New details continue to emerge in the case of Jeffrey Epstein. The US financier and sex offender committed suicide in 2019 after his arrest on charges of human trafficking and soliciting prostitution, including of minors. Although hundreds of names of his victims and clients had been made public, there was almost no Russian trail in the Epstein case – until now.
The Dossier Center has uncovered the financier’s close contacts with Sergei Belyakov, then Deputy Minister of Economic Development and later head of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum Foundation, which runs the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). It has become the norm for female escorts from all over Russia to be present at the Forum.
Belyakov is a graduate of the FSB Academy which prepares Russian intelligence officers. As the Dossier Center discovered, he helped Epstein to deal with a Russian model who was blackmailing American businessmen, as well as proposing to arrange meetings with Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak and Central Bank Deputy Chairman Alexei Simanovsky. For his part, Epstein advised Belyakov on saving the Russian economy amid imposed sanctions, while also recruiting high-profile guests for SPIEF.
It is unlikely that Epstein’s request would have surprised Belyakov. The St. Petersburg Economic Forum had long been known as a ‘hotspot’ for Russian escort girls. Modelling agencies openly admit that they officially collaborate with the SPIEF organizers – and that they do not control what their models do once the official events are over.
Escort services are risky not only for the people who are drawn into prostitution, but also for their clients. Sex workers often videotape their companions in order to blackmail them later. This was the case, for example, with the Belarusian Anastasia Vashukevich (“Nastya Rybka”), who was involved in a scandal with the oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and Sergei Prikhodko, Deputy Chairman of the Russian government. Compromising materials on high-profile businessmen and politicians are often gathered by intelligence services, a method commonly known as a ‘honey trap’. One occasion when this was used was the case of the Estonian military officer Deniss Metsavas, who was sentenced to 15.5 years for collaborating with Russian military intelligence. Metsavas said he had spent time with a girl during his trip to Smolensk, and then learnt from an officer of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) that she had filed a rape claim against him, and that only spying for Russia could save him from prosecution and disgrace. ...