey Epstein was engaging in some sort of money laundering or tax evasion, every last one of them. A lawyer for Jack and Caroline Lang, Laurent Merlay, said Mr. Lang never accepted free vacations from Mr. Epstein. He said they met twice a year, an entirely social and and mundane circumstances. Caroline Lang, Mr. Merlet said, took no money from the offshore fund and was stunned to discover that she had been left money by Mr. Epstein. Oh, I'm sure she was just shocked. They've never talked about that before. It just came as a big shock to her. Just like it came as a shock to Sergey Brin that he was an executor of Epstein's estate right out of here. Five months before Mr. Epstein's death, Mr. Lang invited him to attend a celebration on of the 30th anniversary of the pyramid entrance to the Louvre, designed by architect IMP, a project Mr. Lang had championed. Now at the pyramid with the entire government, Mr. Epstein texted one of his newer friends, Steve Bannon, a former advisor to President Trump. The ministers of the elite, he said. Mr. Epstein attached a photograph of himself in sunglasses and a stylishly draped overcoat, standing alone with Mr. Lang. Power move. Mr. Bannon texted back. And in this picture, Jeffrey Epstein looks like your quintessential 18th century bad guy. Like maybe like Count Dracula or some from Bram Stoker's Dracula, something like that. Bro just looks evil. And I guess that's because, well, he was evil. And people like Jack Language and all these other people that were cavorting with him after his first arrest, they all knew exactly what Jeffrey Epstein was. And while they all talk about how much they regret those relationships, what they really regret is that you found out. So my question is, now that you know, what are you going to do about it? All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.