Jeffrey Epstein had an Austrian Passport

No-one is able to explain why, how, and who helped him to obtain it…but it might be that Epstein was involved in the shady deals known as the Iran-Contra Affair

Thank you,

Celia Farber

, for re-sending your post about Ghislane Maxwell’s father, ‘Robert’ (if that’s his ‘real’ name, anyways):

Robert Maxwell Was Never His Name: Robert Maxwell's Roots Reveal His Role As Useful Science Propagandist Between USSR and The "West"

I would like to add to the cacophony of weird things revolving Jeffrey Epstein by bringing up his potential ‘Austrian connection’. As usual, translations, emphases, and bottom lines mine.

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Feb. 2022: Freedom Party Requests Answers About Epstein’s Austrian Passport

You see, back in winter 2022, Manfred Hafenecker (Freedom Party) used his parliamentary rights of interpellation (in Austria, this means that every MP essentially has the right to subpoena any gov’t member/cabinet-level official who is, in turn, obligated to answer). Here’s Mr. Hafenecker’s enquiry, dated 20. Jan. 2022 (ref. no. 9509/J XXVII. GP, if you wish to follow-up on this one):

How did US billionaire Epstein obtain an Austrian passport?

On 18 July 2019, the newspaper Kurier reported that the recently deceased US investment banker, billionaire, and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was said to have held an Austrian passport. Specifically, the article said, among other things:

‘During a search in his penthouse in New York, investigators not only found thousands of child pornography but also an old Austrian passport, still green, with Jeffrey Epstein's passport photo, but made out to a different name. Epstein's lawyer explained that the 66-year-old billionaire had the passport in the 1980s just in case he was taken hostage in a plane hijacking. The risk of this was high in those years when flying to the Middle East. His client did not want to deceive the authorities.

The Fake Austrian

The American Epstein probably thought that a passport from neutral Austria, which was not yet a member of the EU at the time, could be helpful. The expired document contained entry stamps from France, Spain, Great Britain, and Saudi Arabia. His lawyer declined to say how Epstein got the passport…’

Since, according to all available information, Jeffrey Epstein did not hold Austrian citizenship and a false name was entered in said passport, this raises questions regarding the issuing authority, potential abuse of office, and forgery.

Hence, several MPs asked all relevant questions of current Minister of the Interior, one Gerald Karner (ÖVP): where, how, who, etc. helped Epstein to obtain said passport?

As a curious aside, the Kurier piece was written by one Susanne Bobek and went live on 18 July 2022 at 6 p.m. local time. To-date, it shows not a single (!) comment in the otherwise lively comment section.

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Interior Minister Karner Answers (Sort Of)

Quite quickly, the responsible Interior Minister answered these questions (ref. no. 9321/AB XXVII. GP):

Q1: After the facts described became known, were investigations initiated into who issued Epstein's Austrian passport and under what circumstances?

A2: Our investigations have yet been unable to confirm the existence of the Austrian passport in question, which is why there is no corresponding information available.

Q2: Are there any other such cases of fake identities?

A2: Such statistics are not kept. However, no such case is known from this legislative period [which began in 2019 and is scheduled to end in 2024].

Q3: How many people who do not have Austrian citizenship have an Austrian passport, broken down into passports, service passports and diplomatic passports?

A3: According to Section 4 of the Passport Act 1992, Federal Law Gazette No. 839/1992 as amended, ordinary passports as well as service passports and diplomatic passports may only be issued to people who have Austrian citizenship. Therefore, the question of issuing such passports to strangers does not arise.

This is kinda the end of this—with the Interior Dept. stating, on the record, that whatever passport was found by US investigators was either a forgery or issued without records being kept.

What’s there to point to the former? Well, visa stamps from several countries, namely France, Spain, Great Britain, and Saudi Arabia, whose border patrols apparently didn’t notice a forgery.

What about the latter point? According to the above-cited news report, Epstein’s lawyer stated his client ‘did not want to deceive the authorities’.

To-date, it is common for Western governments to issue ‘secondary’ passports to citizens on grounds of travel to the Middle East (as some countries won’t let you in if you’ve been to Israel and vice-versa). This looks like a quite improbable issue here, but let’s not omit it for completeness’ sake.

Speaking of completeness, here’s the meandering rest of Mr. Karner’s answer:

I would like to point out that service passports are passports that are issued with a validity period of a maximum of five years to a qualified group of people as defined in the Passport Act. These are members of the National Council, the Federal Council and the state parliaments, members of the state governments, the presidents and vice-presidents of the highest courts, the president of the Court of Auditors, the members of the Ombudsman and civil servants and contract employees of the federal and state governments, if the supreme body responsible for their civil service matters Administrative body confirms that the issuance of a service passport is necessary for official reasons [note that Mr. Epstein didn’t fit any of these categories].

Furthermore, service passes are issued to civil servants, contract employees and other persons who are employed by Austrian official representative authorities to deal with federal, state, or other public law matters, as well as their spouses or registered partners and minor children if they are with them live in the same household as well as for honorary consuls who work for the Republic of Austria, their spouses or registered partners and minor children if they live with them in the same household and are not employed [note that Mr. Epstein didn’t fit any of these categories either].

