Svetlana Pozhidaeva’s name appears throughout the released correspondence, including in Epstein’s own instructions. She is named here because the documents cannot be explained without her, and because the pattern they show is about how he used people — not about her.
Nothing here alleges she committed any offence. Where the record shows her performing a function for him, it also shows how she came to be in a position to do so.
Section 01
2009: What Was Provided
She enters the correspondence in April 2009 as a young Russian speaker recently arrived in New York. Within six months the file records a pattern familiar from other cases in this archive.
A laptop, bought on Epstein’s instruction. A tour of the NY Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. A medical appointment. A cash sum — his reply to a request is the single word "500." An apartment on 66th Street.
He advises her on her ambitions: "you should understand that new york is filled with scams.. the acting school you choose, is only o.k., you want to ask for a list of graduates and their accomplishmemts."
And she is watched. A third party reports to him: "FYI: Svetlana has put up pictures of herself outside your house in the pool on Facebook."
Housing · a laptop · tuition enquiries · a medical appointment · cash · career advice.
This is the pattern the archive documents elsewhere — dependency created through provision.
Section 02
2009: The Function Begins
Within days of those arrangements, the correspondence shows her introducing another young woman.
An intermediary, Ramsey Elkholy, writes: "So Marta and Svetlana met yesterday, apparently they hit it off. Svetlana said all good things about you and Marta wants to meet you now, much easier than I thought it would be."
Epstein’s reply sets terms: Marta "can stay with svetlana on 66th street.. she can come to spend a day or two in florida. , the stay for her is a favor to you, not her… no drugs alcohol or smoking in the apt, zero tolerance. no second chances."
He asks her directly: "does she want to come to pb with you, it could be fun, do you think it would be a problem if jean luc came as well."
Section 03
2013: From Household to Emissary
By 2013 her position has changed. Epstein calls her "my assistant."
She is meeting his business contacts, and they report back to him. The financier Todd Meister writes: "Trying to reach svetlana — supposed to see her tonight and also want to invite her to another dinner Monday." The next morning, to Epstein: "Had a great dinner with svetlana."
A managing director writes to Epstein: "Svetlana… was just lovely. Thank you for the introduction!" — the introduction is his to give.
She is copied on correspondence with his Paris lawyers about a scheduled meeting.
Section 04
2014: Sent for Information
In 2014 the function is stated explicitly, in Epstein’s own words.
He wanted access to Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. On 29 April he asked Joi Ito: "do you know the winklevoss boys?" Ito: "No and no…"
On 5 June he asked Brock Pierce. Pierce offered an introduction. Epstein proposed something else: "Id like to send Svetlana to them to get a download of what they were doing in the space, I prefer not to go through the silicon valley gossip mafia."
On 19 September, Pierce asks whether she is present. Epstein replies: "No but she met Tyler in my…" — the introduction was no longer needed, because the meeting had happened. The sentence is cut off in every copy located.
Nothing indicates the Winklevoss twins knew of Epstein’s involvement. Contemporaneous SEC filings show their operation was then developing patent-pending custody and index technology, and their exchange Gemini was unannounced until January 2015 — so the scope of "what they were doing in the space" cannot be determined from the surviving correspondence.
Section 05
Geneva: Inside a UN Pandemic Initiative
The most consequential use of her was not a dinner or a dispatch. It was an institution — and Epstein was not merely placing an assistant inside it. He was in its planning channel.
Terje Rød-Larsen, who led the International Peace Institute — a UN-affiliated think tank — from 2005 to 2020, appears in 4,149 documents in the released files. IPI appears in 564.
On 21 September 2014, Rød-Larsen forwarded Epstein a concept paper written by IPI’s Walter Kemp: "Please find attached a revised concept paper on the Nexus Centre for peace and health, taking into account the serious impact of Ebola. The world needs such a Centre more than ever." Primary source
Six months later, on 20 March 2015, Epstein was forwarding onward an email headed "Preparing for pandemics," carrying the attachment 18032015_Geneva_meeting_on_pandemics_Agenda.docx. Primary source
The meeting took place. On 12 September 2015, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, IPI convened "Preparing for Pandemics: Lessons Learned for More Effective Responses." Rød-Larsen gave the opening remarks. Speakers included Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and Dr Elhadj As Sy, Secretary-General of the IFRC. IPI’s own account of the meeting remains published.
Reporting indicates Rød-Larsen invited both Bill Gates and Epstein to the conference in a June 2015 email. Secondary
And she was in the room.
Svetlana Pozhidaeva attended as an IPI intern affiliated with the Vienna office, wearing an institute badge, among roughly ten IPI staff. She had no background in epidemiology or foreign aid. By her account she took photographs and transcribed notes — "just a façade." Secondary
She has said: "On his instructions, the IPI obtained several visas for me to the United States and the European Union, claiming I was conducting ‘essential work’ for the organisation."
In 2017 Rød-Larsen signed a personal letter supporting her US visa, on IPI letterhead. A copy is in the released files. A February 2019 bank record shows she was receiving over $8,000 a month from Epstein.
She was not the only one. Reporting describes a second Russian assistant given an IPI internship and then a newly created staff position; and a third whom Epstein coached by text when her visa stalled: "You have been working for international peace institute terje larson… yes if you get a calll; thats the story you need to tell." Secondary
For the women: visas, badges, letterhead, and a story to tell if anyone called.
For Epstein: a UN-affiliated channel — concept papers, meeting agendas, and standing inside a global-health initiative, four years after his conviction.
Rød-Larsen resigned from IPI in 2020 over his financial dealings with Epstein. The institute commissioned a KPMG audit and policy overhaul.
Norwegian authorities alerted US Epstein investigators in 2019 following reports that young, unqualified women from Eastern Europe were brought in on very short internships, photographed in front of the UN building, and the photographs shared with Epstein. Secondary
Nexus Centre 190914.docx18032015_Geneva_meeting_on_pandemics_Agenda.docxEstablished by reporting: his assistants held IPI positions and visas obtained through it; he scripted a cover story for one of them. Secondary
Not established: that Epstein influenced any policy, that WHO, ICRC or the Gates Foundation knew of his involvement, or that the conference’s substance was affected. Speakers at a UN conference are not implicated by who received its agenda. Unresolved
Section 06
Chronology
Section 07
What the Pattern Shows
Read end to end, the five-year record describes a progression.
A young woman arrives with ambitions. Housing, tuition, money and medical care are provided. Within weeks she is vouching for him to another young woman, who is then housed in the same apartment on terms he sets. Four years later she is "my assistant," dining with financiers who report back, and carrying instructions for a man later charged with trafficking. Five years later she is sent to obtain information from people he cannot reach himself.
The access was the point. Introductions he could not make, rooms he could not enter, and people who would take a meeting with her that they would not have taken with him — a convicted sex offender — in 2014.