Bannon's Epstein Alliance: Crypto Schemes, Crisis PR, and a Trip to St. Thomas

In early May 2019, a concierge working through Jeffrey Epstein's American Express Centurion card booked commercial airline tickets from New York's JFK airport to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The traveler name on the booking: "Stephen Kevin Bannon," birthday November 27, 1953. He was joined by two associates, Daniel Andre Fleuette and Dain Rodolfo Valverde. A note from the concierge specified that "if anyone gets a biz seat it would be Bannon" (efta-efta00494434, efta-02285039).

Charlotte Amalie is the commercial gateway to Little St. James, the private island Epstein owned and where some of his most serious alleged crimes took place. The flights were booked approximately two months before Epstein's July 6, 2019, arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. Return flights to New York were arranged two days later, followed by onward travel to Bergen, Norway, all coordinated through the same Epstein concierge account (efta-efta00494440, efta-02284601).

This trip has not been widely reported. Neither has the full scope of what the Epstein case files reveal about the relationship between the convicted sex offender and the former White House Chief Strategist. A review of more than 350 shared documents, including direct email correspondence, iMessage threads, flight bookings, and meeting coordination records, traces an alliance that was far deeper, far longer, and far more operationally significant than anything Bannon has publicly acknowledged.

Epstein Targeted Bannon Days After the 2016 Election

The documented trail begins on November 18, 2016, ten days after Donald Trump won the presidency. That day, Epstein associate Alain Forget forwarded Bannon's 2014 Vatican speech on global nationalism to Epstein. Epstein replied with two words: "your view?" (d-17568, d-29632).

The same day, Epstein sent a separate email to associate Richard Kahn with a more direct purpose. He suggested that "steve bannon...talk privately with jeffrey," pitching himself in the third person. The email read: "as you know he knows more about intl finance than anyone on trumps team, by a long way.. tom barrack knows jeffrey well, and apart from the google mess. he makes steve menuchin look like my son" (efta-02669769).

The reference to Tom Barrack, Trump's inaugural committee chairman, as a mutual acquaintance, and the competitive comparison to Steven Mnuchin, the incoming Treasury Secretary, reveal calculated maneuvering. Epstein was not passively entering Bannon's orbit. He was engineering access to the incoming administration's most influential ideologue.

A Political Coalition, Funded by Cryptocurrency

By February 2018, the relationship had deepened into something resembling a joint political operation. On February 24, Bannon and Epstein exchanged a series of emails laying out a strategy for building a lasting right-wing coalition. Bannon wrote: "Populist/Nationalist first, Conservative Christians next. Reverse alabama. This coalition staves off 'times up' for next decade plus" (d-15231).

Epstein responded not with ideology but with operational questions about money. Specifically, he asked about cryptocurrency as a vehicle for political donations: "coin issues: receive coins, distribute coins, pay in coins. coin cooperative. prohibitions foreign donor.? I need to understand flow of funds.. donor to campiagn c?s. does it have to go to campaign first. does it have to go there at all etc" (d-27101, d-19863).

The specificity of Epstein's questions is striking. He was not musing abstractly about blockchain technology. He was asking about the legal architecture of campaign finance: whether foreign donors could participate, whether funds needed to pass through official campaign accounts, and how a "coin cooperative" might function. Bannon, for his part, referenced a "Swiss" contact, later identified in related documents as Jeffrey Wernick, who could serve as an intermediary (d-19863, d-26180).

In the same email chain, Bannon dropped the name of a sitting White House official. Asked about legal contacts for the plan, he wrote: "Yes...I've got the 2nd best--best is don mcgahn who is occupied currently" (d-16760). Don McGahn was then serving as White House Counsel.

A separate thread from this period describes a discussion about creating a church entity that could invoke "confession privilege" to shield communications from the Mueller investigation, layered with the cryptocurrency funding mechanisms (d-28560). Epstein also discussed "Jide" being "read into Saudi," a reference to Jide Zeitlin, who served as an intermediary for connections to Dubai port executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem (d-16760, d-18829).

These were not casual exchanges between acquaintances. They were planning documents for a political financing structure that raised serious questions about federal election law.

Epstein as Diplomatic Broker

The documents reveal a parallel function Epstein served for Bannon: opening doors to foreign leaders and international institutions that the former White House strategist could not easily access on his own.

On March 15, 2018, Bannon asked Epstein about dinner plans. "What time is dinner? Do u want me to come over beforehand???" Epstein replied: "sure! dinner 7. come at 6?" and added that he would be discussing "michael and his coins" as well as "miro lajcak, president of UN. will guide the EU project if you like him" (d-23951, d-27226). A week later, Epstein's assistant coordinated the dinner with Bannon and Miroslav Lajcak, then president of the United Nations General Assembly, at Epstein's East 71st Street residence (d-27226).

