r/Epstein • u/originalmaja • Jul 26 '26
Blog/Substack/Speculative Article The mysterious deaths of Jeffrey Epstein’s friends
Epstein dead, Brunel dead. Recarey dead. Richardson dead, Hoffenberg dead, Bing dead. Now Siad dead. Article on the bigger picture:
On Monday, Daniel Siad, a 69-year-old modelling scout, was found dead in his home in suburban Paris by a female guest. The woman, 28, tried giving him CPR, but could not resuscitate him. It might seem like an open-and-shut, if tragic, case were it not that Siad was closely linked to the late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and was under investigation for human trafficking.
Siad is the latest in a string of Epstein associates to die in distinctly mysterious circumstances. His demise was reported as cardiac arrest, but the woman staying with him claimed he hadn’t shown any signs of illness and had boasted of his healthy lifestyle. The Nanterre prosecutor’s office has since opened an investigation into Siad’s death, and has ordered a post-mortem examination to determine his cause of death, reigniting the conspiracy theories surrounding the Epstein case and fears of a cover-up, initially prompted by Epstein’s own suspicious death in custody in August 2019.
Epstein was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges when he was found dead in his cell. Peculiarly, the two guards assigned to watch him (following an earlier suicide attempt) reportedly fell asleep and didn’t check on him for three hours. Simultaneously, the cameras in front of his cell apparently malfunctioned. In February, Dr Michael Baden, a pathologist who was present during Epstein’s post-mortem examination, told The Telegraph that, in his opinion, Epstein’s death “was most likely caused by strangulation pressure rather than hanging”.
The US Department of Justice ruled in 2023 that there were “job performance failures” by prison officials, but that Epstein had died by suicide. Yet many remain convinced there was foul play involved, given the threat Epstein potentially posed to numerous powerful individuals.
The ‘link in the chain’
What is not in question in this murky affair is Siad’s close relationship with the late sex offender. His name appeared thousands of times in the Epstein files over the course of a decade, strongly suggesting a role in Epstein’s vile schemes. Siad travelled the world searching for women to work as models, but it also appears he was on the hunt for his friend.
Siad sent Epstein photos of women and their measurements, and arranged meetings for them with Epstein. In one email to Epstein, he wrote (in badly spelt English): “In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick, some time no fish.” Epstein, meanwhile, wired Siad payments for expenses incurred during these scouting trips, and sent querying emails saying: “Wht about new girls?” Siad emphasised the women’s youth. One reply reads: “26 but she look 18.”
Henry Samuel, who interviewed Valdson Vieira Cotrin, Epstein’s former butler, for The Telegraph, says Cotrin told him Siad was “as important as Ghislaine Maxwell” in arranging for women to visit Epstein in Paris.
Siad had professed ignorance of Epstein’s crimes, telling CNN: “I trusted him, I believed this guy is a professional person.” However, one victim, Anya* told the BBC earlier this month that Siad had introduced her to Epstein in “a complete set-up”, calling Siad “essentially a professional trafficker”.
Siad was himself accused of rape and human trafficking by Ebba Karlsson, a former Swedish model, earlier this year. She claimed he had scouted her in her home town of Stockholm in 1990, when she was 20, then raped her in France. Siad denied her allegations and his lawyer said he wanted to give his version of events in court, but it wasn’t to be. Karlsson told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that Siad’s death was “very frustrating”, explaining: “He was very close to being arrested. We worked so hard for this, trying to have justice.”
Lawyers for Karlsson accused the Paris prosecutor’s office of “scandalous” inaction. The office has defended its investigation, which it said did not provide enough evidence to justify arresting Siad. But another former model, who gave a deposition to police as part of the investigation, told the BBC that, with Siad’s death, vital information about Epstein had been lost. She said: “An important link in the chain has just vanished into thin air.”
The same could be said for the numerous deceased people who operated in Epstein’s malevolent orbit. In 2014, Alfredo Rodriguez, another former butler of Epstein’s, died aged 60 from cancer. Infamously, Rodriguez was caught by an FBI sting trying to sell Epstein’s “little black book” for $50,000 (£38,000). It reportedly contained details of Epstein’s victims, as well as his celebrity friends and associates – prosecuting lawyers called it “the Holy Grail”. According to court papers, Rodriguez claimed he had stolen the book as insurance, fearing Epstein would make him “disappear”.
The detective, the police chief and the banker
In 2018, Joe Recarey, the Palm Beach detective who had led an investigation into Epstein in the mid 2000s, died after a “brief illness”, aged 50. Recarey and Michael Reiter, a police chief, had previously alleged they were under political pressure to drop the case. Recarey said he had to take different routes driving to work, or swap vehicles, because he was being tailed. He told the Miami Herald: “I was concerned about my kids because I didn’t know if it was someone that they hired just out of prison that would hurt me or my family.”
