Former bodyguard says CIA protected Epstein

There may have been a major reason why Jeffrey Epstein continued to avoid the law and any sort of harsh punishment: He was protected by the CIA, at least that is what his former bodyguard claimed, Knewz.com can reveal. Investigative journalist Tara Palmeri, who has covered the predator for more than a decade, sat down with Brad Edwards, a lawyer for Epstein’s victims, for an interview that sparked a theory Epstein may have been well-connected and protected by high-profile figures and government departments.

Edwards shared details of a previous conversation he had with Igor Zinoviev, Epstein’s bodyguard of five years, who warned the attorney to cool it on Epstein because the creep allegedly had shadowy connections to the U.S. government. “[Zinoviev said] ‘You don’t know who you’re messing with, and you need to be really careful. You are on Jeffrey’s radar and somebody that Jeffrey pays a lot of attention to, which is not good. You don’t want to be on Jeffrey’s radar,’” Edwards told Palmeri on her “Broken: Jeffrey Epstein” podcast. “And I said, ‘Well, give me some examples. I mean, who am I messing with?’ And that’s when he looked across the table and whispered three letters, ‘C-I-A.’”

Zinoviev, a Russian-born UFC fighter, drove Epstein around for almost five years during the height of the trafficking operation, and he recalled his first assignment in 2008 during the criminal’s brief detention – 13 months at the Palm Beach County jail with work release – was to visit CIA headquarters in Virginia. According to Edwards, Zinoviev told him it was there Epstein would attend classes for a week as the only private citizen in the room. At the end of the class, someone handed him a book with a handwritten note inside. Zinoviev was told not to read it and to only deliver it to Epstein behind bars. “Everybody there knew who he was. He’s an important person. And I said, ‘Is he in the CIA?’” Edwards recalled, adding that Zinoviev replied, “I don’t know.”

However, according to former CIA officer John Sipher, the agency can’t use Americans unless they volunteer information. He theorized Epstein may have been a “hyper-fixer” — someone with connections who can get into anywhere — but added Epstein would have been “too risky to touch” because of his background. Sipher told Edwards the CIA would be able to confirm if Zinoviev and Epstein visited headquarters in 2008 because every visitor is logged. “If they say there’s no record, don’t believe them,” Sipher told the attorney. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18. He was given a slap on the wrist and sentenced to 18 months in a minimum-security facility. Under the agreement, Epstein would be under a work release arrangement in which he returned to the jail to sleep at night.

If Epstein was indeed working with the CIA, which his former attorney, Alan Dershowitz, denied, the lawyer said he “would have gone to the government and said, you know, ‘He’s an intelligence agent. Don’t prosecute him.’” However, those were similar words Epstein told Edwards during an alleged conversation in 2008, during the same time Edwards was trying to overturn the sweetheart deal. “I’m never going to be prosecuted,” Epstein said, according to Edwards. “You know, Trump was my friend, my close friend, and you know [Bill] Barr is his boy.” The president, 79, has done all he can to separate himself from Epstein, using all types of “distractions,” telling the media to focus on Bill Clinton, for example, and even blaming his loyal supporters for pushing the story.