Released Epstein files detail sex trafficker’s visits to Seattle

In July 2011, sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein flew to Seattle, stayed at the downtown luxury Hotel 1000 and, according to an email he later wrote, spent a day with Bill Gates, “having monstrous fun.” In 2013, he took meetings at the Four Seasons and chartered a private jet from Seattle’s Boeing Field to San Francisco for a $10,312, two-hour flight. And in a 2016 message with a Yemeni billionaire about British Columbia, Epstein responded “my Seattle clients know the areas well.”

The Justice Department last week released a massive trove of Epstein files that shed new light on his connections to money and power, his dealings in vast amounts of wealth and the extent of his alleged crimes. The cache, the largest release to date, includes more than 3 million documents and images. The Department of Justice said it has more than 6 million pages of records, but about half were withheld allegedly over reasons including identifiable information about victims, depictions of child sex abuse and attorney-client privilege.

Within the documents are hundreds of references to the Seattle area, including his visits to the city over several years as well as the people he corresponded with who lived or worked in the region. Emails show he sought out, and was in some cases courted by, Seattle-area tech leaders, researchers and medical professionals.

Documents reviewed by The Seattle Times don’t contain evidence of wrongdoing or explicit knowledge of Epstein’s alleged crimes by those with Seattle connections. Some contain mentions to Epstein’s island in the Caribbean and ranch in New Mexico, two sites of his alleged sex trafficking with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in exploiting and abusing minor girls with Epstein.

From 2010 to 2016, Epstein visited the Seattle area at least 11 times, according to copies of emails, receipts and flight logs. In some cases, his reasons for visiting are clear from redacted schedules of meetings and meals accompanied by driving directions. Others are less so, save for a message where Epstein wrote “in Seattle” or a flight log.

Mentions of Bill Gates appear in several Seattle-related documents. In a 2011 message sent to British politician Peter Mandelson, Epstein wrote he spent the day with the Microsoft founder. A 2014 email sent to Epstein’s pilot, Epstein and a third person, whose name is redacted, references a meeting in Gates’ private office.

Gates has denied any connection with Epstein’s alleged crimes and said he regrets the time he spent with Epstein. His ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, said in an NPR interview this week that Gates needs to answer to the allegations made against him.

While Mr. Gates acknowledges that meeting with Epstein was a serious error in judgment, he unequivocally denies any improper conduct related to Epstein and the horrible activities in which Epstein was involved,” a spokesperson for Gates said in a statement this week. “Mr. Gates never visited Epstein’s island, never attended parties with him, and had no involvement in any illegal activities associated with Epstein.”

Documents outline Epstein’s intense focus on research related to brain health and longevity, and several messages reference his interest in the work of the Allen Institute, a bioscience research nonprofit founded by Paul Allen in 2003.

In 2010, someone, whose name is redacted, asked Epstein if he would be interested in helping fund a neurology-focused summer camp for students at a Seattle school. It’s unclear if the camp ever came to fruition.

A 2011 message, also from a redacted name, asked Epstein if he would consider endowing an institute in Seattle “like you did for harvard [sic]” that researched the vagus nerve, schizophrenia, brain parasites and “what happens to baby if you get maternal flu into neural tube. His response, if there was one, isn’t included in the documents release.

Records show he would fly into Seattle through Boeing Field on a private jet, and the files include receipts for limo transports on the Eastside. A 2014 email from Epstein’s longtime pilot asking about an arrival or departure time at Boeing Field also includes a question of whether a “dancing pole” had been loaded on the plane.

Over the years, Epstein instructed his assistants to book flights for other people from Seattle to locations like Warsaw, Sweden and Palm Beach, though the passengers on some are redacted and the reasons for the flights unclear. In one 2014 case, Epstein’s assistant wrote to him that there were “no direct flights from Seattle to Warsaw,” but a female passenger could fly there through Amsterdam, at a cost of $3,003.