‘There's no way he killed himself' Jeffrey Epstein's former butler claims

Irish Independent

a day ago

In an interview that will heap renewed pressure on the Trump administration to make the Epstein files public, one of his closest aides said he spoke to the paedophile financier before he died and insisted he was in good spirits.
Valdson Vieira Cotrin, who ran Epstein's Paris home, said he could not accept the official verdict of suicide and feared his own life was in danger.
He also said he believed that Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of rape and died by suicide in April, was a victim of foul play.
Mr Cotrin also made the extraordinary claim that Epstein told him he had been offered a job by Donald Trump in his first administration in 2016 – but that Epstein had turned it down.
There is no evidence that the allegation is true and Mr Trump has maintained that he stopped speaking to Epstein in 2004 after they fell out over a business deal.
But Mr Cotrin's recollection of a conversation with his boss will fuel a growing demand for the full Epstein files – the trove of documents from the criminal investigations into Epstein that allegedly name high-profile celebrities and politicians, possibly including Mr Trump – to be released in full.
In his exclusive interview, Mr Cotrin, speaking on the record for the first time, also alleged:
Prince Andrew visited Epstein in St Tropez along with a British photographer famous for taking pictures of naked girls and accused of having sex with a 13-year-old
Prince Andrew was a frequent guest at Epstein's Paris townhouse with royal protection bodyguards paid for by the British taxpayer
Ghislaine Maxwell was the 'authoritarian boss' who gave the orders in the Epstein household
Epstein gave money to Woody Allen to finance one of his movies
Mr Cotrin remains in possession of a number of photographs taken with friends of Epstein, including a photo of himself with Bill Clinton on the so-called Lolita Express, Epstein's private plane that he used to traffic underage girls and women for sex.
The existence of the photo showing Mr Clinton on board Epstein's jet will also fuel demands for the former president to reveal his full dealings with Epstein.
Mr Clinton was issued with a subpoena on Tuesday, demanding he give evidence to a congressional committee investigating the financier.
Mr Cotrin also shared a photograph of himself with Epstein that was taken in January 2019 on his private jet, which may be one of the last taken of the financier.
He looks puffy but is smiling and relaxed and notably wearing an Israel Defence Forces sweatshirt.
Epstein has long been accused of being an operative for Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, although last month his former lawyer said that Epstein used to laugh off the claim.
Mr Cotrin, who acted as Epstein's butler, chauffeur and cook in Paris, recalled driving his boss to Le Bourget Airport in Paris to catch a flight to New York, where he was arrested upon landing on July 6, 2019.
I don't believe this was suicide. He loved life too much
Epstein (66) was charged with sex trafficking underage girls and remanded in custody. He was found hanged in his cell on August 10.
But Mr Cotrin is insistent Epstein would never have killed himself. Epstein had told him he was planning to negotiate with the judge in the case to secure bail, having been held in custody as a possible flight risk.
'I am like his brother [Mark Epstein]. I don't believe this was suicide. He loved life too much,' said Mr Cotrin.
Mr Cotrin recalled seeing Epstein for the last time. Epstein, he said, was relaxed and had been talking about making more investments in his islands – he had discreetly bought a second, which Mr Cotrin visited – as well as spending more time in Paris.
'I drove him to Le Bourget Airport. It was a Saturday, because on Monday he was supposed to appear before the judge regarding all these accusations.
'When I got home, two young women rang, his main girlfriend who had been with him officially for several years, Karyna [Shuliak] and another who worked for him. And then they told me, 'Mr Epstein has gone to prison. He arrived in New York. The police were waiting for him'.'
Mr Cotrin's partner, Maria Gomes de Melo, who also knew Epstein well, recalled that in Paris, Epstein had said goodbye to her and added: 'I'll be back next week', Ms de Melo told him: 'Sir, don't go.'
She also questioned the official conclusion that he had killed himself. Epstein's brother, Mark, has suggested the financier may have been murdered, ordering a second post-mortem examination that tended to back up that assertion.
