Good twitter thread here. FBI raid today. What do we make of the timing of it?
Epstein update thread.
- Thread starter MegaPoke
- Start date
So... their defense is incompetence. I called this, and Barr will by god pound the table and raid mansions and issue some statements and beat his chest and the biggest pedophile organizer ever (remember how concerned yall are with sex trafficking?) won't give up so much as a wink because his second suicide attempt worked, if Biff's administration is to be believed. Biff is probably laughing.
I cannot believe they waited until he died to raid his island home, I’ve been watching drone footage over the weeks that show people moving and construction and burning going on on his islands since he went to lock up. Nothing smells right.
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I agree with all this.
Is it too much to ask for you to stop stepping on your dick long enough to have a nice bipartisan thread about bringing entitled pedo scum to justice?
He's too busy stepping on his dick to reply.
If the FBI is just now getting around to searching his property then MI6 has already been there .
There should be bipartisan outrage. It's inexcusable. Pokeabear makes a point, why raid the island NOW?? Window dressing.
Wonder if they got the warrant while he was alive and sat on it or got it after he died?
FBI Memo.....
Subject: Pedo Island.
Bring:
Suntan lotion
Swim trunks (optional)
Fishing gear
Furnished:
Liquor
Porno Films
Subject: Pedo Island.
Bring:
Suntan lotion
Swim trunks (optional)
Fishing gear
Furnished:
Liquor
Porno Films
Formal or informal peach mint going on @fatnads house too ?
The wacko left is incapable of seeing the other possibilities. Probably Trump’s fault.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/p...taking-bribes-smuggle-contraband-metropolitan
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/p...taking-bribes-smuggle-contraband-metropolitan
Seals escorted 007 too and have the tapes
So Ken (Rape U, Slick Willie perjury) Starr is a former Jeffery Epstein attorney.
It’s so interesting that in a city the size of DC, the cast of characters in every major story overlap like its fvcking Mayberry.
Comey’s got dam daughter was point in the Epstein prosecution.
But sure - it’s “binary” republican/ conservative vs Democrat/liberals.
Wake up @Pokeabear @Syskatine. You guys are already conspiracy theorists. It’s just that your conspiracies always fail. Come on in. The water’s fine. Owe nothing to the establishment. You know you want to.
It’s so interesting that in a city the size of DC, the cast of characters in every major story overlap like its fvcking Mayberry.
Comey’s got dam daughter was point in the Epstein prosecution.
But sure - it’s “binary” republican/ conservative vs Democrat/liberals.
Wake up @Pokeabear @Syskatine. You guys are already conspiracy theorists. It’s just that your conspiracies always fail. Come on in. The water’s fine. Owe nothing to the establishment. You know you want to.
Starr, Comey, exactly what establishment are them and me in? They're both republicans as is the republican president and his appointee the attorney general and head of bureau of prisons. As was Acosta, who let him off during the republican bush admin.
Ya'll have been screaming about this guy for 20 years, and screaming about human trafficking as a pretext for building a wall. I read up on this guy and okay, yeah - he obviously had an infrastructure to molest girls and it seems he may have provided that service to other people. But there have been no other arrests. No high profile nothing outside of his arrest and raids. Then he's dead. This guy really was the real deal, and this is i inexcusable.
I'll be bipartisan, the Obama admin didn't take him out, either. But being bipartisan means if lots of blame and shit piles up on one party then that's where it piles up.
It was curious AF. I read he likely managed $18 bbn of MBS' money but... a jew managing MBS money? How'd he make his $? Were young girls part of the package of services he offered?
They said the FBI searched Epstein's island and his other US properties initially when the original indictments were returned. The recent visit was a follow-up.
I do remember the discussions that have taken place over the years about Epstein. Liberals ignore the case because their one time messiah, Bill Clinton, would be exposed for the sick corrupt POS he is. It wasn't until Epstein was actually arrested and liberal elitist thought they could manipulate the sheep into believing Trump was involved that the sheep started caring.
I have the same questions. Why wasn't his home raided ASAP to prevent any possible destruction of evidence?
Devils advocate: How do we know it wasn’t?
I’ll say this, the (intentional or not) theater surrounding the Epstein releases, “suicide” and FBI raid has everyone watching and paying attention.
Seems like there are only two logical possibilities.
1). Damnit, we are pissed off that we let Epstein slip through our fingers. We are desperate to make someone pay. Maybe if we raid his island, we will come across some evidence against co-conspirators.
2). Well, we succeeded in taking Epstein out before he could destroy the status quo. Now we have to put on a show to make it look like we wanted to prosecute him and others he was involved with.
Both very possible. I would add a glass is half full option though.
3). They have everything they need and Epstein dying was irrelevant - and the James Bond scene with the FBI on speedboats is put on for show to ensure this spectacle stays center stage.
4). Same as 3 but with Epstein in witness protection.
Also - supposedly Hannity said last night that this wasn’t the first fbi raid. Another happened at least a week ago and this is a more expansive canvassing of the island and shoreline. Divers.
He’s a douche but has good info
Interesting- NYPD wind breakers seen on the island.
Not buying those options. His death or "death" already had the spectacle at center stage. No need for any theatrics to keep it there. JMO.
Interesting listening to Rudy G on the radio, he said men like this have a death target on their back like you would not believe by the inmates due to the nature of his crimes, and he appears to be the worst in the history of the country. For Rudy, he said he should have never even had a cell mate, his cell mate was a murderer. He also said if an inmate assisted that no on would talk, he said just will not happen. Due to this Rudy said he should have been isolated and kept under watch with guards outside his cell. He was just pointing out that regardless of who might have wanted him dead outside of the prison, people within the prison wanted him dead just as bad and the correctional facility knew this, this is the law of the jungle with the types of criminals in that facility. He said plenty of murderers would have wanted to kill him to have that notch on their belt and for carrying out a righteous killing.
Not to promote a conspiracy theory, but given the island raid happened a day after his 'death', what if he did go into protective custody and gave them something that they didn't find on the island on their first foray.
Edit: The only reason I have some belief in the possibility of him being in protective custody is the fact he was so quickly removed from the suicide watch list.
The cynical conspiracy theorist in me, is going with the second option right now. Hopefully this isn't correct though.