Service passes are issued for other people if they travel abroad to deal with federal, state or other public-law bodies, and the federal minister responsible for the purpose of the trip or—if the trip is undertaken to deal with the affairs of a state —the State government confirms that issuing a service pass is necessary [that might be an option here, if, in fact, Mr. Epstein’s Austrian passport was genuine, and while I’m quite sure that a paper trail would exist in this case, I consider it unlikely to be disclosed at this point].

The service pass must be returned to the issuing authority for cancellation immediately after the end of the function relevant to the issuance of the service pass.

Diplomatic passports are passports that are valid for a maximum of five years and are issued to the Federal President and his spouse or registered partner, the Presidents of the National Council and the Federal Council as well as the Vice Presidents of the Federal Council, the members of the Federal Government and the State Secretaries, the members of the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Council as well as the members of the European Parliament elected in Austria, for senior employees of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs and other civil servants of the higher foreign service with the exception of retired civil servants, other contract employees of the higher foreign service after successfully passing the service examination. Furthermore, a diplomatic passport is issued for members of the diplomatic staff of Austrian professional representation authorities as well as their spouses or registered partners, minor children if they live with them in the same household and other family members living in the same household, as well as for the heads of coordination offices of the Austrian Development Cooperation Society and their representatives and their spouses or registered partners, minor children if they live with them in the same household and other family members living in the same household. A diplomatic passport can also be issued for other persons who are employed by the Republic of Austria in a diplomatic or consular capacity abroad and for persons who work in a managerial position within international organisations and institutions if this activity is in the foreign policy interests of the Republic of Austria to be issued [that could be an option, although it’s hard to see how Mr. Epstein’s allegedly ‘regular’ passport could fall into the category of ‘diplomatic’ passports].

Once the role relevant to the issuance of a diplomatic passport ends, the right to a diplomatic passport expires. The diplomatic passport must immediately be returned to the issuing authority for cancellation [that’s technically also the case for ‘regular’ citizens, although I’d add, given my extensive expat experiences in three countries, that one might also, at times, be sent a new passport by registered mail and must invalidate/cancel the old passport oneself, but one is still obliged to confirm receipt-cum-cancellation in writing and send a picture of said passport via email; all of this is presupposed on filing relevant paperwork etc.]

The 1992 Passport Act regulates in great detail which Austrian citizens are or can be issued which passports. People who do not meet these requirements cannot therefore benefit from an Austrian travel document.

So, to sum up, while we don’t know why the Interior Minister added these meandering boilerplate paragraphs, one thing is certain at this point: Mr. Epstein—or whatever his ‘real’ name—might have held a forged or genuine Austrian passport, but no-one in official Austria will go on the record saying anything about it.

To me, this points quite clearly to Mr. Epstein’s shady dealings, which is also the tentative conclusion of the one and only ‘alt-media’ outlet that touched this story so far.

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Epstein’s Austrian Passport Puts Pressure on Social Democrats

By Richard Schmitt, eXXpress.at, 4 Jan. 2024 [source]

The current trial revolving around allegations of abuse by against US billionaire Jeffrey Epstein (66) in New York is now also causing an inconvenience for the SPÖ: Epstein's second Austrian passport (in a false name) was issued during the SPÖ's sole government.

In 1982, 41 years ago, the federal government under Bruno Kreisky reigned without coalition partners, including the foreign minister and the interior minister. This year, Jeffrey Epstein, who was only 29 years old at the time, is said to have received a real Austrian passport—only the Ministry of the Interior, in 1982 under the leadership of Minister Erwin Lanc (SPÖ), could have issued it.

The document issued at the time was found during a house search in his penthouse in New York in 2019—next to thousands of child porn. Jeffrey Epstein's passport photo can be seen in the still green Austrian passport, but it bears a different name.

Epstein's lawyer said four years ago that the 66-year-old billionaire had the passport in the 1980s just in case he was taken hostage in a plane hijacking [this is an indirect quote from the above-related Kurier article]. The risk of this was high in those years when flying to the Middle East. But now statements have emerged in the current trial in New York that this Austrian passport was not only intended for an emergency, but was actually used—for trips to France, Great Britain, Spain, and Saudi Arabia, which is confirmed by visa stamps from their customs authorities.

Why was Epstein important to Austria's government in 1982?

The question that now arises is extremely explosive: why did the then US financial expert Jeffrey Epstein, who taught mathematics and physics at the Dalton School, an exclusive private school on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, from 1973 to 1975? only founded his New York-based asset management company (specialising in investments for billionaires) in August 1981 and why was it so important 41 years ago that he received a passport from the Austrian SPÖ-led government? In addition, someone—probably in the Ministry of the Interior—had to ensure that a false name was entered into this passport. A department head in Department III (Passports) probably did not determine this on his own [fair questions, isn’t it?]