'On the Saturday late, we got the news that he had hanged himself, and honestly, he loved life too much to float away like that,' she said.
The US department of justice has released nearly 11 hours of surveillance video from outside Epstein's cell in the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Centre, but a crucial minute from 11:58:58pm to midnight was missing. That has further fuelled conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered to silence him.
Mr Cotrin remains fiercely loyal to Epstein and insists he never saw his boss cavorting – let alone having sex – with underage girls. He said young women were hired to give Epstein massages and to cut his nails. 'The girls did that to him, but it stopped there,' he said.
He gave an extraordinary insight into Epstein's world – and the rich and famous who would stop by for his guidance and hospitality.
Mr Cotrin, who has joint French and Brazilian nationalities, worked for Epstein for 18 years, managing his sumptuous eight-bedroom Paris apartment on Avenue Foch overlooking the Arc de Triomphe. He lived in a garret flat on the sixth floor.
But he also worked dozens of times at Epstein's properties in New York, Palm Beach, Florida and on Little St James, Epstein's private Caribbean island – dubbed 'paedophile island' – where he is said to have trapped and raped often underage victims.
'He trusted me completely,' said Mr Cotrin, who has not worked since his boss's death six years ago.
'I was his chauffeur, his cook, his housekeeper. I did everything in Paris, I was his only full-time, paid-up employee and worked for him from 2001 until his death. If someone could have seen something, it's Valdson, there's no one else,' he said.
His interview took place in his French home over a beer and Brazilian bread and cheese balls that he says were a hit with Bill Gates. Upstairs, a large photo of Mr Cotrin and Epstein taken on the 'Lolita Express' hung on one wall, alongside another with the butler and Mr Clinton.
Mr Cotrin reeled off a list of dignitaries who came to visit Epstein over two decades, including Prince Andrew, who he cooked for and chauffeured 'five or six times' in Paris and New York; Mr Clinton, whom he met once in Epstein's jet during a stopover in Paris; Peter Mandelson, now the UK's ambassador to Washington DC; Woody Allen; and Israeli ex-prime minister Ehud Barak, along with other Middle Eastern dignitaries.
A photograph of Mr Mandelson with Epstein and Mr Cotrin taken at the Paris apartment on Epstein's birthday has been widely circulated, causing Mr Mandelson, the former Labour cabinet minister, huge embarrassment.
Mr Cotrin has refused countless requests for interviews since Epstein was found hanged in his prison cell, but said he was breaking his silence to 'tell my truth' about Epstein, whom he refers to as 'Monsieur' or 'Patron'.
Ms Giuffre killed herself at her home in Australia in April, aged 41.
'And what about Virginia [Giuffre] Roberts?' Mr Cotrin said, adding: 'I'm scared because after what happened to them, poor Valdson, who knows?'
Mr Cotrin never met Mr Trump – Mr Trump and Epstein had fallen out over the sale of a property in Palm Beach in 2004.
However, Mr Cotrin said that Epstein had boasted of being offered a job by Mr Trump after his surprise first presidential election win in November 2016.
The claim – if true – would be dynamite, although there is no evidence to back it up. Sources inside Trump's first administration have told The Telegraph that Mr Cotrin's recollection appeared fanciful.
Mr Cotrin said: 'I can tell you one thing [regarding Mr Trump]. A few days after Trump's [2016] election, Mr Epstein arrived in Paris on Monday or Tuesday, and I went to pick him up at the airport.
'He said: 'Valdson, you saw that Trump is the new US president?' ''Yes,' I replied, 'I saw it on the news in Paris'.
''Well, Trump asked me to work for him in the new government'.
'I said: 'Congratulations. I'm happy for you,' in my bad English. 'He said: 'No I didn't accept.''
I asked no more questions as it wasn't my place
Mr Cotrin insisted Epstein was not in the habit of trumpeting false claims in such a confidential setting. He said his boss made no mention of what position that might be.
'I was surprised because I would have thought such a position could be interesting, but I asked no more questions as it wasn't my place,' Mr Cotrin said. 'In my job, one waits to be spoken to.
'But in my opinion, if he did turn it down, it was because he liked his freedom, I think he didn't want to be controlled by anyone.'