BTW, status quo knows no party but is rather the elitist bankers and politicians in my book.
Epstein's Death Was On 4Chan Before Officials Announced It — And Authorities Had To Look Into It
About 38 minutes before news outlets first reported Jeffrey Epstein's death in prison, a 4chan user published a detailed post about it.
Jane LytvynenkoBuzzFeed News Reporter
Updated on August 13, 2019, at 1:02 p.m. ETPosted on August 13, 2019, at 12:10 p.m. ET
Getty Images
The Manhattan Correctional Center where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead on Aug. 10.
The New York City Fire Department looked into whether a first responder posted about Jeffrey Epstein’s death on a notorious internet message board prior to officials announcing it to the public, BuzzFeed News has learned.
Shortly after telling BuzzFeed News the post was "under review," an FDNY spokesperson said authorities "determined this alleged information did not come from the Fire Department." The spokesperson did not elaborate on how that determination was made.
Less than 40 minutes before ABC News first reported Epstein’s death on Twitter, someone posted still-unverified details on 4chan, the anonymous message board popular with far-right trolls and white nationalists.
“[D]ont ask me how I know, but Epstein died an hour ago from hanging, cardiac arrest. Screencap this,” read the post, which was published at 8:16 a.m. alongside an image of Pepe, the green frog that has become a mascot for right-wing internet trolls.
That post was 38 minutes before the first tweet about Epstein’s death from Aaron Katersky, an ABC News reporter, at 8:54 AM. Five minutes later, the main ABC News account tweeted an article about Epstein's death.
Screenshot / 4chan
After publishing the post, other 4chan users egged on the author. When they said they didn’t believe that the information was true, the original poster added more information to the discussion thread, including a detailed breakdown of the procedures allegedly used to resuscitate Epstein, which suggest the poster may have been a first responder, medical worker, or otherwise privy to details about efforts to resuscitate the disgraced financier.
Frank Dwyer, an FDNY spokesman, told BuzzFeed News he “could not verify the accuracy” of information in the 4chan post. But he said any medical professional who divulges patient information without consent is in violation of a federal health privacy law, HIPAA, and that FDNY would look into it.
“The department will review this incident,” he said at the time. The FDNY later said that it "is reviewing this incident, there is no investigation" — but would not describe the difference between a review and investigation.
Oren Barzilay, the president of the union for EMT workers Local 2507 in New York, said, “our members do not release this type of confidential information, this looks like a 3rd party info.” Barzilay also told BuzzFeed News the union would investigate the potential breach of confidentiality “if such a claim came forward.”
“There's serious consequences for those violations. Discipline. Suspensions. Civil penalties, etc,” Barzilay said in an email.
The office of the Medical Examiner and the Metropolitan Correctional Center both declined to comment. Spokespeople for the New York Presbyterian Hospital have not responded to repeated emails and calls requesting comment.
The full details of Epstein’s death won’t be known until the final coroner’s report is released, meaning the 4chan post laying out the alleged treatment he received cannot be fully verified. An EMS expert contacted by BuzzFeed News said the details in the post are consistent with standard practices. Information released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons also appears to line up with some of what was posted on 4chan.
Dr. Keith Wesley, who has authored several EMS textbooks and articles, viewed the 4chan post at BuzzFeed News’ request and said it lays out standard procedures for paramedics.
“This sounds like standard American Heart Association guidelines, which most EMS agencies use,” Dr Wesley said.
Part of the post says, “telemetry advised bicarb.” According to Wesley, this could mean the first responders were also speaking with the hospital as they were trying to resuscitate their patient.
Screenshot / 4chan
“Telemetry implies the paramedics were in contact with a medical control hospital who then gave orders to give Sodium Bicarbonate, bicarb which is designed to reverse the acid buildup in the blood from prolonged cardiac arrest,” Wesley said in an email.
“If one of the medics posted this separately that’s a breach of protocol,” he added. “If there was identifying information on the patient, that is a violation of Federal HIPPA law.”
The 4chan user made six posts about Epstein’s death. One of them claimed that attempts to resuscitate Epstein were made for 40 minutes before he was transported to hospital, at which point medical personnel tried to revive him for another 20 minutes. Those details are at least partially consistent with the information regarding Epstein’s death that have been publicly released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“Pt transported to Lower Manhattan ER and worked for 20 minutes and called. Hospital administrator was alerted, preparing statements,” said the 4chan post.
“Staff requested emergency medical services (EMS) and life-saving efforts continued,” said a statement released by the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons on Saturday. “Mr. Epstein was transported by EMS to a local hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, and subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff.”
It’s not clear who posted the news of Epstein’s death on 4chan, but first responders and hospital staff would have access to information laid out in the post.
The reaction of 4chan to the news was explosive. Some users didn’t believe the author while others launched straight into conspiracy theories that have since engulfed news of Epstein’s death.
The 4chan thread was first found by Konrad Iturbe, a developer based in Barcelona who was researching conspiracies surrounding Epstein online.
“That'll keep the conspiracies forever!” Iturbe said about the 4chan posts.
CORRECTION
Aug 13, 2019, 5:03:19 PM GMT
Konrad Iturbe's name was misspelled in a previous version of this post.
CORRECTION
Aug 13, 2019, 4:51:53 PM GMT
The FDNY spokesperson BuzzFeed News spoke to was Frank Dwyer. A previous version of this post said BuzzFeed News spoke to FDNY Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon
About 38 minutes before news outlets first reported Jeffrey Epstein's death in prison, a 4chan user published a detailed post about it.
Jane LytvynenkoBuzzFeed News ReporterUpdated on August 13, 2019, at 1:02 p.m. ETPosted on August 13, 2019, at 12:10 p.m. ET
Getty Images
The Manhattan Correctional Center where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead on Aug. 10.
The New York City Fire Department looked into whether a first responder posted about Jeffrey Epstein’s death on a notorious internet message board prior to officials announcing it to the public, BuzzFeed News has learned.
Shortly after telling BuzzFeed News the post was "under review," an FDNY spokesperson said authorities "determined this alleged information did not come from the Fire Department." The spokesperson did not elaborate on how that determination was made.
