Washington: Paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein received photos from a friend who was living in Sydney and described the pictures as “the most sensual and ‘im not a girl not yet a woman’ style photos” she had ever taken.
Emails released by the US Department of Justice as part of the Epstein files reveal the convicted sex offender was contacted by a female friend – whose name was redacted – in March 2012, while she was seemingly studying in Sydney.
“jeffrey have you seen photos I sent you ? I think that those are the most sensual and “im not a girl not yet a woman” style photos I have ever had,” she wrote to Epstein.
“I am still loving sydney so much.. can’t believe your friend Katherine left Syd for NY. hope you are great, having a holiday every day ;)”
That was an apparent reference to Katherine Keating, daughter of former prime minister Paul Keating, who had moved to New York and became part of Epstein’s circle there in 2011.
Epstein responded that he had seen the photos, calling them “really terrific”, and asking: “have you made any mew [sic] girlfriends?”
The woman said she had made a nice friend from Latvia, and “met an Indian girl at school” who was “very open [about] talking on boys’ subjects”. She referred to attending local court hearings and taking notes as part of their study requirements.
“I also met some other random girls (libanese ukranian [sic] and australian) and all they talk was money, that they have to work hard to pay off their car,” Epstein’s friend wrote. “some of them live in 5000 AUS a month apartments and boyfriends pays the rent. here there is a kind of girls who want their bf to support them, buy dresses and new shoes all the time.” She added that she was not used to that.
Months later, in October 2012, Epstein corresponded with another person who appeared to be, or have been, in Sydney, but the tone had soured. It was not evident whether it was the same person as the March email chain.
“Do you want to see me or you are interested in me only because I found pretty girls for you?” the emailer asked Epstein.
He replied: “your job in Sydney, has as i warned, made you hard . you are behaving in a very cheap, vulgar, manner. If it is irreparable, we can no longer have contact.”
‘We were just having fun together’
The person told Epstein that she wished their relationship could return to how it was the previous year, and worried that he had grown bored with their “Nabokov-Lolita relations”, referring to the famous novel about lust for an underage girl by Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov.
“We were just having fun together: you taught me life in a certain way, explained how you see the world, taught me how to love my body and be open about sex … I talked to you about my ambitions, goals, fears, listened to your opinions and completely opened my heart and soul to you,” she wrote.
“But then you told me to draft this contract where I give you smth in exchange of smth … and it started, you were always talking like “ill do it, if you present me girls” … Present me girls….come with your friends…etc.
“It made me think that you are not interested anymore in me, in my personality, which suffered in a certain way, that you are bored with our Nabokov-Lolita relations ^^ and just need people in order to have more people, to enlarge your Girls army.”
The files released by the Justice Department also show that in 2009, Epstein interacted with someone identified in some emails as “Sarah K”, who briefly visited Sydney and was not entirely enthused by what she found.
“The time difference is so strange here,” she wrote. “Went to the Zoo yesterday and Bondi beach. Zoo was pretty fun, bondi beach not so much. I’m ready to leave Sydney tomorrow. We’re going to see a Flamenco dancer tonight at the opera house which should be fun.”
Epstein then asked: “who got Sydney right, joe or me.” The woman replied: “Well 2 days is definately [sic] enough time here. It’s a pretty decent city, but I wouldn’t mind if I never came back.”
A woman named Sarah Kellen worked as Epstein’s assistant and was called a “knowing participant” in the criminal conspiracy to abuse girls by the judge who oversaw Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing. But she has never faced charges and has also claimed to be a victim of Epstein’s abuse.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He was first convicted of child sex offences in 2008.
Katherine Keating told this masthead last week that she was introduced to Epstein by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former British prince, and made subsequent contact because he was connected to important business figures. She eventually severed contact after he and his staff pursued her with “persistence bordering on harassment”.
Being named in the Epstein files or associating with Epstein is not an indication of wrongdoing.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.