The fall-out over the crimes of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is casting a shadow over Israel’s elections.
The convicted sex offender has dubious ties to former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak, according to media reports in Israel. Barak is currently seeking re-election on an anti-corruption platform.
Israel’s incumbent head of state, Benjamin Netanyahu, has attacked Barak over his connections to Epstein, who underwrote a multi-million dollar investment by Barak in a tech start-up, Haaretz reported.
Ties to Israel
Barak’s 2015 dealings with Epstein came after the billionaire was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Epstein served little over a year in prison and registered as a sex offender under a highly criticized plea deal that was considered too light amid allegations that he abused dozens of underage girls.
Although it was publicly known that Epstein was a sex offender by 2015, Barak accepted millions from Epstein to invest in technology company Reporty Homeland Security, now called Carbyne, Haaretz reported. The former prime minister, who is the controlling shareholder in the company, has sought to downplay the significance of the deal.
“I saw the business opportunity and registered a partnership in my control in Israel. A small number of people I know invest in it,” he initially told Haaretz. “Since these are private investments, it wouldn’t be proper or right for me to expose the investors’ details.”
Barak now says that he is taking steps to break off his business partnership with Epstein. Barak said that “as soon as the present charges related to Epstein became known,” he told his lawyers to look into severing his business ties with Epstein — despite it being public knowledge that Epstein was a sex offender for years.
Barak has since defended his continued business with Epstein, the Miami Herald reported.
“He’d served his sentence for soliciting prostitution — the indictment didn’t say she was a minor,” Barak told Israel’s Meet the Press. “The American system itself did not label him as a persona non grata…The secretary who just resigned in the Trump administration was the prosecutor and he said he’d been negligent — so you expect me to have noticed?” he added, referring to former Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta.
The Wexner connection
In addition to the Carbyne connection, a decade earlier, before Barak was Israel’s PM, Barak was paid over $2 million by the Wexner Foundation, a philanthropy founded by billionaire retail magnate Leslie Wexner, for a research project. Epstein was a trustee in the foundation at the time.
Wexner has said that he cut ties with Epstein over a decade ago, but media reports have brought more scrutiny of their relationship. Epstein was a money manager for Wexner’s company, L Brands, Inc., the parent company of Victoria’s Secret. Wexner has not been implicated in Epstein’s crimes, but his relationship with the billionaire — he is the only known client of Epstein — has raised speculation about their connection, given the mysterious nature of Epstein’s fortune.
Epstein and Wexner were friends and their ambiguous relationship seemingly included gift-giving. For example, Wexner reportedly gifted Epstein’s Manhattan mansion to the hedge fund manager in the 1990s, but the transfer wasn’t formalized until 2011. Epstein also bought a home in Wexner’s native Ohio in 1994, then transferred it to Abigail Wexner in 2007 for $0, Town & Country reported.
Netanyahu hones in on Epstein
Epstein’s arrest this month on new sex trafficking charges has brought scrutiny to his powerful, well-connected friends, including former President Bill Clinton. But while the American left has focused on a past social relationship between Epstein and President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is facing corruption charges of his own, has not hesitated to slam Barak over his Epstein connections, The Times of Israel reports.
Indeed, the Likud party leader called on Israel’s attorney general to investigate Barak and tweeted that Barak should be investigated “immediately.” Netanyahu has also released videos scrutinizing Barak’s Epstein ties, including allegations that he attended a party at Epstein’s New York home in 2016.
Barak was prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He formed a new political party and jumped into the fray to challenge Netanyahu in September 2018.
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