Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) Profile picture
Jul 15, 2025 52 tweets 16 min read Read on X
1/108

Epstein Debunk: Part 3:

Arms, Blackmail and Spies: The Career of Jeffery Epstein:

Pondi would have you believe there is no blackmail.

But a trail of public statements, records, and settlements tell us that's untrue.

But more importantly, so does Epstein's money. Image
2/108

The largest unanswered questions today about Epstein are:

1) Where did his money come from?

2) Who did he work for?

3) How did he meet all these people?

So I spent the weekend digging through archives to piece together his life story:
3/108

After WWII, large swaths of now highly trained intelligence officers in Europe and the US found themselves out of work, experts in persuasion, blackmail and foreign relations, while many returned to regular work, others turned into conmen who robbed countries blind.
4/108

In 1974, Jeffery Epstein was 21 years old.

He had no degree.

Apart from being known as a smart smooth talker - Epstein had no notable qualifications of any kind.

And yet, that didn't stop him suddenly getting a job offer.
5/108

That year, a man named Donald Barr, offered him a job teaching at the prestigious Dalton School, an elite, private, college prep school in New York. Image
6/108

It's a job Epstein didn't keep for long.

He was fired 2 years later for "poor performance" after multiple reports of making unwanted sexual advances towards young women and showing up at student parties and drinking with young girls.
7/108

But while twisted, that's perhaps the least interesting thing about his time at Dalton School.

What stands out more is the headmaster who hired Epstein, Donald Barr.

Prior to his time at Dalton, Donald Barr was an officer in the "Office of the Strategic Services" Image
8/108

Donald Barr, is also the father of former Trump Attorney General William Barr.

Barr later also served in the CIA, and was in charge of Trump's DoJ when Epstein was arrested and found dead. Image
Image
9/108

Now back to the OSS.

The OSS was America's first intelligence agency, and the predecessor to the CIA.

Formed during WWII, it was tasked with operations in propaganda, espionage, and subversion tactics, including developing blackmail and influence on adversaries. Image
10/108

The OSS had many divisions, but under Bill Donovan, a lawyer and Columbia Alumni, it's R&A department, and its counter espionage department (X-2) used Columbia as a main recruitment hub (Entry 16 – “Research & Analysis (R&A) Branch, Administrative & Personnel Records”) Image
11/108

Dalton's now declassified guides for operatives, list training and methods in:

-Morale operations and blackmail
-Cultivating and manipulating contacts
-Focusing on powerful people
-Creating/planting evidence
-And luring with sexual vices

Sound familiar? Image
Image
Image
Image
12/108

While it's unclear what specific role Barr had played in OSS, these were the manuals and tactics that Barr's own named "Columbia Mafia" were trained in at the time.

And it raises serious questions about why Barr suddenly hired so many unorthodox teachers at Dalton. Image
Image
13/108

Epstein only lasted 2 years at Dalton before being fired for "poor performance" but later both students and fellow teachers noted that it was more likely related to his involvement with young girls at the school. Image
14/108

But other former students point out that it wasn't just Epstein doing this, and in fact many teachers at the time were rather openly involved with young students and frequently seen at parties. Image
15/108

Which made it all the more weird when Donald Barr, who had allegedly hired Epstein, then left Dalton, and wrote a sci-fi novel called "Space Relations" where a ruling elite are sexual predators who blackmail diplomats are only saved by a hero who restores monogamy... Image
16/108

At this point, you're probably saying: "This is super weird, but why does it matter?"

A few reasons:

-It shows the circles Epstein was learning from
-It shows AG Barr who oversaw the Epstein case potentially had a background with Epstein
-It led to Epstein's big break
17/108

After getting fired from Dalton, Epstein was tutoring, Ted Greenberg, and allegedly dating his sister Lynne Greenberg.

These were the children of partner and later CEO of Bear Sterns, Alan Greenberg (which eventually became part of JPMorgan Chase) Image
18/108

At the request of Lynne, Alan Greenspan gave Epstein a job at the firm, despite him having no formal credentials.