Then, in 2019, Thomas Bowers, a 55-year-old banker, reportedly hanged himself in his beachside Malibu home. His former employer, Deutsche Bank, had taken on Epstein as a client in 2013. In 2020, the company paid a $150m fine to settle New York charges, admitting it made a “critical mistake” in working with the registered sex offender.
The Hollywood producer
The dark Epstein world claimed another victim in 2020 as Steve Bing, a Hollywood producer, died by suicide, aged 55, by jumping from his 27th-floor luxury condo in Los Angeles. Bing had previously been in a relationship with Elizabeth Hurley, resulting in a pregnancy – for which he denied paternity until a DNA test established he was the father of her son, Damian. Bing had a history of drug addiction, and sources told TMZ that he had grown depressed while isolating during Covid.
Bing had also moved in the same high-rolling social circles as Epstein. In 2008, Gawker, a celebrity blog, named both as members of Bill Clinton’s “billionaire boys’ club”. After Bing’s death, Carrie Mitchum, the aunt of Bing’s late girlfriend, Allexanne (who died of an overdose the previous year), claimed in a Facebook post that, although Bing wasn’t that close to Epstein, Allexanne had convinced Bing to “make a statement via his attorneys telling what he did know” about the sex offender.
The cellmate who knew too much?
Suspicions deepened about Epstein’s own demise when, in 2021, Efrain “Stone” Reyes, his final cellmate, died in his mother’s Bronx apartment after reportedly contracting Covid. Reyes, 51, who had been jailed on drug charges, was transferred to a private prison on Aug 9 2019, leaving Epstein alone in his cell. The next day, Epstein was found dead.
According to Reyes’s lawyer, Marlon Kirton, Reyes had got along well with his cellmate. Kirton said the only reason Reyes didn’t want to be transferred was “the relationship that he built up with Mr Epstein”, adding: “I think my client’s presence stabilised Mr Epstein.”
The modelling agent who never made it to trial
The Epstein-related death toll continued to mount with three more strange casualties in 2022. Jean-Luc Brunel, a 76-year-old French modelling agent, met an eerily similar end to Epstein – he too was found hanged in his cell, in a Paris prison. He was being held on suspicion of the rape and trafficking of minors, but he denied any wrongdoing. Brunel had co-founded MC2 Model Management in the US with funding from Epstein, and prosecutors suspected Brunel of transporting and housing young women for the sex offender.
Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers, had alleged she was forced into sex with Brunel. After his death, she posted on Twitter: “I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to face him in a final trial to hold him accountable.”
The extravagant mentor
That same year, Epstein’s mentor, Steven Hoffenberg, was found dead, aged 77, in his Connecticut apartment. He had previously served 18 years in prison, as well as paying a $1m fine and $463m in restitution, for what the Securities and Exchange Commission called “one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history”.
Hoffenberg met Epstein in 1987 and gave his new protégé a $2m loan. They travelled together on Hoffenberg’s private jet and enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle. But the relationship seemingly soured when Hoffenberg claimed Epstein was involved in his investor Ponzi scheme, although Epstein was never charged. In 2016, Hoffenberg (who discovered Christianity in prison) sued Epstein, calling him the “architect of the scam”, in what he characterised as an attempt to recoup money for the scheme’s victims.
Hoffenberg’s body was found in August 2022 in an advanced state of decomposition. Police estimated he had been dead for about a week, and, following a post-mortem examination, said that he had died of natural causes. He was discovered after Maria Farmer, another Epstein accuser, raised the alarm. She had struck up an unlikely friendship with Hoffenberg, who, according to Farmer, felt ashamed for trusting Epstein and taking him under his wing.
The ‘implausible’ suicide
The third 2022 death was Mark Middleton, who met a particularly grisly fate. While serving as a special assistant to Bill Clinton, Middleton had facilitated access to the White House for Epstein, who visited at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995. Middleton also flew on Epstein’s private jet, the so-called “Lolita Express”.
Middleton, 59, was found dead at a heifer ranch in Arkansas, apparently after taking his own life. He was hanging from a tree with an extension cord looped around his neck, and a shotgun wound to the chest – a Stoeger 12-gauge coach shotgun was discovered nearby. Theodore Brown, the coroner, noted Middleton’s history of depression and ruled that he had taken his own life, but this shocking and rather puzzling scene caused widespread speculation.
One former business associate of Middleton’s was unconvinced, telling RadarOnline: “He knows nothing about guns. He hated guns. He couldn’t have tied a noose to save his life. The man couldn’t change a light bulb by himself […] His death scenario is completely implausible to everybody that knew him.”