Less than 40 minutes before ABC News first reported Epstein’s death on Twitter, someone posted still-unverified details on 4chan, the anonymous message board popular with far-right trolls and white nationalists.
“[D]ont ask me how I know, but Epstein died an hour ago from hanging, cardiac arrest. Screencap this,” read the post, which was published at 8:16 a.m. alongside an image of Pepe, the green frog that has become a mascot for right-wing internet trolls.
That post was 38 minutes before the first tweet about Epstein’s death from Aaron Katersky, an ABC News reporter, at 8:54 AM. Five minutes later, the main ABC News account tweeted an article about Epstein's death.
Screenshot / 4chan
After publishing the post, other 4chan users egged on the author. When they said they didn’t believe that the information was true, the original poster added more information to the discussion thread, including a detailed breakdown of the procedures allegedly used to resuscitate Epstein, which suggest the poster may have been a first responder, medical worker, or otherwise privy to details about efforts to resuscitate the disgraced financier.
Frank Dwyer, an FDNY spokesman, told BuzzFeed News he “could not verify the accuracy” of information in the 4chan post. But he said any medical professional who divulges patient information without consent is in violation of a federal health privacy law, HIPAA, and that FDNY would look into it.
“The department will review this incident,” he said at the time. The FDNY later said that it "is reviewing this incident, there is no investigation" — but would not describe the difference between a review and investigation.
Oren Barzilay, the president of the union for EMT workers Local 2507 in New York, said, “our members do not release this type of confidential information, this looks like a 3rd party info.” Barzilay also told BuzzFeed News the union would investigate the potential breach of confidentiality “if such a claim came forward.”
“There's serious consequences for those violations. Discipline. Suspensions. Civil penalties, etc,” Barzilay said in an email.
The office of the Medical Examiner and the Metropolitan Correctional Center both declined to comment. Spokespeople for the New York Presbyterian Hospital have not responded to repeated emails and calls requesting comment.
The full details of Epstein’s death won’t be known until the final coroner’s report is released, meaning the 4chan post laying out the alleged treatment he received cannot be fully verified. An EMS expert contacted by BuzzFeed News said the details in the post are consistent with standard practices. Information released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons also appears to line up with some of what was posted on 4chan.
Dr. Keith Wesley, who has authored several EMS textbooks and articles, viewed the 4chan post at BuzzFeed News’ request and said it lays out standard procedures for paramedics.
“This sounds like standard American Heart Association guidelines, which most EMS agencies use,” Dr Wesley said.
Part of the post says, “telemetry advised bicarb.” According to Wesley, this could mean the first responders were also speaking with the hospital as they were trying to resuscitate their patient.
Screenshot / 4chan
“Telemetry implies the paramedics were in contact with a medical control hospital who then gave orders to give Sodium Bicarbonate, bicarb which is designed to reverse the acid buildup in the blood from prolonged cardiac arrest,” Wesley said in an email.
“If one of the medics posted this separately that’s a breach of protocol,” he added. “If there was identifying information on the patient, that is a violation of Federal HIPPA law.”
The 4chan user made six posts about Epstein’s death. One of them claimed that attempts to resuscitate Epstein were made for 40 minutes before he was transported to hospital, at which point medical personnel tried to revive him for another 20 minutes. Those details are at least partially consistent with the information regarding Epstein’s death that have been publicly released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“Pt transported to Lower Manhattan ER and worked for 20 minutes and called. Hospital administrator was alerted, preparing statements,” said the 4chan post.
“Staff requested emergency medical services (EMS) and life-saving efforts continued,” said a statement released by the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons on Saturday. “Mr. Epstein was transported by EMS to a local hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, and subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff.”
It’s not clear who posted the news of Epstein’s death on 4chan, but first responders and hospital staff would have access to information laid out in the post.
The reaction of 4chan to the news was explosive. Some users didn’t believe the author while others launched straight into conspiracy theories that have since engulfed news of Epstein’s death.
The 4chan thread was first found by Konrad Iturbe, a developer based in Barcelona who was researching conspiracies surrounding Epstein online.
“That'll keep the conspiracies forever!” Iturbe said about the 4chan posts.
CORRECTION
Aug 13, 2019, 5:03:19 PM GMT
Konrad Iturbe's name was misspelled in a previous version of this post.
CORRECTION
Aug 13, 2019, 4:51:53 PM GMT
The FDNY spokesperson BuzzFeed News spoke to was Frank Dwyer. A previous version of this post said BuzzFeed News spoke to FDNY Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon
Not buying any options regarding Epstein right now is absurdly self-limiting. And no - outside of political junkies like us, this was definitely not center stage to the normies. It is now. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
Dude there is no such thing as a conspiracy theory anymore. We are living in a real life bad movie script no matter what the truth is.
100% True.
A lot of jokes about the Clintons killing Eppy, but the truth of the matter is that even if Hillary does have a little murder habit, this was too obvious and too much in the public eye for the Clintons to be the culprits IMO.
This guy has blackmail material on politicians of both parties, celebrities, foreign leaders, British royal family, and god knows who else. This is a real life game of CLUE and the number of people who would hope to benefit by this guy being dead is endless. Even if it's just a matter of convenient lapses in protocol giving him the chance to kill himself, fundamentally it's the same thing. We are being lied to. Every single theory about what happened is by definition a conspiracy theory but one of them, or some combo of them is right.
I am committed to wanting justice regardless of who it affects. I would be very disappointed if it doesn't affect political leaders of every stripe. The Trump angle feels desperately forced and extremely tangential, but I would be the first to spit on his grave if he were legitimately involved. I hope everyone in this thread feels the same way.
I just want to go down the rabbit hole and see where the information leads without trying to make it into political leverage. No doubt it'll wind up being that to some degree in some way, but I just want the elites who participate in this crime against children to be exposed and punished. This has to be something beyond politics.
Flight data places Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet on Arabian Peninsula on the eve of the 2016 election
J.K. Trotter, Angela Wang and Shayanne Gal Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty; Shayanne Gal/INSIDER https://www.insider.com/jeffrey-epsteins-jet-spotted-in-middle-east-2019-8
Last month, INSIDER traced the movements of Jeffrey Epstein's private jets since early 2018, revealing a packed schedule between the registered sex offender's four homes and occasional jaunts to Mexico, Morocco, and Slovakia. Newly released flight data, from 2016 and 2017, published here for the first time, further illuminate Epstein's extensive travels — including a mysterious trip to the Middle East on the eve of 2016 election.