By 1980, smooth talking Epstein had somehow worked his way up to Limited Partner, something that was rare even by Bear's standards.
19/108

But in 1981, he was asked to leave Bear Sterns over a "Reg D" violation, even though no SEC action was taken against him.

He also remained close with both Cayne and Greenberg after leaving.
20/108

But we now know this isn't the case.

In 1981, Bear Sterns richest advisory client was Edgar Bronfman Sr and his company Seagram's, a Canadian conglomerate.

The Seagram company became embroiled in scandal during their 1980-1981 attempted take over of St Joe Minerals. Image
21/108

According to SEC deposition testimony, while Bear Sterns was not formally advising the take over, when Seagram's had exceeded 5% of the shares in St Joe's, Bear Sterns had been buying shares for client advisory accounts and their own employee accounts. Image
Image
22/108

This insider trading favor is ultimately what pushed Epstein out the door, but cemented his friendship with Bronfman.

It also taught Epstein about asset protection in the Bahamas and Caymans, and offshore asset recovery
23/108

Epstein learned in the St. Joe case that contested money often sat in European accounts, such as London based merchant banks and eurobond markets.

And it became a hunting ground for financial bounty hunters (and conmen) in asset recovery.
24/108

Epstein's friendship with Bronfman was critical for two reasons.

While people look at Bronfman's Israeli connections and wrongly jump straight to Mossad, Bronfman was critical in introducing Epstein to two key people:
25/108

1. He likely introduced him to Rosa Monckton, at the time executive of Tiffany & Co, the daughter of a Viscount and sister to newspaper Editor Christopher Monckton.

2. He likely introduced Epstein to Robert Maxwell. Image
26/108

Robert Maxwell, father of Ghisaline Maxwell, was an Czechoslovak-British media proprietor, who had escaped Nazi occupation and joined the Czechoslovak Army in Exile in WWII, and eventually the British Army.
27/108

Robert dedicated much of his live to anti-Nazi causes, and sat on the boards of Beth Hatefutsoth and the World Jewish Congress, along with none other than Edgar Bronfman Sr whom Epstein advised.
28/108

Conspiracy theorists are quick to jump to ideas of Epstein being a zionist, and Mossad recruit.

When it'd be foolish to even paint Robert Maxwell in that light. But conspiracy theories act as great red herrings when trying to cover-up the truth.
29/108

It's well documented that Robert Maxwell, had an intelligence handler named Ari Ben-Menashe, a disgraced Israeli Military Intelligence agent. Who was involved with violations of arms smuggling, and wrote whistleblower books on war profiteering. Image
30/108

Ben-Menashe's stories were often assumed to be fabrications until a 2002 report under Canada's freedom of information legislation that showed after Ben-Menashe moved to Canada, Canadian intelligence officials regularly interviewed him validating many of his stories.
31/108

Instead of being an agent for Mossad, it seems as if Robert Maxwell was an asset, a person recruited who can be useful, handled and motivated to help agencies at arms length achieve goals that they both believe in.

But he was first and foremost a businessman.
32/108

In 1981, Epstein had moved suddenly to London, and focused his sights on trapped embezzlement funds in European banks.

He made fast friends with socialite with Baroness Rosa Monckton
33/108

The Baroness was Epstein's entry into European social circles.

The Baronesses was a close friend of Princess Diana, and her daughter even had the Princess as a godmother. Image
Image
34/108

Rosa Monckton at the time was also a business executive who founded and ran Tiffany & Co's UK and European branches, including lending lavish items to British socialites for publicity.

But Monckton was his introduction to the British scene. Image
35/108

Monckton was also Epstein's introduction to the Leese's.

