Latvian Police Initiates Criminal Case Based on New Epstein Case Materials 0 6

As reported by the State Police (GP), on Wednesday, in coordination with the prosecutor's office, a criminal proceeding was initiated at the Department for Combating Organized Crime and Serious and Serial Crimes regarding the materials published on the official website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about the criminal network created by Epstein and the recruitment of several individuals, possibly including Latvian citizens, for sexual exploitation in the United States.

The criminal case is currently classified under the Criminal Law article on human trafficking.

The police did not provide further comments.

As previously reported, Latvia is mentioned in the new materials related to the Epstein case as one of the possible locations for the recruitment of underage girls, Latvian Television reported on February 1 in its program "Panorama."

Latvia is mentioned in the documents over 500 times, and Riga over 800 times. The released files mention the names of several Latvian models and modeling agencies, as well as personal correspondence between Epstein and Latvian girls. It is presumed that Latvians may have also been his assistants.

Latvia's name first appears in documents from 2001 when one of Epstein's associates discusses an invitation to visit Latvia allegedly from the then Prime Minister. An anonymous sender in the letter mentions receiving a personal invitation from the head of the Latvian government and asks if "fish is biting" in Latvia. In 2001, the Prime Minister was Andris Berzins.

Berzins, in a comment to LTV, denied inviting Epstein to Latvia and told other media that he had never been fond of fishing.

According to LTV, most records about Latvia are dated 2007. They mention the names of Latvian models and agencies, indicating a possible role of the agencies in establishing contacts between Epstein and Latvian girls. Among numerous records are copies of Latvian passports, airline tickets to and from Riga, hotel bookings (most often the "Grand Palace Hotel," mentioned in 67 records), gifts, and personal correspondence between Epstein and Latvians.

One of Epstein's close associates, international modeling agency agent Jean-Luc Brunel, served on the jury of the "Baltic Beauty" modeling contest organized by the "Natalie" agency for girls aged 14 and older for several years. Back in 2011, the program "de facto" reported on an investigation suggesting that Brunel might have supplied Epstein with underage girls. The then-head of the "Natalie" agency, Eric Meisans, also mentioned in the correspondence, denies any involvement in a comment.

The U.S. Department of Justice last week published at least three million pages of materials related to the Epstein case, as well as over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

Epstein was accused of sexually exploiting dozens of underage girls and human trafficking. He committed suicide in August 2019 in a New York detention center, a day before documents revealing details of the sexual exploitation network he led from 2002 to 2005 became publicly available.

Under pressure from Republicans, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law last November requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to release most materials related to Epstein within 30 days.

After missing the deadline (December 19), the Department of Justice explained the delay by stating that it had tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the documents and determining what should be redacted to protect the identities of victims and not affect ongoing investigations.

According to the department, the total number of documents to be reviewed reached approximately six million, including copies.

Before Christmas, the Department of Justice released thousands of documents — photographs, transcripts of interrogations, call logs, and other materials. Many of them had previously been available or heavily redacted.