The Tech Elites in the Epstein Files
“I had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to visit his island or fly on his ‘Lolita Express,’ but I was well aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name,” Musk said in a post on X on Saturday. “That doesn’t matter to me, but what does matter to me is that we at least try to prosecute those who committed serious crimes with Epstein, especially regarding the heinous exploitation of underage girls.” Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED.
Larry Page (314 files), Sergey Brin (294 files)
Google’s co-founders appear in the Epstein files about the same number of times, and both have previously been linked to Epstein. Both Page and Brin have been subpoenaed to appear in court in 2023 in a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands against JP Morgan Chase related to Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes. In court documents related to Virginia Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell, which were unsealed in 2024, Epstein victim Sarah Ransome alleged that she met Brin and his fiancée, Anne Wojcicki, before their wedding in 2007, “when they visited the island for the day.”
The newly released DOJ files provide a much more complete picture of their dealings with Epstein, particularly Brin. An April 2003 email exchange with Ghislaine Maxwell suggests that Brin dined at Epstein’s New York home that month. (“Dinners at Jeffrey’s are always casual and relaxed,” Maxwell writes.) In it, Brin suggests inviting “our CEO Eric,” referring to Eric Schmidt, then Google CEO, although he says “Schmidt’s schedule will probably be a little busier,” and there is no indication that Schmidt attended.
Page also appears to have had dinner with Epstein. “David Gergen asks who was at lunch or dinner years ago when he came to your house and the Google guys were there (Larry Page and Sergey Brin),” Groff wrote to Epstein in 2015. There are also references in the files to alleged business dealings between Page and Epstein. “Tony, Larry Page’s chief pilot, contacted Nicolas today and is ‘again’ interested in using your Bell 407 for St. Barts operations,” states an email to Epstein from a redacted address sent on December 23, 2010, followed by a breakdown of potentially associated fees. The Bell 407 is a type of helicopter; emails show that an entity called “Air Ghislaine Inc” purchased one on October 30, 2002. “Operation Saint-Barth” appears to be a visit; Epstein was informed in an email later the same day that “Larry Page has changed his mind and will use the boat for St. Barts.”
On another occasion, Epstein emailed a link to a Google news article testing “internet broadcast drones” in New Mexico to a redacted address. “You can tell Larry Page they can use my trail because most of this land is my ranch,” he wrote. There is no indication that this happened. Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED. Anne Wojcicki did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mark Zuckerberg (282 files), Jeff Bezos (196 files), Eric Schmidt (193 files)
Although Epstein appeared to send emails primarily about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, rather than with him, the files indicate at least one occasion when the two met. They were both on an invitation list emailed by Reid Hoffman’s assistant for an August 2, 2015, dinner with neuroscientist Ed Boyden. Other guests included Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Joi Ito. Hoffman followed up a few days later with an email to Zuckerberg and Epstein with the subject line “intros.” “Jeffrey, Zuck,” the message reads, “email connections from Ed Boyden’s dinner – so the conversation can continue.”
There is no indication that Zuckerberg ever responded. And otherwise, Epstein seems to have spent far more time emailing about Zuckerberg – about his marriage to Priscilla Chan, about whether he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize – than about him.