With Epstein leaving the US after the Bear scandal, he needed new opportunities, he & is girlfriend Paula Heil Fisher through Monckton met Nick Leese at party in Texas and secured an introduction to Douglas Leese Image
36/108

No one would blame you for being unfamiliar with Leese. He was a highly private man, that very little was known about until the Al Yamamah deal scandal was brought up in the British House of Commons. Image
Image
37/108

In 1981, Saudi Arabia turned to the UK for a new arms deal, set to be one of the largest deals in history.

But one that was riddled by bribery and embezzlement. Image
38/108

The Saudi side was brokered by Adnan Khashoggi, a deal broker who made billions managing deals between Saudis & the West.

(The same Khashoggi that sold Trump a yacht, was a US foreign asset, & a "client" of Epstein's wealth management company.) Image
39/108

As well as Saudi turned British businessman Wafic Saïd, who was close friends with Mark Thatcher at the time, the son of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Image
39/108

On the British side the deal was brokered by Douglas Leese, of which I've tracked down only two known pictures of.

The supposed machine business man, found himself with extensive defense business relationships in the UK. Image
Image
40/108

Leese is believed to have been a key part in brokering the arms deal.

Which in the investigation of Wafic Saïd, it was estimated that the middlemen had siphoned off more than $6B in excess of the bribes that had been paid to Saudi Royals. Image
41/108

Douglas Leese, now flush with cash, needed somewhere to hide it.

Luckily, he had just been introduced to Jeffery Epstein, a smart young financier with expertise in offshore money laundering from his time at Bear Sterns.
42/108

And so in 1986, we see the formation of the first Barbados entity that we can likely tie to Epstein.

"Kingsley Inn Limited" which of course doesn't exist but instead is a corporate holding company for Douglas Leese's money. Image
43/108

We also know at this time that Epstein was already making his money through on-going fraud and embezzlement from his clients.

Including steeling from the Leese's corporate accounts. Image
44/108

Around this time, Epstein frequently travelled back and forth from the US to Europe, continuing his "financial bounty hunting" for wealthy European clients, and likely continuing to offshore funds.
45/108

His crowd moved from simply socialites to arms dealers, smugglers, and the political elite.

To some people Epstein claimed to work for the CIA, as the Evening Standard reported in 2001, and noted he had a concealed carry permit, and had smuggled weapons into the UK. Image
46/108

And during Epstein's eventual trial, a fake passport was found in his safe, that was Austrian but said his residence was Saudi Arabia - but the passport had actively been used going back to the 1980s to enter multiple European countries. Image
47/108

At that exact time period, he also submitted paper work for a second US passport, and then just two years later a lost passport which listed a London residency (despite no residency Visa in the UK) Image
Image
48/108

The CIA claim struck me as odd, and so I looked into what illegal domestic operations the CIA had done in the past.

And it brought me to an article in Newsweek in 2013, about the CIA's "
National Resources Division" Image
49/108

The National Resource Division, is the only domestic component of the CIA, that is supposed to be limited to gathering information from foreigners abroad.

Or so the NRD claims.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth)

Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @adamscochran

Jan 30
1/23

This is WILD.

A *HUGE* fuck-up in the Trump DoJ strategy means Luigi will:

* Not face the death penalty

* Technically NOT even face a formal "murder" charge AT ALL?!

All because Pam Bondi cared more about political theatrics than the law.

Let me explain:
2/23

In the State of New York, the charge of murder is § 125.25.

It:

* Does NOT allow for a death penalty

* Does not allow life without parole

* Charges 15 - 25 years.

LWOP (life without parole) requires § 125.27, it requires one of these aggravating factors: Image
3/23

Last January, when Trump took power, he signed EO 14164, requiring the DoJ to pursue the death penalty where possible.

He specifically made a media push about the Luigi Mangione case. Image
Read 21 tweets
Jan 29
1/7

This is Kenneth Chesebro.

The MOST important figure in the Fulton case.

He was the lawyer who designed the scheme.

He was:

-deposed in Fulton

-pled guilty

-told ALL the details about Trump’s plots.

