THE CLIENT LIST NOBODY READ
A post is flying around with a mugshot, a smiling baroness and a dare: “Why isn’t anybody talking about this?” Fair question. So we did the boring part first. We read the deposition coverage, the Justice Department file dumps and the newspapers. Verdict: the bones are real, the details are sloppy, and the most important correction is that there are two different Rothschilds in this story, not one family running a plot.
THE CLIENT LIST NOBODY READ is the story of named people, signed contracts and a $25 million fee. It is also the story of both parties promising sunlight and then reaching for the dimmer switch.
Claim 1: the accountant and the five paying clients
Mostly true. On March 11, 2026, Epstein’s longtime accountant and estate co-executor Richard Kahn sat for a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee. Afterward Chairman James Comer told reporters, per CBS News: “He confirmed there were five clients that paid money to Epstein, and that was Les Wexner, Glenn Dubin, Steven Sinofsky, the Rothschilds and Leon Black.”
Two corrections. First, that quote is Comer’s summary of a closed-door session, not a public hearing, and the public summary we found does not say which Rothschilds. Second, the list was disputed on the spot: a Dubin spokeswoman told NBC News that Dubin “has never, never, ever paid anything,” and NBC noted authorities have accused no one Kahn named of wrongdoing. “Paying client” is a business relationship. It is not an indictment, and it is not a family membership card.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who relayed Richard Kahn’s list of five paying clients to reporters on March 11, 2026. Credit: United States Congress, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Claim 2: Ariane de Rothschild and the 4,400 hits
Partly true, and the real story is better than the meme. Ariane de Rothschild heads the Geneva-based Edmond de Rothschild private bank. Reuters found that she “corresponded dozens of times” with Epstein and agreed to multiple meetings over about five years before his 2019 arrest. Her name does turn up more than 4,400 times in the department’s online search, but Reuters says many of those hits are duplicates of the same emails. So: 4,400 search results, not 4,400 emails.
The dates hold up. The bank told Reuters Epstein was a business acquaintance from 2013 to 2019, which is years after his 2008 guilty plea. And the money is documented. The Miami Herald traced a 2015 deal between the bank, de Rothschild and Epstein’s Southern Trust Company that paid him $25 million after the bank settled a Justice Department tax probe for about $45 million. When she asked about the number, he called the total cost a “pretty good” deal. She replied: “a giant thk u.”
Here is the part the bank would rather you skip. In 2023 the Wall Street Journal reported the bank’s line that she met Epstein as part of her normal duties. Reuters says the released files “raise questions” about that characterization, and the Telegraph reports the group now concedes “a more personal relationship developed over the years.” Reuters also says the documents do not appear to contain any sign of criminal wrongdoing.
Claims 3 and 4: Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Dershowitz, Andrew and the Times
Different woman, different branch. Lynn Forester de Rothschild is the American-born widow of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild of the London branch. She has no role at Ariane’s Swiss bank. The viral post blends them into one “Rothschild.” That blend is where a real story turns into a very old smear, and we are not doing it.
Dershowitz: verified, by Dershowitz. In a sworn court declaration, Alan Dershowitz wrote: “I first was introduced to Mr. Epstein by a friend, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, in 1997.” (court filing). Other accounts of that same meeting place it on Martha’s Vineyard in 1996, so the year is fuzzy. The introduction is not.
Prince Andrew: claimed, not proven. The source is Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex trafficker, in her 2025 Justice Department interview. Per The Times, Maxwell said Forester invited Epstein to her Massachusetts home “and I believe that’s when he met Prince Andrew,” then added, “Now I’m speculating.” The post turns “I believe” plus “I’m speculating” into “she introduced him.” Taking a trafficker’s hedge as gospel is a choice.