ADSBExchange.com; Shayanne Gal/INSIDER
Journalists have long scrutinized Epstein's migration patterns for evidence of his alleged misdeeds and his social proximity to politicians and celebrities. At least one accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has claimed Epstein abused her aboard his private jets, and used free trips to entice and transport his victims around the world. Prosecutors recently subpoenaedEpstein's personal pilots, after arguing that his appetite for international travel, among other things, rendered him an "extraordinary risk of fligEpstein's alleged death by suicide on August 10, in a New York City prison cell, places an even greater burden on the evidence he left behind. And few records have illuminated more of his activities and connections than those of his private jets.
The election-eve flight to the Arabian Peninsula was in a dataset of aviation signals provided to INSIDER by ADS-B Exchange. The website is one of the few available sources for tracking the movements of aircraft whose owners, including Epstein himself, have taken advantage of a Federal Aviation Authority rule that allows them to block their tail numbers from tracking sites like FlightAware and FlightRadar24.
ADS-B Exchange's dataset covers the 18 months between June 2016, when the site was founded, and December 2017. The site's public archives, however, only go back to January 2018. In lieu of payment, INSIDER agreed to set up an ADS-B receiver in our New York City office and encourage other journalists to do the same.
The November 7, 2016 flight near the Arabian Peninsula
Much like data from 2018-2019, the data from 2016-2017 show Epstein's jets bouncing between New York City, the US Virgin Islands, New Mexico, and Paris. They also show short excursions across continental Europe, to places like Lake Geneva, Zurich, and Strasbourg; and a number of day trips between New York and Boston.
But on November 7, 2016, one of Epstein's jets took a route that it would never take again. Sometime around noon, Epstein's Gulfstream GV-SP lifted off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and flew southeastward, over the Mediterranean Sea, until it reached the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Fifteen minutes later, around 4pm Paris time, the jet turned north into southern Jordan. The last signal captured by an ADS-B receiver, at 4:06 pm, placed the aircraft slightly north of Jordan's border with Saudi Arabia, flying at an altitude of 41,000 feet.
Almost exactly two days later, the same aircraft reappeared over the southern half of the Sinai, heading in the opposite direction. ADS-B signals indicate it flew back to Paris, landing there sometime after 8:30 pm. Two days later, it flew to New York, where it resumed its pattern of flying up and down the Eastern Seaboard, between New York, Palm Beach, and St. Thomas.
There is no indication that any of Epstein's jets flew near Egypt, Jordan, Israel, or Saudi Arabia after November 9, 2016. There is some evidence, however, that Epstein traveled in the region in past decades. According to flight logs published by Gawker in 2015, the financier and his entourage briefly stopped in Dubai on May 29, 2002, after hosting President Bill Clinton on a multi-country tour of Southeast Asia.
The flight data doesn't tell the whole story of Epstein's travel schedule
The ADS-B Exchange dataset is incomplete in three different ways:
The route of the flight is slightly unusual for a private jet navigating the region. The path over the Sinai, with a hard left into Jordan, is a consequence of Israel's uniquely strict airspace regulations. "Israel doesn't issue any overflight permits," said Suran Wijayawardana, the chief operating officer of Alerion Aviation. "Most aircraft would more than likely prefer to fly south of Israel, providing they can maintain an altitude over 31,000 feet over the Sinai Peninsula."
Noting the Gulfstream's flying altitude of 41,000 feet, as captured by the last signal on November 7, Wijayawardana offered an educated guess about its destination: "If the aircraft were heading to Amman," the capital of Jordan, "I would expect it to be lower and well into the descent for the approach.")
"My guess would be any destination from Qatar to Muscat, as it would have started descended to lower altitudes anywhere else," Wijayawardana told INSIDER. Other potential destinations, he added, were Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Baghdad.
Epstein was close to Middle Eastern leaders and was rumored to have ties to intelligence agencies
It's by no means unusual for multi-millionaire financiers to travel to the Middle East — Epstein had long-standing ties to Israel, including a business partnership with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and told a New York Times reporter that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "had visited him many times."
J.K. Trotter, Angela Wang and Shayanne Gal Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty; Shayanne Gal/INSIDER https://www.insider.com/jeffrey-epsteins-jet-spotted-in-middle-east-2019-8
- Flight data recently obtained by INSIDER shows that one of Jeffrey Epstein's private jets traveled to and from the Middle East in November 2016.
- It's unclear where exactly the Gulfstream GV-SP landed, but an aviation expert said it may have been destined for airports in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, or Oman.
- Journalists, prosecutors, and accusers have repeatedly drawn attention to Epstein's private jets.
- The path of the November 2016 flight could also revive questions about Epstein's rumored ties to foreign intelligence agencies.
- Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.
Last month, INSIDER traced the movements of Jeffrey Epstein's private jets since early 2018, revealing a packed schedule between the registered sex offender's four homes and occasional jaunts to Mexico, Morocco, and Slovakia. Newly released flight data, from 2016 and 2017, published here for the first time, further illuminate Epstein's extensive travels — including a mysterious trip to the Middle East on the eve of 2016 election.
Journalists have long scrutinized Epstein's migration patterns for evidence of his alleged misdeeds and his social proximity to politicians and celebrities. At least one accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has claimed Epstein abused her aboard his private jets, and used free trips to entice and transport his victims around the world. Prosecutors recently subpoenaedEpstein's personal pilots, after arguing that his appetite for international travel, among other things, rendered him an "extraordinary risk of fligEpstein's alleged death by suicide on August 10, in a New York City prison cell, places an even greater burden on the evidence he left behind. And few records have illuminated more of his activities and connections than those of his private jets.
The election-eve flight to the Arabian Peninsula was in a dataset of aviation signals provided to INSIDER by ADS-B Exchange. The website is one of the few available sources for tracking the movements of aircraft whose owners, including Epstein himself, have taken advantage of a Federal Aviation Authority rule that allows them to block their tail numbers from tracking sites like FlightAware and FlightRadar24.