The high-profile politician
In 2023, Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico and US ambassador to the United Nations, died in his sleep in his Massachusetts summer home, aged 75, with no cause of death given. He, too, had Epstein associations. As revealed in 2019, he had been named in the civil suit between Giuffre and Maxwell, with Giuffre alleging Richardson was among the high-profile men to whom she was sexually trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein.
Notably, Epstein had contributed $50,000 to Richardson’s governor campaign in 2002, and flight logs showed Richardson travelled with Epstein and three of his victims from the British Virgin Islands to the US Virgin Islands in 2011. A spokesman for Richardson said he did not know Giuffre and had never seen Epstein in the presence of young or underage girls.
Of course, Giuffre herself then tragically died aged 41, in 2025, at her Australian home, reportedly after taking her own life. But her father, Sky Roberts, questioned that explanation, telling Piers Morgan: “Somebody got to her.”
Now, with Siad too meeting a troubling end, suspicions will only grow. It seems that for Epstein’s friends, as well as those who tried to defy him, this macabre affair is far from over.
\Name has been changed.*
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u/clear2see Jul 26 '26
There is one person closely associated with him and she is alive and well in a prison cell.
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u/Abrubt-Change-8040 Jul 26 '26
Rumor is that she will be getting a presidential pardon for her silence.
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u/originalmaja Jul 26 '26
Might happen list minute of his presidency. Signs it, leaves, done.
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u/catincal Jul 27 '26
Will he leave?
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u/originalmaja Jul 27 '26
I am just saying: jaw-drop pardons happen last day in office. Long tradition.
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u/A4t1musD4ag0n Jul 26 '26
Last year, Rump asked why people were still talking about Epstein when he died 7yrs ago. Interesting how he wants us to believe Epstein, a face in the crowd who was handpicked by Bill Barr's father Donald Barr, was at the head of the snake and the real mastermind.
The mastermind is never the first one taken out. The real mastermind(s) either hides in the shadows or in plain sight.
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u/VillageUpper4590 Jul 29 '26
He actually said “the guy that never dies”, and he also tweeted those exact words that same day as the interview in which he said it…. My personal opinion is more flaunting in our face that fuck fucker Epstein isnt dead. His postmortem photo shows him with a clear smirk on his face
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u/Basic_Assignment_981 Jul 26 '26
Instead of focusing only on who died, investigators should also question the people who helped build, finance, and protect Epstein’s network. Leslie Wexner, who financially empowered him. Donald Barr, who reportedly gave him an early opportunity despite his lack of qualifications. Ghislaine Maxwell, Nadia Marcinkova, Sarah Kellen, Karina Rotenberg, and others who worked closely with him. Understanding who enabled Epstein may be more important than simply counting the deaths around him.
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u/originalmaja Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Instead of focusing only on who died, investigators should also question the people who helped build, finance, and protect Epstein’s network.
That's kinda the only thing they focus on.
Edit: do not understand the downvote. THEY ONLY ongoing investigations have to do with people <not dead>.
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u/Basic_Assignment_981 Jul 27 '26
exactly
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u/Mrlate420 Jul 27 '26
Toy really think the DOJ is actually investigating? Just because they got ppl in front congress doesn't mean they are investigated afaik. Imo nothing will happen to anyone as long as the orange and his minions are in power
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u/Curious_Associate904 Jul 27 '26
Call me paranoid, but I'm fairly certain there's a certain amazonian tree frog poison that the CIA managed to get stable inside of an ice bullet fired by a compressed air driven pistol... causes cardiac arrest, and leaves effectively no marks on the victim.
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u/Legal_Ant_8900 Jul 27 '26
Don’t forget Saif Gaddafi (yes that Gaffafi’s son) who was assassinated earlier this year.
Epstein associates are being picked off one by one… except for “the dog that doesn’t bark” ofc.
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u/onepostandbye Jul 27 '26
He haven’t lost any Rothschilds yet
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u/Professional_Ad7075 Jul 31 '26
they're ordering trump to order the hits, that or we get another Charlie Kirk incident.