The New York Times dirt: one tip, about her associates. In emails released by DOJ, Epstein wrote to Times reporter Landon Thomas Jr. in May 2010, under the subject “off the record,” that the Times had missed that her ex-husband Andrew Stein was arrested alongside financial adviser Kenneth Starr, and asked him to “please pass this to them” (DOJ file EFTA02415254). Thomas replied that it seemed “pretty far removed from the real world of a dying euro.” So yes, Epstein tried to plant a tip near her. “Quietly feeding dirt” about her overstates one email chain about her ex and her adviser.
Jeffrey Epstein in a 2006 Palm Beach County booking photo. His 2008 guilty plea came years before the 2013 to 2019 emails with Ariane de Rothschild. Credit: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Claim 5: nobody got charged
True for the people in this post, false as a blanket line. Neither Rothschild has been charged, and Reuters found no sign of criminal wrongdoing in the bank emails. But Epstein was charged twice, and Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence. The real scandal is not a secret prosecution that never happened. It is that a registered sex offender kept collecting eight-figure fees and elite phone numbers for a decade, and almost nobody with a title asked why.
Both costumes
The red costume. Trump and MAGA spent years promising the Epstein files. Then, per NPR’s timeline, the administration said there was no client list, Trump called the push a hoax, and he signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act only after a House revolt led by Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna. A month after the deadline, the Guardian reported nearly all the files were still unreleased. And when the emails got awkward, Trump asked DOJ to look at Democrats instead, including Reid Hoffman, per ABC News. Transparency, but only pointed at the other team.
The blue costume. Lynn Forester de Rothschild was a top Democratic fundraiser who hosted a 2016 Hillary Clinton dinner on Martha’s Vineyard, per Page Six. Bill and Hillary Clinton sat for Epstein depositions in February, per AP. Larry Summers stepped back from public life after his Epstein emails, per Reuters, and megadonor Reid Hoffman apologized in 2019 for helping Epstein’s MIT fundraising, per Axios. Democrats love the Epstein files right up until the index hits their Rolodex.
The U.S. Capitol, where the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed in November 2025 after a bipartisan discharge push. Credit: Architect of the Capitol, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
So, to answer the post: people are talking about it. Reuters, the Herald, the Telegraph and the Times all did. What nobody in power wants to do is follow the money without checking the donor’s party first. Name the person, show the document, say what is proven and what is a guess. If your outrage needs a dynasty to blame instead of a contract to read, you are not exposing Epstein’s world. You are doing its PR.
Receipts
- CBS News, March 2026. Kahn deposition; Comer’s “five clients” quote.
- NBC News, March 12, 2026. Kahn deposition; Dubin denial; no one Kahn named accused of wrongdoing.
- Reuters, Feb. 5, 2026. Ariane de Rothschild correspondence; 4,400 search hits with many duplicates; 2023 WSJ characterization; no sign of criminal wrongdoing.
- Miami Herald, 2026. Southern Trust agreements; $25 million fee; “pretty good” and “giant thk u” emails.
- The Telegraph, Feb. 6, 2026. “More personal relationship” statement; cousin name dispute.
- Dershowitz declaration, S.D.N.Y.. “Introduced to Mr. Epstein by a friend, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, in 1997.”
- The Times, Aug. 2025. Maxwell’s DOJ interview on Prince Andrew, including “Now I’m speculating.”
- The Telegraph, Aug. 23, 2025. Maxwell’s claim about Lady de Rothschild and Andrew.
- DOJ file EFTA02415254 (searchable mirror). Epstein’s May 2010 “off the record” emails to Landon Thomas and his reply.
- Page Six, Aug. 11, 2016. Forester de Rothschild hosts Clinton fundraiser.
- NPR, Aug. 22, 2025. Timeline of Trump’s shifting Epstein files stance.
- The Guardian, Jan. 19, 2026. Files largely unreleased a month after the legal deadline.
- ABC News. Trump-ordered look at Reid Hoffman’s Epstein ties.
- AP. Clinton deposition videos released.
- Reuters, Nov. 18, 2025. Summers steps back.
- Axios, Sept. 12, 2019. Hoffman apology.
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Originally published on Substack.