ADS-B Exchange's dataset covers the 18 months between June 2016, when the site was founded, and December 2017. The site's public archives, however, only go back to January 2018. In lieu of payment, INSIDER agreed to set up an ADS-B receiver in our New York City office and encourage other journalists to do the same.
The November 7, 2016 flight near the Arabian Peninsula
Much like data from 2018-2019, the data from 2016-2017 show Epstein's jets bouncing between New York City, the US Virgin Islands, New Mexico, and Paris. They also show short excursions across continental Europe, to places like Lake Geneva, Zurich, and Strasbourg; and a number of day trips between New York and Boston.
But on November 7, 2016, one of Epstein's jets took a route that it would never take again. Sometime around noon, Epstein's Gulfstream GV-SP lifted off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and flew southeastward, over the Mediterranean Sea, until it reached the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Fifteen minutes later, around 4pm Paris time, the jet turned north into southern Jordan. The last signal captured by an ADS-B receiver, at 4:06 pm, placed the aircraft slightly north of Jordan's border with Saudi Arabia, flying at an altitude of 41,000 feet.
Almost exactly two days later, the same aircraft reappeared over the southern half of the Sinai, heading in the opposite direction. ADS-B signals indicate it flew back to Paris, landing there sometime after 8:30 pm. Two days later, it flew to New York, where it resumed its pattern of flying up and down the Eastern Seaboard, between New York, Palm Beach, and St. Thomas.
There is no indication that any of Epstein's jets flew near Egypt, Jordan, Israel, or Saudi Arabia after November 9, 2016. There is some evidence, however, that Epstein traveled in the region in past decades. According to flight logs published by Gawker in 2015, the financier and his entourage briefly stopped in Dubai on May 29, 2002, after hosting President Bill Clinton on a multi-country tour of Southeast Asia.
The flight data doesn't tell the whole story of Epstein's travel schedule
The ADS-B Exchange dataset is incomplete in three different ways:
- We don't know the precise path and altitude of Epstein's jet as it flew over a portion of the Mediterranean Sea. This is mainly because ADS-B Exchange was only a few months old and gathering signals from a much smaller number of receivers. We've illustrated the gap in the map above with dotted lines.
- We don't know where the jet went between 4:06pm on November 7 and 3:47 pm on November 9. Its precise whereabouts during those 48 hours remain unknown.
- We don't know who was aboard the jet, since ADS-B signals do not contain the names of passengers. That means we can't say for sure that Jeffrey Epstein himself was on either leg of the jet's journey. We can be reasonably confident, however, that a pilot in his employ was controlling the aircraft.
The route of the flight is slightly unusual for a private jet navigating the region. The path over the Sinai, with a hard left into Jordan, is a consequence of Israel's uniquely strict airspace regulations. "Israel doesn't issue any overflight permits," said Suran Wijayawardana, the chief operating officer of Alerion Aviation. "Most aircraft would more than likely prefer to fly south of Israel, providing they can maintain an altitude over 31,000 feet over the Sinai Peninsula."
Noting the Gulfstream's flying altitude of 41,000 feet, as captured by the last signal on November 7, Wijayawardana offered an educated guess about its destination: "If the aircraft were heading to Amman," the capital of Jordan, "I would expect it to be lower and well into the descent for the approach.")
"My guess would be any destination from Qatar to Muscat, as it would have started descended to lower altitudes anywhere else," Wijayawardana told INSIDER. Other potential destinations, he added, were Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Baghdad.
Epstein was close to Middle Eastern leaders and was rumored to have ties to intelligence agencies
It's by no means unusual for multi-millionaire financiers to travel to the Middle East — Epstein had long-standing ties to Israel, including a business partnership with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and told a New York Times reporter that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "had visited him many times."
But the Middle East excursion was a rare one for Epstein, according to flight data reviewed by INSIDER. And given the fact that a mysterious false passport found in his home listed a Saudi address and showed travel to Saudi Arabia, the presence of Epstein's jet over the Arabian Peninsula on November 8, 2016—and the unanswered matter of where it landed, and for what reason— adds another entry to a long list of simmering questions about the multi-millionaire's ties to other countries.
Theories regarding Epstein and foreign intelligence agencies have circulated since he publicly befriended Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and daughter of press baron Robert Maxwell. In 2003, the British Foreign Office released archival recordsthat described Maxwell's relationships with the intelligence agencies of the UK, Israel, and Russia.
More recently, on July 7, the journalist Vicky Ward reported on conversations between Alexander Acosta, the former US Attorney in Miami who stepped down as Secretary of Labor after defending a 2007 plea deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution, and members of the Trump administration's transition staff:
Acosta had explained ... [that] he'd cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein's attorneys because he had "been told" to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. "I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to leave it alone," he told his interviewers in the Trump transition, who evidently thought that was a sufficient answer and went ahead and hired Acosta. (The Labor Department had no comment when asked about this.)
Ward relied on a single a source, presumably a former member of the Trump transition team, relaying something Acosta purportedly said more than two years ago, about a negotiation that had happened more than a decade prior. Still, when confronted with Ward's reporting, Acosta gave a wordy response— "I can't address it directly because of our guidelines, but I can tell you that a lot of reporting is going down rabbit holes" — that didn't answer the question.
Other details unearthed by prosecutors seem like background from a spy novel: A locked safe in Epstein's Manhattan mansion contained $70,000 in cash, 48 loose diamonds, and a counterfeit Austrian passport listing a Saudi Arabian residence under a false name with "stamps that reflect use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia." In a filing, prosecutors noted that "The Government has asked defense counsel to advise whether the defendant is currently, or has been in the past, a citizen or legal permanent resident of a country other than the United States. To date, defense counsel has declined to respond."
Epstein's lawyers claimed that he carried the passport in order to avoid detection as an "an affluent member of the Jewish faith" during his Middle East travels.
Lawyers who represented Epstein before his death did not respond to requests for comment. Acosta didn't respond to requests for comment, either. A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
The rest of the flight data from 2016-2017
Epstein's Gulfstream GV-SP returned to the US from Paris on November 11, 2016, and quickly resumed its usual schedule of shuttling between Epstein's homes in New York City, the US Virgin Islands, and Palm Beach. Before spending the holidays in the latter two destinations, the jet flew twice from New York to Boston, returning the same night on both trips.
