In brief
- Emails released from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate reference Tether co-founder Brock Pierce.
- Epstein was asked about a meeting with Pierce at his Manhattan mansion, they show.
- Pierce spoke to Larry Summers about Bitcoin, an unpublished article states.
Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce spoke about Bitcoin with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, according to a series of emails from the disgraced financier’s estate.
The exchange, which took place after Epstein’s conviction as a sex offender in 2008, was going to be referenced in an article for New York Magazine in 2015, but the outlet appears to have never published the story that highlighted several of Epstein’s high-profile guests.
During the meeting, Pierce, who co-founded stablecoin issuer Tether, described himself to Summers as “the most active investor in Bitcoin,” according to a version of the article included in the emails, which were released by U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday.
Summers, a former Harvard University president, saw “opportunities” with Bitcoin but was concerned about damage to his reputation if he lost his funds, the article states.
“I could go from being seen as a figure of some probity and some intelligence to being a figure of much less intelligence and much less probity,” Summers said, according to the article, in response to an update from Pierce on “rapid Bitcoin price swings.”
The interaction in the article, which spans a handful of paragraphs, ends with Pierce saying that “you’re going to have some low-quality characters playing early in the space.”
Pierce’s connection to Epstein has been documented before, including a 2011 visit to the Virgin Islands, where Pierce attended a scientific conference hosted by Epstein called Mindshift.
A spokesperson for Pierce told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 that “the few communications that Mr. Pierce had with Epstein related to cryptocurrency,” and that they saw each other “at industry events, where many other prominent people were present.”
The materials released this week show how Epstein may have played a larger role in Pierce’s business efforts than previously known, as someone who could connect him with powerful people in the realm of traditional finance and academia, when Bitcoin was a relatively nascent asset.
Pierce and Summers did not immediately respond to Decrypt‘s request for comment.
Who wrote the story?
The former child actor, who starred in Disney’s “The Mighty Ducks,” wasn’t the only individual with ties to cryptocurrency that was referenced in the article.
On Epstein’s schedule, around the time of Pierce’s conversation with Summers, was PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, the article states. Thiel’s Founders Fund first bought Bitcoin in 2014, as one of the earliest institutional investors in the space, according to Reuters.
The article only specifies that Epstein’s interactions with Summers, Pierce, and possibly Thiel took place after the disgraced financier’s conviction in 2008. But emails show that it was being fact-checked by journalist Alex Yablon in March 2015.
Yablon did not immediately respond to Decrypt‘s for comment.
Among dozens of questions about Epstein’s lifestyle, Yablon asked: “Did you meet with Brock Pierce to discuss Bitcoin? Did Larry Summers join this meeting?”
A separate email shows that Epstein immediately forwarded Yablon’s questions to author Michael Wolff, with the message “nfw,” which is shorthand for “no fucking way.”
Four minutes later, Epstein forwarded Yablon’s fact-checking efforts to Darren Indyke, who served as his personal lawyer, and became co-executor of Epstein’s estate around the time of his 2019 death, another email shows. No message was included.
When President Donald Trump was a candidate for the White House in 2015, Wolff provided Epstein with advice on how he could benefit from his history with the politician, potentially “generating a debt,” other emails show.
Wolff, who has written several books about President Donald Trump, pushed back against the idea that he was helping a convicted pedophile in an interview published by The Daily Beast on Wednesday, describing the dynamic as a way to gain greater access.
Wolff did not immediately respond to Decrypt‘s request for comment.
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