Jeffrey Epstein discussed quite a few things in the newly released tranche of emails put out by House Republicans this week: current events, the New York Times’s reporting, legal action against him, and a whole lot more. Yet, based on these documents, he also appears to have some interest in art.
In one email sent on May 30, 2019, Epstein wrote to Michael Wolff, a reporter who has written on Donald Trump and his election as President, about a very expensive painting that has commonly been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Though Epstein did not refer to the painting by its name, he was talking about Salvator Mundi, the most expensive artwork ever sold publicly at auction. In 2017, the painting sold for $450.3 million at a Christie’s auction. Its attribution, however, has come into doubt since then.
The painting’s buyer was reportedly Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, a Saudi prince who was little known at the time. He is largely thought to have purchased the work for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS for short.
Salvator Mundi has disappeared from public view in the years since. Investigations into its whereabouts have ensnared Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian billionaire who has appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list and was involved in negotiations to purchase the work prior to the Christie’s auction. (Rybolovlev tried to gain the painting with the help of Sotheby’s, whom he claimed worked with the dealer Yves Bouvier to defraud him out of millions of dollars. Rybolovlev sued the auction house and lost.) He notably bought a $95 million house formerly owned by Trump in Palm Beach, Florida.
“is it a coincidence that the russian that bought the house in palm beach and knows all, is the same guy
that sold a painting last year to mbs for 450 million dollars. that was only worth 1. 5m?” Epstein wrote to Wolff.
The precise context of the exchange is unclear because the Google Drive put together by the House Republicans contains many emails that are not organized chronologically. But it appears to be part of a larger conversation with Wolff, who then pressed Epstein to explain what he meant by this. “So MBS was paying him off? Why? Ideas?” wrote Wolff. (On a Daily Beast podcast this week, Wolff described his interactions with Epstein as “play-acting” to draw new leads out of his source while also admitting that the emails may come off as “embarrassing.”)
“reminder trump overuled congress on yemen,” Epstein wrote back. Moreover, Epstein said, “my art guyd said the painting wasn’t very good.”
“You have an art guy?” Wolff asked.
“Doesn’t everyone,” Epstein said.
