Jeffrey Epstein rubbed shoulders with the world’s richest men at a so-called billionaires’ dinner three years after he was convicted of sex crimes.
House Democrats released 68 photographs from Epstein’s estate on Thursday, including images taken at the Edge Group’s annual dinner in 2011.
The event, hosted by literary agent John Brockman’s nonprofit, was attended by some of the tech industry’s most powerful people, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
The House Oversight Committee published images of Epstein, New York Times columnist David Brooks, former YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar and Brin at the event.
Images of other attendees were not included in the files and the committee did not provide any context for the images of the people at the event who were included. It comes a day before the deadline for the DOJ to release its Epstein files.
Some of the newly unearthed images exactly matched photographs published on the Edge website that were allegedly taken by Microsoft‘s former Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold, who was previously named in the Epstein files.
Other photos included in the dump are seemingly from the Epstein estate’s personal collection, though appear to be taken in the same style as Myhrvold’s images.
Given that the late financier’s estate handed over thousands of photos to the House Democrats without providing any context, it is unclear which photographer captured Epstein’s photographs.
House Democrats released 68 photographs from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate on Thursday, including images taken at the Edge Group’s annual Billionaires’ Dinner in 2011. Epstein is pictured at the event, seated with several other guests
The trove of newly released images included a picture of smiling Sergey Brin. This image of the Google co-founder can also be found on the Edge Group’s website
Former YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar (right) and David Brooks (left, background) were photographed at the 2011 dinner
Images released by the House Oversight Committee revealed that New York Times columnist David Brooks (right) attended the dinner and was apparently sat near Sergey Brin (left, background) during the meal
Epstein was a guest at the 2011 event, despite having already pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related felonies in Florida.
After his arrest in 2019, the Edge Group – a nonprofit that gather scientists, philosophers, artists and technologists so they can discuss cutting-edge ideas – scrubbed record of him attending the dinner from its website.
The 2011 Billionaires’ Dinner was held in New York City, with Epstein among the attendees of the star-studded event.
The House Oversight Committee released photographs of Epstein, Brin, Brooks and Kamangar at the event. They were the only attendees photographed in the file.
It is unclear why they chose to publish this selection of images or if Epstein’s estate turned over any other photographs from the dinner.
Other guests at the dinner included Musk, who is seen boasting a massive smile in a photograph on the Edge website, Bezos, and Microsoft’s Craig Mundie.
Google was represented by Brin, software engineer Lori Park and Marissa Mayer, who went on to serve as CEO of Yahoo from 2012 to 2017.
Lucy Page Southworth, who has been married to Google co-founder Larry Page since 2007, was also in attendance.
Bezos, Mundie, Park, Mayer and Page Southworth were featured in photographs from the dinner on the Edge website, but were not photographed in the Epstein files.
This photo of David Brooks was included in the House Oversight Committee’s trove. The exact image can be found on the Edge website with Nathan Myhrvold as the credited photographer
The dinner was also attended by leading minds in science, such as 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, computer scientist Danny Hillis and Tony Fadell, who is best known as ‘the father of the iPod.’
Musician Peter Gabriel, actresses Talulah Musk and Italian businessman Jean Pigozzi, who is an investor, art collector and photographer, were among the artists in attendance.
Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas Pilego, representing the Grupo Salinas television conglomerate, and literary agency CEO Max Brockman were pictured at the event, as was venture capitalist Zack Bogue.
Edge also published smiling photos of Jennifer Jacquet, an associate professor of Environmental Studies at the University of British Columbia, and Participant Media founder Jeff Skoll.
None of these individuals were pictured in the Epstein files.
Meanwhile, the Edge Group appears to no longer host its annual Billionaires’ Dinner, with the last one having taken place in 2015.
Interest in the billionaires’ dinner resurged Thursday after the House Oversight Committee released a trove of new Epstein files Thursday.
The latest batch of documents included sickening pictures of the disgraced financier surrounded by women and disturbing images of handwritten messages on a woman’s body including ‘she was Lola in slacks’ and ‘she was Polly at school’.
Sergey Brin (left) and David Brooks (right) appeared deep in conversation is this photograph released by House Democrats. This same image can also be found on the Edge website
The phrases are quotes from Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a novel about a middle-aged man’s sexual obsession with a young girl, which is also pictured in the background.
Other newly released images included billionaire Bill Gates posing with women whose faces have been redacted, and prominent philosopher Noam Chomsky on board Epstein’s private jet.
The Microsoft founder was previously pictured alongside Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, in a released photograph.
Gates, who sought contributions from the financier for his philanthropy efforts, has described his association with Epstein as a ‘huge mistake’.
The cache also includes images of filmmaker Woody Allen and former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon – both of whom featured in an earlier photo release.
The latest batch of photographs do not appear to depict any unlawful conduct by any of the subjects.
But one screenshot – unrelated to The Edge event – shows a snippet of a text exchange in which an unknown sender appears to discuss recruiting young women.
‘I have a friend scout she sent me some girls today. But she asks $1000 per girl. I will send u girls now. Maybe someone will be good for J?’ the post says.
The screenshot includes a partially redacted physical description and the line ’18 y old,’ but provides no names or clear indication of who is speaking.
After Epstein’s arrest in 2019, the Edge Group – a nonprofit that gather scientists, philosophers, artists and technologists so they can discuss cutting-edge ideas – scrubbed record of him attending the dinner from its website. This is a screenshot of his since-deleted Edge profile
David Brooks (front, right) is pictured during the meal. He was apparently seated next to Sergey Brin (center, background)
Democrats have selectively released the 68 pictures along with dozens of others in recent weeks, all of which have been pulled from a collection of 95,000 unseen images from Epstein’s estate.
The images released on Thursday come ahead of the legal deadline for the US Department of Justice to release the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
The law, named the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requires the Justice Department to provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Friday.
Tens of thousands of records relating to Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell have already been released through civil and criminal cases in the US.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
