In a recent interview on The Nick Bryant Podcast, attorney Bradley Edwards disclosed details from a 2016 meeting with one of Jeffrey Epstein‘s former bodyguards that exposed troubling connections between the convicted financier and U.S. intelligence agencies.
The encounter began when Edwards traveled to Barcelona to interview a witness who had been held on Epstein’s private island. During that conversation, Edwards asked if anyone could corroborate her account. She identified a bodyguard as “a good person” and “a good human being” who would “tell you the truth.”
Edwards tracked down the bodyguard in Florida and arranged to meet at a Starbucks location, ironically the same one where Edwards had previously met with Epstein himself. The bodyguard, though no longer in Epstein’s employ, was reluctant to discuss his former boss.
Edwards recalled: “Nice guy, super nice guy, but for somebody who looks like he’s never scared of anything, he was somewhat frightened.”
The bodyguard refused to allow recording or note-taking but spoke at length, attempting to convey the extent of Epstein’s power and reach. According to Edwards, the bodyguard explained that while he understood what Epstein did to girls, Epstein was just too powerful and connected.
Edwards recalled what the bodyguard said: “I know that too but he’s also just a very dangerous person and a really connected person. And there’s no way you can ever bring him down. He told me about how he has the government in his pocket.”
The most startling revelation came when the bodyguard described being sent to CIA headquarters at Langley while Epstein was incarcerated in 2009-2010. Edwards recounted the bodyguard’s account: “Jeffrey Epstein sent me to Langley and it was a week long that I… this is bodyguard talking… was in classes at CIA headquarters.”
At the conclusion of the training, someone gave the bodyguard a book containing a folded handwritten letter. The bodyguard understood he was not to read it.
Edwards explained what happened next: “There was a folded up handwritten letter inside that I was not supposed to look at and I didn’t look at it because I knew better than to look at it. And I was to deliver that to Jeffrey Epstein in jail and I did.”
The bodyguard used this incident to illustrate his warning to Edwards. He recalled, “The point of that is while Jeffrey Epstein was in jail, the CIA was writing personal letters to Jeffrey Epstein and having me deliver it to him. You don’t want to mess with this guy.”
The bodyguard went on to describe other concerning connections, including meetings Epstein had with powerful individuals around the world and people who could cause Epstein to immediately board a plane.
His final message to Edwards was clear: “You are on Jeffrey Epstein’s radar as like person number one, so be careful.”
Edwards later told Bryant that Epstein himself had confirmed government connections during their conversations. He stated, “He did have very close connections with high ranking people within our own government, I think we know that. Whether there were formal ties at the end, I don’t know that. I have a pretty good feeling, including Jeffrey telling me himself that there were at one point in time formal association between him and the government. He told me that several times.”
The bodyguard’s account aligns with other evidence that has emerged, including Epstein’s Freedom of Information Act requests referencing an alleged affiliation with the CIA and the agency’s rare Glomar response, neither confirming nor denying records exist.
Edwards noted that based on his conversation with the bodyguard, Epstein had backing from foreign governments and extremely wealthy individuals who needed their own security apparatus. “Jeffrey Epstein was like the the kind of messiah for these people,” Edwards said, though he acknowledged not fully understanding why Epstein commanded such loyalty and protection.
The attorney emphasized that he believed critical questions remain unanswered because the right people have not been placed under oath. “I really think that in the next couple years we might actually get some answers from some of those people but there has to be there has to be pressure for them to talk.”
Edwards, who represented 69 Epstein accusers spanning from 1990 to 2019, successfully proved in federal court that the government had violated the CVRA act by secretly negotiating Epstein’s 2008 non-prosecution agreement. That agreement granted immunity not only to Epstein but also to numerous co-conspirators, preventing federal prosecution even after Epstein’s arrest and subsequent death in 2019.