Between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017, Epstein's jets flew 74 times, approximately half of which were flights between New York, Palm Beach, and the Virgin Islands. The remainder of the flights stayed within the jets' usual orbit in the US and western Europe — but the ADS-B Exchange flight data suggest several unique paths:
Theories regarding Epstein and foreign intelligence agencies have circulated since he publicly befriended Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and daughter of press baron Robert Maxwell. In 2003, the British Foreign Office released archival recordsthat described Maxwell's relationships with the intelligence agencies of the UK, Israel, and Russia.
More recently, on July 7, the journalist Vicky Ward reported on conversations between Alexander Acosta, the former US Attorney in Miami who stepped down as Secretary of Labor after defending a 2007 plea deal that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution, and members of the Trump administration's transition staff:
Acosta had explained ... [that] he'd cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein's attorneys because he had "been told" to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. "I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to leave it alone," he told his interviewers in the Trump transition, who evidently thought that was a sufficient answer and went ahead and hired Acosta. (The Labor Department had no comment when asked about this.)
Ward relied on a single a source, presumably a former member of the Trump transition team, relaying something Acosta purportedly said more than two years ago, about a negotiation that had happened more than a decade prior. Still, when confronted with Ward's reporting, Acosta gave a wordy response— "I can't address it directly because of our guidelines, but I can tell you that a lot of reporting is going down rabbit holes" — that didn't answer the question.
Other details unearthed by prosecutors seem like background from a spy novel: A locked safe in Epstein's Manhattan mansion contained $70,000 in cash, 48 loose diamonds, and a counterfeit Austrian passport listing a Saudi Arabian residence under a false name with "stamps that reflect use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia." In a filing, prosecutors noted that "The Government has asked defense counsel to advise whether the defendant is currently, or has been in the past, a citizen or legal permanent resident of a country other than the United States. To date, defense counsel has declined to respond."
Epstein's lawyers claimed that he carried the passport in order to avoid detection as an "an affluent member of the Jewish faith" during his Middle East travels.
Lawyers who represented Epstein before his death did not respond to requests for comment. Acosta didn't respond to requests for comment, either. A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
The rest of the flight data from 2016-2017
Epstein's Gulfstream GV-SP returned to the US from Paris on November 11, 2016, and quickly resumed its usual schedule of shuttling between Epstein's homes in New York City, the US Virgin Islands, and Palm Beach. Before spending the holidays in the latter two destinations, the jet flew twice from New York to Boston, returning the same night on both trips.
Between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017, Epstein's jets flew 74 times, approximately half of which were flights between New York, Palm Beach, and the Virgin Islands. The remainder of the flights stayed within the jets' usual orbit in the US and western Europe — but the ADS-B Exchange flight data suggest several unique paths:
- On January 29, 2017, the Gulfstream GV-SP flew from New York to a destination in western Massachusetts, and returned 4 days later.
- On February 23, 2017, the Gulfstream GV-SP flew from Paris to Zurich, stopped for 4 hours, flew to Strasbourg, and returned to Paris 3 hours later.
- On February 26, 2017, the Gulfstream GV-SP flew from New York to Santa Fe, stopping in Phoenix for 4 hours and Tucson for 4 hours. The next day, it flew from Santa Fe to Palm Beach.
- On April 6, 2017, the Gulfstream GV-SP flew from Paris to New York, stopping in Rabat, Morocco for 5 hours.
- On June 7, 2017, the Gulfstream GV-SP flew from Palm Beach to San Diego, and flew to Santa Fe two days later.
- On July 7, 2017, the Gulfstream GV-SP flew from Paris to a destination near Lake Geneva, and returned 6 hours later.
You know me, I'll be the first to pin it on Biff. There's no telling what the truth is.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he was not deliberately killed by anybody and the simplest explanation is the most likely: Biff is really bad at government and it was simply gross incompetence and now DOJ is really high stepping because it's such an embarrassment. Could very well be wrong but thats my 40,000 foot, way to early, call.
Jeffrey Epstein was meeting with Silicon Valley reporters before his arrest, 'rambling' about all the people he knew in tech
Jeffrey Epstein in court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 30, 2008.
Associated Press
Business Insider has learned that Stewart isn't the only reporter that visited Epstein in recent months. The sex offender also granted interviews to another New York Times reporter, Nellie Bowles, and a reporter for tech site The Information in the weeks and months leading up to his most recent arrest on child-sex-trafficking charges in July. Neither The Times nor The Information has yet published the fruits of those interviews, and the editor-in-chief of The Information said she had no plans to do so.
Epstein's meetings with reporters, one of which took place as recently as June, suggest that the disgraced financier was trying to rehabilitate his image - or at least foster relationships with news outlets - even as federal prosecutors were closing in.
All three interviews seem to have touched on Epstein's relationship with Silicon Valley. Stewart wrote that he contacted Epstein to confirm a rumor that Epstein was advising Tesla founder Elon Musk, and both The Information and Bowles cover the tech sector. Stewart reached out directly to Epstein, but it's unclear who brokered the other meetings. The tech focus suggests that someone in Silicon Valley may have been trying to help Epstein connect with reporters.
A journalist for The Information met with Epstein in June to discuss "technology investing," Jessica Lessin, the site's editor-in-chief, confirmed to Business Insider. That was just weeks before his July arrest and seven months after the Miami Herald's brutal investigation laid bare the extent to which Epstein escaped accountability for his crimes against underage victims.
"One of our reporters met with Jeffrey Epstein, in June, to talk about technology investing," Lessin said in a statement to Business Insider. "This was before his July arrest. She was introduced to him because he was believed to be an investor in venture capital funds, which we could not verify. The discussion wasn't newsworthy; he rambled about people he knew in the industry. His death has not changed our judgment about the newsworthiness."
"One of our reporters met with Jeffrey Epstein, in June, to talk about technology investing," Lessin said in a statement to Business Insider. " The discussion wasn't newsworthy; he rambled about people he knew in the industry. His death has not changed our judgment about the newsworthiness."
