Dugin Mentioned in Epstein–Bannon Correspondence

A philosopher’s name enters a darker narrative.

Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin said that his name was mentioned in the correspondence between the scandal-ridden American financier Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon, adviser to President Trump during his first term.

“Somewhere in the correspondence between Epstein and Bannon, my name was mentioned. Of course, not as a participant. Bannon was discussing something with Epstein specifically in relation to me. I do not know what he was discussing,” Dugin said on the broadcast of his program Alexander Dugin’s Escalation on Sputnik Radio.

Dugin said that he had met Bannon before 2014, but that he has “no compromising material whatsoever.”

“They also tried to accuse us [Russia], though not me personally. It was a huge system of conspiracy that we could not understand, yet there is no Russian trace there, and nobody could find one,” Dugin added.

In 2019, Epstein was charged with trafficking minors for the purpose of their sexual exploitation, a crime carrying a sentence of up to 40 years in prison, as well as conspiracy to engage in such trafficking (up to 5 years in prison). According to prosecutors, between 2002 and 2005 he engaged in sexual relations with dozens of underage girls whom he received in his residences in New York and Florida. He paid them hundreds of dollars in cash and then instructed some victims to act as recruiters to bring in new girls. Some of the girls were reportedly as young as 14.

Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The investigation concluded that he had died by suicide. At the same time, conspiracy theories about his death have circulated in the media for years, including claims that several minutes were allegedly removed from the U.S. authorities’ surveillance camera footage from the time of Epstein’s death.

(Translated from the Russian)