CIA Director William Burns Met With Jeffrey Epstein, Agency Confirms

CIA Director William Burns testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in WashingtonEpstein on March 10, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

William Burns, the director of the CIA since 2021, met with financier Jeffrey Epstein at least once after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes in Florida, the agency has confirmed.

Burns, an appointee of President Joe Biden, was introduced to Epstein by a mutual friend in Washington, a CIA spokesperson told news outlets. At the time, Burns was deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration.

Burns also met with Epstein “once briefly in New York City, about a decade ago as the director was preparing to leave government service,” the spokesperson said.

Burns has stated that he didn’t know much about Epstein, who had pleaded guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008.

“The director did not know anything about him, other than he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector and offered general advice on transition to the private sector,” CIA spokeswoman Tammy Kupperman Thorp told The Wall Street Journal. “The director does not recall any further contact, including receiving a ride to the airport. They had no relationship.”

Newly reviewed documents, including Epstein’s schedules, listed meetings with Burns and other notable Americans, the outlet reported on April 30.

An infamous black book—posted online years ago and filled with names and contact information—and flight logs linked Epstein to dozens of famous people, with some, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton, acknowledging they spent time with the accused sex trafficker. But the newly reviewed documents included scheduled meetings with people who weren’t listed in the black book.

That includes Bard College President Leon Botstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky, and Kathryn Ruemmler, who was a White House lawyer during the Obama administration, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Most of the people told reporters they met Epstein because of his wealth and connections.

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry on March 28, 2017. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services via Reuters

Epstein’s Past

Epstein was required to register as a convicted sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008. He had been accused of sexually abusing and raping multiple underage girls.

Epstein owned a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a home in New York City, land in New Mexico, and real estate in France and Florida. He was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors. U.S. authorities said he “sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money” between 2002 and 2005.

Epstein died while awaiting trial in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges; the death was ruled a suicide.

The fresh charges spurred renewed examinations of people and entities associated with Epstein. The fallout has included repeated expressions of regret from people such as Gates and the closing of a Harvard University research center.

After the charges were filed in 2019, Swiss-based bank Edmond de Rothschild Group stated that its CEO, Ariane de Rothschild, never met with Epstein and that the bank never did business with him.

The new documents showed that Rothschild met with Epstein more than a dozen times and assisted him with various tasks, including finding an assistant and buying items at auctions, the Journal reported.

The bank stated that its previous statement was false and that Rothschild’s meetings were part of her job, with Epstein connecting the bank with U.S. finance professionals, recommending law firms, and providing consulting services.

“In parallel to that, Epstein solicited her personally on a couple occasions for advice and services on estate management,” the bank stated.

A $25 million contract was negotiated by Rothschild after she was named CEO in 2015. Rothschild wasn’t aware that Epstein was a convicted sex offender and “was similarly unaware of any questions regarding his personal conduct,” the bank claimed.

A spokesperson for the bank told The Epoch Times in an email that the group “has no additional comment.”