Since Epstein's arrest in July, his connections to figures in the tech, financial, philanthropic, political, and scientific worlds have become of intense interest to reporters, who have spent thousands of hours attempting to determine whom, precisely, Epstein knew and where, precisely, he invested his money.
Stewart, who believes that Epstein's death released him from an obligation to consider the interview "on background" and thus anonymous, revealed that Epstein claimed to have ongoing relationships with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the disgraced director Woody Allen, the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and the journalist Michael Wolff.
Business Insider has also learned that Stewart's Times colleague Bowles, who has made a name for herself skewering tech oligarchs and identifying Silicon Valley cultural trends, also recently met with Epstein in his Manhattan townhouse for an interview. It's unclear if that interview was on or off the record, and it's unclear precisely when it occurred. Bowles was listed as a contributing reporter on a July Times story featuring architectural and design details about the interior of Epstein's $56 million townhome, but The Times does not appear to have published any other reporting from Bowles' conversation with Epstein.
Bowles declined to comment for the record about the interview. A New York Times spokesperson said in a statement, "All information gathered during our reporter's meeting with Jeffrey Epstein has been shared with our metro desk for their coverage ."
The Times and other outlets have covered Epstein's efforts, in the wake of his 2008 plea deal, to rehabilitate his image as a sex offender by paying freelance writers and publicists to write positive stories about him on sites like HuffPost, National Review, and Forbes. He also leveraged a friendship with Peggy Siegal, a publicist for A-list celebrities, to introduce him to a social network that included George Stephanopoulos and Katie Couric.
Town & Country reported that Epstein also sought the public-relations advice of the New York publicist R. Couri Hay, though Hay never signed him as a client. Hay's free advice, the magazine reported, was that Epstein should offer himself up as an exclusive interview to The Times. Hay declined to comment for the record; Siegal did not return a message seeking comment.
Do you have a story to share about Epstein's media-relations strategy? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (773) 919-3832 using a non-work phone, email at jjcook@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM at @JohnJCook.
- John Cook
- Aug 13, 2019, 2:33 PM
Jeffrey Epstein in court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 30, 2008.
Associated Press
- Jeffrey Epstein met with at least three reporters, two of them for The New York Times, in the months leading up to his arrest on child-sex-trafficking charges.
- The interviews seemed to touch on Epstein's relationship with Silicon Valley, suggesting that he was trying to rehabilitate his image and become known as a tech investor.
- Yesterday, The New York Times published a year-old interview that Epstein gave to the columnist James B. Stewart, but it has not published a separate interview that the Times reporter Nellie Bowles conducted at Epstein's Manhattan mansion before his arrest.
- A reporter for The Information interviewed Epstein in June about "technology investing." The site's editor-in-chief said Epstein "rambled about people he knew in the industry" but that she wasn't publishing the interview because it "wasn't newsworthy."
Business Insider has learned that Stewart isn't the only reporter that visited Epstein in recent months. The sex offender also granted interviews to another New York Times reporter, Nellie Bowles, and a reporter for tech site The Information in the weeks and months leading up to his most recent arrest on child-sex-trafficking charges in July. Neither The Times nor The Information has yet published the fruits of those interviews, and the editor-in-chief of The Information said she had no plans to do so.
Epstein's meetings with reporters, one of which took place as recently as June, suggest that the disgraced financier was trying to rehabilitate his image - or at least foster relationships with news outlets - even as federal prosecutors were closing in.
All three interviews seem to have touched on Epstein's relationship with Silicon Valley. Stewart wrote that he contacted Epstein to confirm a rumor that Epstein was advising Tesla founder Elon Musk, and both The Information and Bowles cover the tech sector. Stewart reached out directly to Epstein, but it's unclear who brokered the other meetings. The tech focus suggests that someone in Silicon Valley may have been trying to help Epstein connect with reporters.
A journalist for The Information met with Epstein in June to discuss "technology investing," Jessica Lessin, the site's editor-in-chief, confirmed to Business Insider. That was just weeks before his July arrest and seven months after the Miami Herald's brutal investigation laid bare the extent to which Epstein escaped accountability for his crimes against underage victims.
"One of our reporters met with Jeffrey Epstein, in June, to talk about technology investing," Lessin said in a statement to Business Insider. "This was before his July arrest. She was introduced to him because he was believed to be an investor in venture capital funds, which we could not verify. The discussion wasn't newsworthy; he rambled about people he knew in the industry. His death has not changed our judgment about the newsworthiness."
"One of our reporters met with Jeffrey Epstein, in June, to talk about technology investing," Lessin said in a statement to Business Insider. " The discussion wasn't newsworthy; he rambled about people he knew in the industry. His death has not changed our judgment about the newsworthiness."
Since Epstein's arrest in July, his connections to figures in the tech, financial, philanthropic, political, and scientific worlds have become of intense interest to reporters, who have spent thousands of hours attempting to determine whom, precisely, Epstein knew and where, precisely, he invested his money.
Stewart, who believes that Epstein's death released him from an obligation to consider the interview "on background" and thus anonymous, revealed that Epstein claimed to have ongoing relationships with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the disgraced director Woody Allen, the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and the journalist Michael Wolff.
Business Insider has also learned that Stewart's Times colleague Bowles, who has made a name for herself skewering tech oligarchs and identifying Silicon Valley cultural trends, also recently met with Epstein in his Manhattan townhouse for an interview. It's unclear if that interview was on or off the record, and it's unclear precisely when it occurred. Bowles was listed as a contributing reporter on a July Times story featuring architectural and design details about the interior of Epstein's $56 million townhome, but The Times does not appear to have published any other reporting from Bowles' conversation with Epstein.
Bowles declined to comment for the record about the interview. A New York Times spokesperson said in a statement, "All information gathered during our reporter's meeting with Jeffrey Epstein has been shared with our metro desk for their coverage ."
The Times and other outlets have covered Epstein's efforts, in the wake of his 2008 plea deal, to rehabilitate his image as a sex offender by paying freelance writers and publicists to write positive stories about him on sites like HuffPost, National Review, and Forbes. He also leveraged a friendship with Peggy Siegal, a publicist for A-list celebrities, to introduce him to a social network that included George Stephanopoulos and Katie Couric.
