Epstein's links with West African political elites revealed

Jeffrey Epstein cultivated close ties with West African political elites, forging a relationship with Karim Wade, son of former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, and Nina Keita, niece of Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, according to emails and financial records related to the convicted sex offender released by the US Government, reports RFI. Epstein had a close relationship with Wade, who he considered a powerful figure in Africa, and Keita, who helped connect him to her uncle, according to emails, scheduled meetings, investment projects and loans interviewed by the French news agency AFP. The mention of a person's name in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing, and exchanges with Wade show no link to sex trafficking crimes, but they do reveal a close personal connection and that the two men had business ties. Nicknamed the ‘Minister of Heaven and Earth’ for the multiple portfolios he held including international cooperation, energy, and air transport, Wade was a powerful figure in Senegal until April 2012, when his father's bid for a third term as President sparked deadly riots. Epstein described Wade as ‘one of the most important players in Africa’. Epstein put Wade in touch with close contacts, such as Ehud Barak, then Israel's Defence Minister. Wade also put him in touch with Chinese businessman Desmond Shum to discuss ‘offshore banking’, and the two met in Beijing in May 2011, according to the documents – the same month that Wade planned a tour for Epstein through Senegal, Mali and Gabon.

The friendship continued even after Abdoulaye Wade left office. When Senegalese authorities started looking into the family’s assets, Epstein proposed that Wade use his house in Florida. Numerous files suggest Epstein became financially involved on Wade's behalf after Wade was arrested in 2013, and sentenced to six years in prison for corruption in 2015. Other files suggest that Epstein covered at least $50 000 in fees for the US lobbying firm Nelson Mullins, which Wade's entourage hired to secure his release, according to RFI. The documents show that Keita was close to both Epstein and Wade, and that she acted as a regular intermediary while Wade was in prison. Keita also helped put Epstein in contact with her uncle, the President of Cote d’Ivoire, and his team. Emails show at least one instance when she sent Epstein photos and the phone number of a young woman who he met at the Ritz hotel in Paris in August 2011. After the meeting he asked for photos of the woman’s sister. ‘I prefer under 25,’ he wrote to Keita. Now the deputy general director of an Ivorian petroleum stocks company, Keita appears in a February 2019 will in which Epstein requested that debts owed to him by a number of people be cancelled upon his death.

Full RFI report