What Epstein’s Bodyguard Warned About His CIA Connections

A rare glimpse inside Epstein’s network of protection — from a chilling warning to a secret trip to Langley — and why the government kept victims in the dark.

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When trying to understand how Jeffrey Epstein was so inexplicably protected throughout his life — and even in his death, with the Justice Department’s refusal to release the files — for the horrendous crimes he committed against as many as a thousand girls (the FBI’s likely conservative estimate), you can’t help but think that he was a part of the system himself. No one gets that kind of protection. Even with his level of access and money, he must have provided value. That’s why an interview that I conducted in 2020 with Brad Edwards, a lawyer for Epstein’s victims, has always haunted me.

It’s about a conversation Edwards had with Epstein’s bodyguard of five years, Igor Zinoviev, who warned him to back off because of Epstein’s 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 me for Broken: Jeffrey Epstein, the podcast series I hosted and reported.

“And I said, ‘Well, give me some examples. I mean, who am I messing with?’” Edwards recalled. “And that's when he looked across the table and whispered three letters, ‘C-I-A.’”

🔐 Keep reading for what Zinoviev described in detail at CIA headquarters while Epstein was serving his 2008 sentence — and how it fits into a troubling pattern of protection I uncovered in my reporting.

After multiple exchanges with the CIA press’s office since July 21, I still haven’t received a confirmation or denial of these mysterious visits in 2008.