In May 2018, Epstein's assistant sent invitations for a dinner on May 12 at the New York townhouse, noting that "Steve Bannon and Ehud Barak will be here." Noam Chomsky and his wife Valeria were among those invited. The former Israeli prime minister and the MIT linguist, seated at the same table as the architect of Trumpian nationalism, all convened under Epstein's roof.

The brokering extended to European capitals. In June 2018, an iMessage from Epstein to what appears to be the political circle of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described Bannon as "still one of the most insightful and influential players in Washington (and very close to the President)" and noted that Bannon was "working very closely with Victor Orban" (d-21161). Epstein was positioning himself as the connective tissue between right-wing populist movements in the U.S. and Europe, with Bannon as his primary asset.

On February 24, 2019, Epstein invited Ehud Barak to another meeting with Bannon at his residence: "steve bannon here tomorrow morning if you want to join. 930?" Barak replied: "Good idea. Done" (efta-02633609). The former Israeli PM and the former Trump strategist, meeting at the home of a convicted sex offender, brokered by Epstein himself.

"We R on the Cusp of Real Power"

The correspondence between the two men was not limited to logistics. It was suffused with shared ambition and mutual flattery. On February 19, 2018, Bannon told Epstein: "we r on the cusp of real power" (d-15231). When Bannon forwarded a German media article about his European tour in March, Epstein replied "luv it." Bannon wrote back: "Pretty powerful" (d-29088, d-21094, d-15201).

By the summer of 2018, Bannon was sharing a stream of news articles with Epstein, from Reuters dispatches on Iran to Wall Street Journal op-eds about the Mueller investigation. Epstein replied with insider analysis. On one Mueller-related article, Epstein wrote: "southern district. money laundering. corrupt intent. flippers will dictate" (d-18388, d-16771). When Epstein forwarded a Daily Beast article about Trump's mental health, he added his own assessment: "sums it up well. needs to add melania. pressure, bibi indictment. jared money grubbing. recipe for tragedy" (d-15329).

On the topic of the Koch brothers, Epstein was dismissive: "loved, not donors - but marks" (d-20546). On the Federal Reserve, he was blunt: "getting rid of powell much more important than syria/mattis. jared and ivanka, need to go!!!" Bannon replied with his own question: "Can u get rid of Powell or really get rid of mnuchin" (d-16270, d-18243).

Sultan bin Sulayem, the Dubai executive, captured the dynamic in a February 2018 exchange. Seeing a photo of Bannon, he asked Epstein: "Is that Steve Bannon?" Epstein replied: "Yes We have become friends you will like him." Bin Sulayem noted: "Trump doesn't like him" (d-18224, d-18419).

The August 2018 Photograph and What It Obscured

On August 8, 2018, Bannon was photographed entering Epstein's Upper East Side mansion before 7 a.m. Page Six ran the story under the headline "Steve Bannon trying to get on disgraced Jeffrey Epstein's good side." Cosmetics executive Peter Thomas Roth forwarded the article to Epstein with the note: "Great picture of you!!!" (d-14638, d-17660, d-23985).

The public treated this as a single, somewhat embarrassing meeting. The documents show it was one data point in a relationship that had been active for nearly two years and would continue for nearly one more. The Page Six story, rather than exposing the relationship, may have actually minimized it by framing it as a one-off visit.

Eleven days later, Bannon sent Epstein a warning that reads, in retrospect, as remarkably prescient. "Yes but let's discuss--their is a crazed jihad against u--ive never seen anything like it--and I've seen a lot," Bannon wrote. He followed up: "Exactly But somebody big has u in the gunsights" (d-24592, d-27496, d-18369).

Coaching a Convicted Sex Offender Through His Crisis

The relationship entered its most troubling phase in early 2019. As the Miami Herald's investigative reporting brought renewed scrutiny to Epstein's 2008 plea deal, Bannon shifted from political collaborator to active crisis manager.

In April 2019, iMessage records show Bannon telling Epstein: "We need to work around your 38--first we..." The message appears to be truncated, but the person file description cites a fuller version of Bannon's strategy: "First we need to push back on the lies; then crush the pedo/trafficking narrative; then rebuild your image as philanthropist" (efta-efta01615720).

On April 3, Epstein reached out to Soon-Yi Previn with a specific request: "on friday at 3 pm-5pm bannon is bring camera crew to the house to try to teach me how to respond in interviews. would woody like to join and help?" (efta-02635670). Bannon was not simply offering advice over text. He was bringing production equipment into Epstein's home to conduct mock interview sessions for a man facing a tightening federal investigation.