Why was the US financial expert so important back in 1982 (or what did Jeffrey Epstein know?) that a member of the federal government under Bruno Kreisky ensured that he received a false Austrian passport? Was the Republic of Austria under pressure from the then US government of Ronald Reagan? [what for? I mean, Austria’s a very small, if not insignificant country, and the only good reason I could think of is mentioned below]

Only then, in 1982, did the ‘golden times’ of the US financial expert begin: as an asset manager, he demanded comprehensive power of attorney and thus took complete control of customer assets. According to Epstein’s own statements, he combined the roles of real estate agent, accountant, lawyer, money manager, trustee, and confidant to redesign the wealth structures of his individual or family clients. If Epstein charged a 0.5% commission for this, he would have collected an annual management fee of $75 million on the approximately $15 billion in client funds under management. One of his first customers: Adnan Kashoggi, the billionaire who also brought weapons from Israel to Iran for the USA (Iran-Contra affair) [this is a bigger deal here to consider, and I’ve yet to see reporting that touches this one…]

And—what a coincidence: just at the time the passport was awarded to Epstein, the VOEST [then a large steel combine in Linz, formerly known as the Hermann Goering Werke] subsidiary Noricum was supplying Iraq with artillery pieces of the Gun Howitzer Noricum (GHN-45) type between 1981 and 1983 via the camouflaged recipient Jordan. This, like the later arms deliveries to Iran via Libya, was a clear violation of a recently tightened federal law that prohibited arms deliveries to belligerent states, and consequently pertains also to criminal law.

The two Gulf war adversaries, Iran and Iraq, are said to have been supplied with 340 GHN-45 guns, 140 of which are said to have gone to Iran, whose armament Kashoggi is also said to have ensured.

On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in custody—at that time he was already accused of running a ring for the sexual exploitation of minors, many doubt that he committed suicide, and the USA was massively shaken by the judicial scandal.

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Bottom Lines: What About the Freemasons?

That’s it so far, but I consider the Iran-Contra implication a powerful, if quite—perhaps, even too—obvious explanation for Epstein’s Austrian passport.

At this point in time, I think I’ll have to read up on the nooks and crannies of the Iran-Contra Affair to see if I can find out something about the Noricum gun dealings (which my somewhat cursory investigation so far has not shown to have been explored in detail, if at-all). I would appreciate it if there’s someone with ‘more’ Iran-Contra knowledge to shine a light on this issue.

There’s yet another angle to consider here, and we shall do so via reporting by alt-news outlet Der Status, which recently pointed to the prominent role of freemasons in Austrian politics:

It is well known about Federal President Alexander van der Bellen: he is a Freemason. Even if he doesn't really want to remember whether he's still a member. In the case of former Burgtheater actor Florian Teichtmeister [and convicted pedophile], his membership in a lodge only became known to a broad majority in the wake of the pedophilia scandal, when that same lodge distanced itself…

Widely Connected Ties

The former Green Party leader and current Federal President is not an isolated case: the former SPÖ Chancellor Fred Sinowatz is also known to be a member of the Masons, as are the former SPÖ Transport Minister Rudolf Streicher and the former SPÖ politician Hannes Androsch. And let’s not to forget Vienna's former mayor Helmut Zilk, who is said to have worked for the [Communist] Czechoslovak intelligence service at the same time. Similarly, Udo Proksch's ‘Club 45’ also saw itself as a kind of secret lodge [all these gentlement were SPÖ power-brokers at the time Mr. Epstein allegedly received his Austrian passport]. The tradition of open ‘red freemasonry’ is currently being continued by, among others, the Vienna SPÖ city councillor Peter Hanke, who makes no secret of his lodge membership.

Likewise, well-known Freemasons were regularly found among [conservative] ÖVP politicians; a well-known example was their influential cultural politician Jörg Mauthe. The family of short-term Chancellor and current Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg can also look back on a centuries-long lodge tradition [yes, he of the lockdown for the unvaccinated infamy]. Of course, there are people in all parties in the system who are close to organised Freemasonry. Lobbyists such as long-time NEOS major donor Hans-Peter Haselsteiner and various artists can also be found among the members…

While the then SPÖ Chancellor Christian Kern [in office in the 2010s] was allowed to warn prominently years ago in the Bilderberger-financed Der Standard against alleged ‘infiltration’ by [of course far right-wing] Student Corporations, he showed no concerns about real secret societies such as masonry and their work in bureaucracy, ministerial cabinets, companies, or legacy media . And that despite the fact (precisely because?) his own red SPÖ is said to be riddled with lodge brothers whose loyalty is first to the Freemason values, then to the party and only at some point and finally to the well-being of the sovereign people.

I’ll leave it to you, dear readers, to assess the bigger threat for republican governance: secretive masonic societies and their willing executioners—or ‘far right-wing’ politicos who speak out against these shenanigans.

This looks bad, and I can quite clearly—perhaps even too clearly—see how the infamous socialist governments ‘helped’ out Mr. Epstein and his questionable connections in the Middle East.

All very troubling aspects, no doubt, and I’m hoping we’ll find out ‘more’ soon.