The latest batch of documents related to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein features several high-profile people from Spain, including the country’s former prime minister.
The latest release of files related to the financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has revealed several Spanish connections, ranging from royalty and the highest levels of politics down to TV personalities and business figures.
The disgraced former King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, appears in the documents, raising suspicion that the exiled former head of state may have even met with Epstein.
The disgraced King appears in more than a dozen of the documents. Some are simple newspaper clippings, while others mention Corinna Larsen, his former partner.
In one redacted document, there is even mention of a dinner with the King Emeritus. Specifically, in an email from Epstein, there is a mention of an alleged meeting: “Dinner with King Juan Carlos of Spain tonight, impressive. Dinner organised by Pepe Fanjul for friends,” it reads. Pepe Fanjul is an influential Cuban businessman.
Among other Spaniards mentioned is former President José María Aznar. One of the emails refers to a shipment, sent via a parcel delivery company, addressed directly to La Moncloa, the Presidential palace in Madrid, in the name of the former Prime Minister and his wife.
The Aznar family denies any knowledge of the matter.
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Specifically, the files show that Jeffrey Epstein and his partner Ghislane Maxwell sent two packages to the Aznars in 2003 and 2004. The first was sent while he was still President, in September 2003, from offices in New York to the Moncloa Palace.
The files also contain an email, which, judging by the address, was sent by the former president’s son to confirm his father’s address at Faes, a Madrid think tank, and signed with a simple “Kisses, Jose”.
The files also mention Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Spain’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2010, in relation to diplomatic contacts and authorisations for private meetings with figures close to the Moroccan government.
In celebrity circles, Spanish TV personality Ana Obregón has also long been linked to Epstein.
Reporting in the Spanish press suggests that her family actually contributed to creating Epstein’s fortune. That was the conclusion reached by a New York Times investigation into the origins of Epstein’s empire.
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In the early 1980s, several wealthy Spanish families hired the financier, then a financial consultant, to locate millions of dollars following the fraudulent bankruptcy of a stockbroking firm. Among those families was that of Ana Obregón, now a well known face on Spanish TV screens.
According to the New York Times, Obregón and Epstein were dating when she was living in New York in 1982. At the time, she reportedly spoke of an “American boyfriend” but denied having an affair with the billionaire paedophile. In her 2012 memoir, the actress referred to him as “Jeff”, “her guardian angel in New York”, and described him as the perfect man.
In the latest batch of files released, the financier’s contact book reveals several more notable Spaniards, including businessman Alejandro Agag, a former member of the European Parliament, and Jacobo Gordon, a businessman convicted in the Gürtel case.
Maite Arango, a director at Acciona, also appears, as does Joaquín Fernández de Córdoba Arión, Duke of Arión.
Other names listed as separate contacts are Fernando Arión and Fernando de Córdova Hohenlohe, aristocrats, as well as Nacho Gaspar and Ludmila García.
Versions of the document also mention business figures Juan Herrero and Helen Herrero.
Appearing in the Epstein files does not necessarily mean any of the figures named are suspected or guilty of anything, nor even that they necessarily had a relationship with Epstein.