Five days later, on April 8, Epstein told Bannon: "i hear ny times sniffing around." Bannon's response was immediate and direct: "What do u mean sniffing around. Get details." Epstein then asked whether he should reach out to James Stewart at the Times (efta-02633887). The journalist would later publish a widely read account of his own meeting with Epstein.

That same month, Bannon and Epstein discussed the Hillman Prize, which had been awarded to the Miami Herald for its groundbreaking Epstein investigation. Bannon forwarded the news to Michael Wolff, copying Epstein. His comment: "Pile on." Wolff replied with observations about the judges. Bannon added: "Fix always in" (d-14585, d-21466, d-32533).

The Acosta Exchange and the Barr Question

One exchange from December 2018 stands out for what it implies about Epstein's interest in the machinery of his own legal fate. On December 6, Bannon forwarded Epstein a Power Line article examining the lenient plea deal that then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta had granted Epstein a decade earlier. Epstein's response was three sentences that collapsed two distinct worlds into one: "do you know bill barr. CIA" (d-16801, d-18716).

William Barr had been nominated as Attorney General one day earlier, on December 5. Epstein's immediate pivot from an article about the leniency of his own prosecution to a question about the incoming AG raises obvious questions. The cryptic addition of "CIA" remains unexplained in the documents.

The Michael Wolff Triangle

Journalist Michael Wolff functioned as a third node in the Bannon-Epstein network. In October 2018, Bannon, Wolff, and Epstein coordinated a three-way meeting. Bannon wrote: "I'm in CT w/ donors to my revolution now all day...can we meet tomorrow?" They arranged to convene before Epstein departed for Paris (d-26552, d-29168).

In November 2018, Wolff emailed Epstein proposing to craft a Trump-centric narrative using both men, framing Epstein as "former friend of Trump, adviser to Bannon" (d-18445, d-33583). In April 2019, Epstein emailed both Bannon and Wolff: "paris new york santa fe. you guys decide" (efta-02633986). The three men were coordinating meetings across continents.

A Self-Aware Alliance

Perhaps the most revealing exchange occurred on December 30, 2018. Bannon sent Epstein a historical photograph, which he identified as depicting Hitler's early living quarters. Epstein's reply was darkly self-referential: "Not only billionaire pedophile friend of trump but helped hitler just what i need" (d-15840).

The comment is remarkable for its casual self-awareness. Epstein was not denying his status as a convicted sex offender. He was joking about it with a man who continued to meet with him, advise him, travel on his dime, and share political strategy with him despite that status.

Bannon, too, showed awareness of the risks. Yet the documents contain no evidence that this awareness ever led him to sever the relationship. The last documented contacts come from June 2019. On June 1, Bannon texted Epstein: "Inbound eta 130," signaling another visit to the East 71st Street townhouse. Epstein replied with a stream-of-consciousness list of conversation topics: "beards. Genotypes phenotypes. Ties as bacteria transmitters. currencies and debt" (efta-efta01615902). Five weeks later, federal agents arrested Epstein at Teterboro Airport.

An FBI Witness and an Unresolved Allegation

In 2020, a witness named Charles Johnson told FBI agents in a recorded interview that he believed Epstein was an Israeli intelligence asset and that Epstein had paid Bannon. The claim appears in an FBI 302 report. It is a third-party allegation and has not been independently verified through financial records in the case files. The identities of Daniel Andre Fleuette and Dain Rodolfo Valverde, the two men who traveled with Bannon to St. Thomas, also remain publicly unexplained.

What Remains Unknown

The documents establish, with high confidence, that Steve Bannon maintained a sustained and substantive relationship with Jeffrey Epstein from late 2016 through mid-2019. They show that Bannon discussed cryptocurrency-based campaign financing with a convicted sex offender, traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands on Epstein's credit card, coached Epstein on how to neutralize a "pedo/trafficking narrative," and dined alongside world leaders at Epstein's home.

Several critical questions remain unanswered. Whether the cryptocurrency funding mechanism was ever operationalized. Whether any direct payments flowed from Epstein to Bannon or his political entities. What occurred during the May 2019 visit to St. Thomas. What the purpose of the Bergen, Norway, leg of the trip was. Who compiled the "list for bannon steve" sent from Epstein's email account on June 30, 2019, containing dozens of high-profile names (d-28705). And what Bannon meant when he told Epstein, five months before the arrest, that "somebody big has u in the gunsights."

Bannon has not publicly addressed the vast majority of these documented contacts. The single photograph from August 2018 became the entire public narrative. The Epstein case files tell a different story: not of a one-time meeting but of a years-long alliance between a political strategist and a convicted sex offender, conducted in plain text, across hundreds of messages, with the confidence of men who believed no one would ever read them.