“Jim, please tell me you’re not in the Epstein files.”
That’s what a close friend said to me over the weekend, and while her question was a bit of a surprise, the answer is that, to the best of my knowledge… my name does not appear in the Epstein files. I didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein, I didn’t know his partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell and I’ve never engaged in the sorts of reprehensible moral and criminal activities that both were convicted of.
And despite the fact that I actually do know some of the people that appear in the Epstein files through my work on Wall Street, and via my various journalistic, scientific and financial relationships, I wasn’t in any way close enough to Epstein to have any direct or even tangential contact with the nefarious elements of this sphere.
Remarkably, the Epstein sphere was incredibly diverse, with hundreds of uber-high-profile Epstein associates all over the files, referenced in emails, in photographs, in flight logs, in investigative documents, etc.
Big name attorneys (Alan Dershowitz), tech moguls (Elon Musk, Sergey Brin), captains of industry (Les Wexner, Bill Gates, Richard Branson), princes of finance (Leon Black, Howard Lutnick, Ariane de Rothschild), British royalty (Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson), entertainment elite (Michael Jackson, Woody Allen), scientists (Stephen Hawking, Lawrence Krauss), academics (David Gelernter, Marvin Minsky, Larry Summers), public intellectuals (Sam Harris, Noam Chomsky) and, of course, the former and current Presidents of the United States, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, all are characters mentioned to various degrees in this trove of sordid documents.
Hey, it only took an act of Congress to finally release these heavily redacted files, so that should tell you a lot about how much some people stand to lose from their release.
Now, I am definitely not saying that anyone in the Epstein files is in any way implicated in any wrongdoing simply by the fact that their names appear in the files. For example, author and neuroscientist Sam Harris was briefly mentioned in the files, and the story surrounding it is actually quite humorous.
After having met Epstein at a TED conference luncheon, Harris recalled the incident in a recent episode of his podcast, Making Sense. According to Harris, there were approximately 12 people at this TED conference luncheon; one was Epstein, and another was a young woman in her early 20s sitting on Epstein’s knee. Harris characterized it as having a “sugar daddy vibe.” He also said Epstein had “colossal douchebag” energy.
After that luncheon, Epstein emailed Harris to invite him to dinner with Noam Chomsky and Woody Allen. Harris already had a well-known and quite caustic public debate via email with Chomsky in 2015 over the morality of U.S. foreign policy.
Harris claims, rightly in my view, that Chomsky sees American actions as morally equivalent to, or worse than, jihadist terrorism. Chomsky argued that he does not view them as equivalent, but rather that the United States should be judged by the same standards it applies to others.
I am firmly in the Harris camp here, as Chomsky has basically argued that body count is the real arbiter of morality in foreign conflicts. This numerical assessment is flawed for many reasons, not to mention it fails to address the morality of a conflict. You can read the full exchange between Harris and Chomsky here.
Back to the Harris appearance in the Epstein files, Harris replied to Epstein that he would only attend the dinner “if we film it,” which was basically a polite way to deflect an invitation Harris had no intention of accepting, as he explained in his podcast.
So, here we see that this brief mention of Harris in the Epstein files is not at all condemnatory — in fact, quite the opposite. For Chomsky, however, his Epstein files mentions are far more problematic. Here we learn that Chomsky was in direct contact with Epstein in 2019 while Epstein was in jail awaiting trial. Chomsky was reportedly giving Epstein advice on how to handle the media during this time.
Perhaps more damning, the files confirm that Epstein facilitated a $270,000 transfer in 2018 involving Chomsky’s own funds. Chomsky has stated this was merely a technical transfer of his own money from one account to another to settle his first wife’s estate, and perhaps that’s true, but the use of Jeffrey Epstein as an intermediary has drawn widespread scrutiny about the nature of their relationship. Even Chomsky’s wife, Valéria, has come out publicly and recently acknowledged “serious errors in judgment” regarding their Epstein ties.
The wider takeaways here are that even if you have done nothing untoward, your name can be in the Epstein files. That said, as we’ve seen in the case of Chomsky and numerous other high-profile figures from multiple walks of life, if it is revealed that you were associated with Epstein closely, even after it became public in 2008 that he was a convicted sex offender, then you likely have some reputational rehabilitation to perform in your near future.
Of course, there is one way to help ensure you avoid ever getting into a situation like so many of the people mentioned in the Epstein files are currently in, and it’s a way that can be summed up by one simple idiom that does a whole lot of work here.
In Latin, it reads: qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent. In English, it reads: “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”
Choose your friends wisely.
Upcoming Appearances
The MoneyShow Las Vegas is just around the corner. Join me and a plethora of investment experts at Paris Las Vegas for immersive education and market intelligence you can use immediately… not to mention an unforgettable experience! The MoneyShow Las Vegas will be held Feb. 23-25, 2026. This three-day experience brings together more than 1,000 market participants, 100+ exhibitors, renowned keynote speakers and some of the most respected financial minds on Wall Street.
I will be delivering two talks, and I will also be a participating on a panel titled, “The Debasement Trade: How to Hedge (and Profit) in FX, Metals and More.” I’ll also be hanging out at the Eagle Financial Publications booth, so if you will be in Las Vegas, come introduce yourself, shake my hand and let’s connect. This event is also free, and all you have to do to attend is register here.
