In email correspondence released from the Jeffrey Epstein files, it has been revealed that in 2014 Jeffrey Epstein planned a trip to Malta after visiting Moscow. There is no confirmation that the trip took place. The detail is revealed in an email to Jeffrey Epstein by Austin Hill, the founder of Blockstream.
Context: Jeffrey Epstein and bitcoin
Jeffrey Epstein involved himself early in bitcoin, as far back as 2011, when he described it as “a great idea, but it has serious drawbacks.” In 2014, Epstein invested approximately $3 million in Coinbase’s Series C funding round (when the exchange was valued at around $400 million), with the deal brokered by Brock Pierce, a co-founder of Tether and a longtime associate who advised Epstein on crypto and maintained close ties documented in emails up to 2019. That same year, Epstein made a roughly $500,000 investment in Blockstream, a key Bitcoin infrastructure company co-founded by Adam Back. Emails indicate Epstein invited Back and co-founder Austin Hill to meet near or on his private island, Little Saint James, around April 2014, though Back has stated any link was indirect and later divested. Additionally, through donations to MIT (over $800,000 from Epstein between 2002–2017, facilitated via Joichi Ito of the Media Lab), Epstein’s funds helped underwrite the launch of MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative in 2015—described in emails as Bitcoin’s “principal home and funding source” during its early development amid the block size wars.
End context.
The email reveals a very good friendship and partnership between Jeffrey Epstein and Austin Hill who exchanged itineraries, flight plans and discussions about bitcoin. In one email, Austin Hill asked Jeffrey Epstein whether he still intended to travel to Malta after his trip to Moscow. Epstein replied to him that he was to visit the US Treasury Department to talk about bitcoin – this was in August 2014.
Some of Jeffrey Epstein’s friends also informed him that they were going to Malta, however there are no details about these trips and these may have also been holiday trips. Jeffrey Epstein’s friends who visited Malta include Swedish diplomat Lisa Emelia and also Cynthia Tobiano, the CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Holding SA.
What is more noteworthy is the yacht purchase of the Starfire which was made with a transfer to Malta. The purchase seems to have been handled on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein, Richard Joslin or Leon Black by someone called Rob Maas, who has not yet been identified yet. The email by Jeffrey Epstein was sent to Richard Joslin who was a close finance and business associate of Jeffrey Epstein and ran the Elysium Management LLC by which he also managed the finances of Leon Black. Leon Black of Apollo Global Management is a US billionaire and art collector.
Two other individuals copied in the email include Melanie Spinella, a finance executive of Leon Black and Brad Wechsler also an associate of Leon Black. The yacht was purchased in 2015.
Newsroom
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