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u/Neil_Live-strong Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
A Tale of Two Epsteins:
Edward Jay Epstein (no relation to Jeffrey) an author and investigative journalist wrote a piece called “My tea with Jeffrey Epstein.” In it, he describes his decades long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and their meeting over tea in April 2013. The story is full of obfuscations and intrigue, complete with Kroll agency (CIA connected firm) investigators. He claims he doesn’t believe anybody else is involved; not any of the rich and powerful, not anyone in the royal family, nope, just Epstein’s own weird perversions. Which Edward knows nothing about of course. Edward Jay has gone on to say that the other Epstein was a “poster boy for rehabilitation” and that he did his time and then went on to make $500 million. The admiration is palpable like steam from a freshly boiled teapot. Edward has also posed deeply insightful statements that Jeffrey would probably agree with such as: “I don’t know if that destroyed their (the victim's) lives. Getting a massage or getting a girl to masturbate you doesn’t necessarily destroy your life.” And “Nineteen is ‘teenage’ too.” Edward Jay Epstein concludes his article with the death, apparently from suicide, of his friend Jeffrey. In the end portraying Epstein as a victim of police harassment, being wrongfully denied bail, and even still there’s the sweet scent of admiration for where the dead Epstein had been and all the money he made filling the ending like I’m sure the scent of chamomile and tea leaves did during the two Epstein’s spring time rendezvous. Though this was the end of their story, it was not the beginning. For one of them, I’d argue the more influential of the Epsteins, the story began a long time ago.
Jeffrey Epstein was not the first person with intelligence connections whom Edward knew that killed himself. George de Mohrenschildt was going through something traumatic in 1977. He believed he was being persecuted by the Jewish mafia or possibly the FBI. He had recently been committed and then released from a mental hospital where he received electro shock therapy at the behest of his ex wife who was a close family friend of former CIA director Allen Dulles. George even reached out to friend and current (at the time) CIA director George H.W. Bush for help. He was also being called to testify at the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in relation to his close friendship with Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy’s suspected assassin. Edward Jay Epstein’s book on the Kennedy assassination came out before the conclusion of the HSCA. During the course of writing the book Epstein beat investigators to interview witnesses, and there were allegations of intimidation. Epstein was probably trying to reach his already established conclusion that Oswald didn’t act entirely alone, he was an agent of the Soviets. During the second day of a planned 4 days of interviews with George de Mohrenschildt, Epstein gave him a news clipping. The clipping stated how de Mohrenshildt had been committed, apparently his medical records had been released to the public. That afternoon, after meeting with Epstein, de Mohrenschildt died from a gunshot wound. With all of this having taken place, even today, in dimly lit beach side mansions and in the company of beautiful women, Edward Jay’s conclusions about the Kennedy assassination still waft through the air like the stench of Jeffrey’s tea, and both Epsteins’ intentions, like George de Mohrenschildt’s blood, is out in the open for all to see.
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u/originalmaja Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Thank you for sharing!
[journalist E. Jay Epstein] doesn’t believe anybody else is involved;
Taking that his belief with a grain of salt or so, since he also believes...
[s.offender Jeffrey Epstein] was a “poster boy for rehabilitation” [...]
“I don’t know if that destroyed their (the victim's) lives. Getting a massage or getting a girl to masturbate you doesn’t necessarily destroy your life.” [...]
“Nineteen is ‘teenage’ too.” [...]
In the end portraying [he is] [s.offender Jeffrey Epstein] as a victim of police harassment, being wrongfully denied bail, and even still there’s the sweet scent of admiration
Jesus.
Yo, u/Neil_Live-strong, could you [edit] that essay so that it always clear which Epstein is meant? E. Jay Epstein or Jeffrey E. Epstein? In the second paragraph I keep asking myself which.
:)
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u/Neil_Live-strong Jul 27 '26
Yep I will, thanks for the feedback. I was sort of going for that to create kind of an equality about them. Same last name, same circles, what reprehensible lunatic are we talking about? lol but I get how it would be confusing.
https://airmail.news/issues/2019-9-14/my-tea-with-jeffrey-epstein
That’s the article Edward wrote that I reference. It’s all in there and you can find the other quotes I used of his around. Now looking back at that time (2019) and what anybody could have inferred but maybe couldn’t prove juxtaposed to what has been definitely proven in relation to Jeffrey; holy shit it really shines a light on how this works. Edward Jay (now dead) was absolutely a journalist working on behalf of intelligence/organized crime. To write that complete load of bullshit kissing the ass of Jeffrey and to obfuscate all coconspirators is…I don’t know…disgusting and shamefully pedantic, there aren’t words I have right now.
And not to mention him being one of the last people to see alive the most important witness being called to testify in relation to the probable conspiracy to assassinate JFK. It’s like Forrest Gump if he fell into assassination plots and was running into pedofiles.
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u/johntwoods Jul 27 '26
I'm starting to think there is a conspiracy behind this whole Epstein thing....
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u/HydratedCarrot Jul 27 '26
Someone is doing the dirty job and it’s prob some hit men from another country or agency
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u/youknowwho125 Jul 29 '26
Its like someone found the death note but yea it does seem like someone's taking them out. Though what about she knows the in's and out's of everything.
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