Town & Country reported that Epstein also sought the public-relations advice of the New York publicist R. Couri Hay, though Hay never signed him as a client. Hay's free advice, the magazine reported, was that Epstein should offer himself up as an exclusive interview to The Times. Hay declined to comment for the record; Siegal did not return a message seeking comment.
Do you have a story to share about Epstein's media-relations strategy? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (773) 919-3832 using a non-work phone, email at jjcook@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM at @JohnJCook.
Flight data places Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet on Arabian Peninsula on the eve of the 2016 election
J.K. Trotter, Angela Wang and Shayanne Gal Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty; Shayanne Gal/INSIDER https://www.insider.com/jeffrey-epsteins-jet-spotted-in-middle-east-2019-8
- Flight data recently obtained by INSIDER shows that one of Jeffrey Epstein's private jets traveled to and from the Middle East in November 2016.
- It's unclear where exactly the Gulfstream GV-SP landed, but an aviation expert said it may have been destined for airports in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, or Oman.
- Journalists, prosecutors, and accusers have repeatedly drawn attention to Epstein's private jets.
- The path of the November 2016 flight could also revive questions about Epstein's rumored ties to foreign intelligence agencies.
- Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.
Last month, INSIDER traced the movements of Jeffrey Epstein's private jets since early 2018, revealing a packed schedule between the registered sex offender's four homes and occasional jaunts to Mexico, Morocco, and Slovakia. Newly released flight data, from 2016 and 2017, published here for the first time, further illuminate Epstein's extensive travels — including a mysterious trip to the Middle East on the eve of 2016 election.
ADSBExchange.com; Shayanne Gal/INSIDER
Journalists have long scrutinized Epstein's migration patterns for evidence of his alleged misdeeds and his social proximity to politicians and celebrities. At least one accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has claimed Epstein abused her aboard his private jets, and used free trips to entice and transport his victims around the world. Prosecutors recently subpoenaedEpstein's personal pilots, after arguing that his appetite for international travel, among other things, rendered him an "extraordinary risk of fligEpstein's alleged death by suicide on August 10, in a New York City prison cell, places an even greater burden on the evidence he left behind. And few records have illuminated more of his activities and connections than those of his private jets.
The election-eve flight to the Arabian Peninsula was in a dataset of aviation signals provided to INSIDER by ADS-B Exchange. The website is one of the few available sources for tracking the movements of aircraft whose owners, including Epstein himself, have taken advantage of a Federal Aviation Authority rule that allows them to block their tail numbers from tracking sites like FlightAware and FlightRadar24.
ADS-B Exchange's dataset covers the 18 months between June 2016, when the site was founded, and December 2017. The site's public archives, however, only go back to January 2018. In lieu of payment, INSIDER agreed to set up an ADS-B receiver in our New York City office and encourage other journalists to do the same.
The November 7, 2016 flight near the Arabian Peninsula
Much like data from 2018-2019, the data from 2016-2017 show Epstein's jets bouncing between New York City, the US Virgin Islands, New Mexico, and Paris. They also show short excursions across continental Europe, to places like Lake Geneva, Zurich, and Strasbourg; and a number of day trips between New York and Boston.
But on November 7, 2016, one of Epstein's jets took a route that it would never take again. Sometime around noon, Epstein's Gulfstream GV-SP lifted off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and flew southeastward, over the Mediterranean Sea, until it reached the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Fifteen minutes later, around 4pm Paris time, the jet turned north into southern Jordan. The last signal captured by an ADS-B receiver, at 4:06 pm, placed the aircraft slightly north of Jordan's border with Saudi Arabia, flying at an altitude of 41,000 feet.
Almost exactly two days later, the same aircraft reappeared over the southern half of the Sinai, heading in the opposite direction. ADS-B signals indicate it flew back to Paris, landing there sometime after 8:30 pm. Two days later, it flew to New York, where it resumed its pattern of flying up and down the Eastern Seaboard, between New York, Palm Beach, and St. Thomas.
There is no indication that any of Epstein's jets flew near Egypt, Jordan, Israel, or Saudi Arabia after November 9, 2016. There is some evidence, however, that Epstein traveled in the region in past decades. According to flight logs published by Gawker in 2015, the financier and his entourage briefly stopped in Dubai on May 29, 2002, after hosting President Bill Clinton on a multi-country tour of Southeast Asia.
The flight data doesn't tell the whole story of Epstein's travel schedule
The ADS-B Exchange dataset is incomplete in three different ways:
The same data offers hints about the jet's final destination
- We don't know the precise path and altitude of Epstein's jet as it flew over a portion of the Mediterranean Sea. This is mainly because ADS-B Exchange was only a few months old and gathering signals from a much smaller number of receivers. We've illustrated the gap in the map above with dotted lines.
- We don't know where the jet went between 4:06pm on November 7 and 3:47 pm on November 9. Its precise whereabouts during those 48 hours remain unknown.
- We don't know who was aboard the jet, since ADS-B signals do not contain the names of passengers. That means we can't say for sure that Jeffrey Epstein himself was on either leg of the jet's journey. We can be reasonably confident, however, that a pilot in his employ was controlling the aircraft.
The route of the flight is slightly unusual for a private jet navigating the region. The path over the Sinai, with a hard left into Jordan, is a consequence of Israel's uniquely strict airspace regulations. "Israel doesn't issue any overflight permits," said Suran Wijayawardana, the chief operating officer of Alerion Aviation. "Most aircraft would more than likely prefer to fly south of Israel, providing they can maintain an altitude over 31,000 feet over the Sinai Peninsula."
Noting the Gulfstream's flying altitude of 41,000 feet, as captured by the last signal on November 7, Wijayawardana offered an educated guess about its destination: "If the aircraft were heading to Amman," the capital of Jordan, "I would expect it to be lower and well into the descent for the approach.")
"My guess would be any destination from Qatar to Muscat, as it would have started descended to lower altitudes anywhere else," Wijayawardana told INSIDER. Other potential destinations, he added, were Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Baghdad.
Epstein was close to Middle Eastern leaders and was rumored to have ties to intelligence agencies
It's by no means unusual for multi-millionaire financiers to travel to the Middle East — Epstein had long-standing ties to Israel, including a business partnership with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and told a New York Times reporter that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "had visited him many times."
