The ‘Missed’ Epstein-Rothschild Email Exposed—$25M DOJ Deal Payment Unearthed in Files
Unsealed documents shed light on Epstein’s ties with the Rothschild Group, revealing a significant payment and a controversial email
By Rohit David Published 20 February 2026, 11:10 AM GMT
The Epstein files Justice.gov/epstein
Newly unsealed documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case have exposed a missed Epstein-Rothschild email from 2014 commenting on the Ukraine crisis, along with evidence of an £18.6 million ($25 million) payment to his firm tied to a Rothschild Group’s settlement with the US Department of Justice.
The materials, part of millions of pages released by the DOJ in early February 2026, detail Epstein’s business links to the prominent banking family, including emails and financial deals.
Such revelations keep Epstein’s shadowy network in the spotlight, more than six years after his death in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The ‘Missed’ Epstein-Rothschild Email
Dated March 2014, the email from Epstein to Ariane de Rothschild, chief executive of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, responded to an apparent inquiry about events in Ukraine. He wrote simply, ‘Ukraine upheaval should provide many opportunities, many.’ This came amid the Euromaidan protests that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, followed swiftly by Russia’s annexation of Crimea—a flashpoint that escalated into broader conflict.
The message gained attention as the ’email that everyone missed’ via an Instagram reel highlighting its ominous tone amid the new files’ darker revelations. Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev seized on it to allege a ‘satanist cabal‘ profited from the unrest, hardly a surprise in the realm of geopolitical spin
Email shows Peter Mandelson reminiscing about his ‘first meeting’ with Jeffrey Epstein – as officials probe whether ex-Blair minister was feeding Cabinet secrets to paedo financier as far back as 1999
Peter Mandelson reminisced about being introduced to Jeffrey Epstein at the lavish holiday home of a wealthy British-American businesswoman in emails published as part of the probe into the paedophile financier.
Documents show the disgraced former Labour minister talking about first meeting Epstein at the summer home of Lynn Forester de Rothschild in Martha’s Vineyard, an island enclave of the super rich in New England.
It came as officials investigating Lord Mandelson’s ties to the disgraced late child abuser were told to extend their probe to cover his time in government as far back as 1999, when he was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
It would also cover his time as business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister under Gordon Brown between 2008 and 2010.
Mandelson is believed to have known Epstein since the early 2000s, with previous documents released by the US House of Representatives showing the American covering his travel bills as far back as 2003, when he was on the backbenches as MP for Hartlepool.
The peer, who denies any wrongdoing, is currently the subject of a police investigation into accusations the peer passed market-sensitive information to Epstein in the 2000s.
The unsealed deposition of billionaire Les Wexner reveals his five-hour testimony regarding his history with Jeffrey Epstein. YouTube Screenshot / GOPoversight
The testimony, delivered during a House Oversight Committee inquiry, revisited decades-old financial relationships while probing how Epstein gained extraordinary access to political, corporate and philanthropic elites.
Lawmakers pressed Wexner on Epstein’s connections across global finance and technology networks, including references raised during questioning to the Rothschild family, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and the technology giant Google.
Taxpayers paid for a Ministry of Defence official to spend almost a year working for an elite investment bank that’s seeking to increase the role of private finance in military budgets, openDemocracy can reveal.
The staffer was seconded to Rothschild & Co in February last year and recalled to the MoD on 5 January 2026 – the same day we contacted the government to ask about it.
They were placed in the bank’s geopolitical advisory department to work under Mark Sedwill, who was the UK’s cabinet secretary and national security adviser until 2020, when he left office and was appointed to the House of Lords.
Today, as well as being a crossbench peer and a member of Parliament’s Joint Committee on National Security Strategy, Sedwill advises Rothschild’s clients on geopolitical risk – and has also been involved in lobbying the government to increase private finance’s investment in national defence spending.
Member, Member of the Risk Committee, Member of the Audit Committee and Member of the Sustainability Committee
Mark Sedwill, Baron Sedwill of Sherborne GCMG FRGS, is a cross-bench peer and a member of Parliament’s Joint Committee on national security.
Lord Sedwill is a non-executive director of Rothschild & Co (R&Co). He is Chair of R&Co Geopolitical Advisory and of R&Co Saudi Arabia. He is Chair of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and of the Atlantic Future Forum (AFF) and a member of Temasek’s EMEA advisory group. He is a senior adviser for McKinsey & Company, Temasek and Rasmussen Global.
Lord Sedwill is President of the Special Forces Club and of the Special Boat Service Association, a Vice-President of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charities (RNRMC), and an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Marines. He is President of the Civil Service Retirement Association, and a Trustee of St Andrews University and of the RNLI.
Lord Sedwill chaired the 2021 G7 Panel on Global Economic Resilience. He was Cabinet Secretary & Head of the Civil Service (2018-20), National Security Adviser (2017-20), Permanent Secretary at the Home Office (2013-17), and British Ambassador and NATO Representative in Afghanistan (2009-11). Before that he had a diplomatic and security career serving in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan. He was educated at St Andrews and Oxford Universities.
Lord Sedwill is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Institute of Directors, an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University and of St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He is an Honorary Doctor of Laws of St Andrews University, and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. He is also the recipient of several other awards and honours for national and international public service.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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