These DIRECTLY dispute Trump’s current Fulton claims: Image
Image
2/7

Kenneth was responsible first and foremost for arranging the fake electorate scheme.

He admitted:

* He knew Trump did NOT win the election.

* Trump knew it.

* They planned to use it regardless of election outcome.

* He came up with the false claim that it was standard practice to cover-up this plot.Image
3/7

Legally for the fake elector scheme to work, there *HAD TO* be an active lawsuit in each of those states contesting the election.

Both Cheesebro admitted the Sidney Powell case was that filing for Georgia.

Sidney Powell confessed the Fulton Georgia case was fraudulent, and pled guilty.Image
Read 8 tweets
Jan 29
1/18

Here’s my fact check on EVERY one of Trump/MAGA claims regarding Fulton:

1) “Trump has the power to seize paper ballots”

No.

State infrastructure and vote archives have specific protections (see Miles’ post below). Paper ballots are supposed to be the untouched records we compare against.

Taking them means any evidence he would have is now tainted.

It is also likely a criminal act.
2/18

2) “Trump has proof the election was stolen!”

No.

In fact, we have:

* His voice recorded on the phone telling Kemp to “find” him 11,000 votes because he lost.

* Him in multiple conversations with other Republicans admitting he lost (cited in Jack Smith case)

* Him in conversations with other Republicans admitting he knew there was no issue with the voting machines (Jack Smith case)

* Him in writing planning a plot to seize voting machines preemptively, before he claimed any issue. (Barr step down)

* His own lawyers in their election fraud cases, admitting on sworn record, that there was no evidence.
3/18

3) “Trump wasn’t fairly heard in his cases”

No.

MAGA claims all cases were dismissed solely on standing, but that’s not true.

Even when he lacked standing courts often still reviewed the merits of the case.

They didn’t have any. Image
Image
Read 18 tweets
Jan 24
1/12

Frame by frame breakdown of this MURDER shows ICE is lying!

-ICE had ALREADY disarmed the man before shooting.

-The man NEVER drew his gun.

At the 0:06 second mark we see the man’s hands on the ground covered in large gloves.

His hands are empty. Image
2/12

At 00:15 one of the agents begins to pistol whip the man in the head.

Showing the orientation of the man’s body and how his hands were NO WHERE near his waist. Image
Image
3/12

At 00:13 we can see the man is on his knees.

An officer in a gray jacket is pulling up his shirt.

You can see the gun in his waistband at 00:16 Image
Image
Read 24 tweets
Jan 16
DHS deleted this one because:

-The family was driving home and got blocked.

-ICE deployed flashbangs and tear gas INSIDE the car.

-The 6-month old child stopped breathing and had to be rushed to hospital.

DHS did NO investigation & rushed to lie to defend the officers. Image
I've verified from prior reporting and 911 call log data the location where ICE tear gassed a 6-month old child:

The 600 block of 23rd Avenue North in Minneapolis.

An entirely residential area.

It did NOT take place at the Whipple Building protest like MAGA has suggested. Image
It is also worth noting multiple people HAVE been blocked in at the Whipple building protests, as a low income Section 42 housing complex is on the edge of the Federal complex and must drive through the complex to get in/out: Image
Read 4 tweets
Jan 14
1/24

As someone writing a book on Epstein’s crimes, I try and validate all claims I hear, and only talk about them when I’ve proven or disproven them.

I’ve not yet commented on Sascha Barros/Riley’s claims because they are harder than most to verify.

Here is where I’m at:
2/24

First, I believe Sascha has absolutely experienced abuse.

In investigating these cases, you do learn to hear that pain in a victims voice.

But, due to the nature of trauma, experiencing abuse and accurately retelling it, are not always the same thing.
3/24

Let’s start with what’s clear:

Sascha’s claims about being adopted in the late 1970s by William Kyle Riley, are accurate.

Sascha also has done military service, although I did have trouble tracking down some specific claims about that service. Image
Image
Read 24 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(