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American financier Jeffrey Epstein sought to recover $80 billion in frozen Libyan state assets through a network of former British and Israeli intelligence officials, according to new documents released Friday by the US Department of Justice.
According to a July 2011 email sent by one of his associates, it reveals plans to exploit the “political and economic chaos” in Libya to identify and recover Libyan funds frozen in Western countries.
The frozen assets amounted to about $80 billion, including $32.4 billion in the United States. The email described the assets as “stolen and misappropriated,” noting that their potential value could be three or four times that much.
In this correspondence, Epstein argued that Libya, rich in oil and with an educated population, represented a strategic opportunity for financial and legal investment.
The documents describe preliminary discussions with international law firms to work on the case on a contingent fee basis, meaning they would only be paid if they won the case. Former MI6 and Mossad officials had expressed a willingness to contribute to efforts to identify and recover the assets, according to the documents.
The correspondence emphasized that identifying and recovering even a small portion of these funds could generate “billions of dollars” and cited projections that Libya would need to spend at least $100 billion on reconstruction and economic recovery.
Frozen funds remain unfrozen
Libya is trying to recover its frozen funds in Western countries under UN Security Council Resolution 1973, adopted in March 2011 as part of sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi's regime during the uprising that toppled him.
Last year, the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, led by Abdelhamid Dbeibeh, established a legal committee to pursue the case in cooperation with several countries, after several states had filed lawsuits to seize part of the funds under the pretext of compensation for investments disrupted in Libya due to the ongoing conflict.
However, the continuation of conflicts over recent years has hindered the implementation of this resolution, supporting justifications for the delay in recovering funds.
The documents do not indicate whether Epstein's plans to access frozen assets have advanced beyond preliminary discussions.
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