- Anil Ambani's messages with Jeffrey Epstein covered business and defence financing
- Ambani's name appears 87 times in the US Justice Department's Epstein Files search results
- Epstein hosted dinners with Ambani at his home despite concerns about Epstein's reputation
Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani's correspondence with the convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows both discussed a range of topics from how to fund a business to trade in the defence sector, the files released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) show.
Anil Ambani's name is mentioned in 87 results in a search of the DoJ's Epstein Files website.
On April 20, 2019 Anil Ambani wrote to Epstein in an iMessage chat: "Will spk. To agree. How can u help to arrange financing at corporate level?"
This, and many other correspondence between Epstein and the Indian industrialist, show both men met for dinner and discussed business at the sex convict's luxury home.
At one point, Epstein informed Anil Ambani about the pitfalls of his reputation. Even then, Epstein pressed on, "Many finance people at my house. You would enjoy. If my google is a concern a large group of ministers blunts it."
These details appear in an analysis of a series of exchanges between February 2017 and May 2019, reported by The Indian Express.
Epstein spent a lot of time forging ties with Anil Ambani, according to the documents released by the US Justice Department. Epstein's messages with him show that just months before the US charged the sex convict, both had been in touch closely.
"Who do u suggest," Anil Ambani wrote in a message.
"a tall swedish blonde woman , to make it fun to visit," Epstein replied.
"Arrange that," Ambani wrote.
Back home in India, the Opposition Congress has questioned why Anil Ambani was not in jail since his name figured prominently in the Epstein Files. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also attacked Union Minister Hardeep Puri. The Union Minister has refuted all allegations.
The messages reveal the modus operandi used by Epstein to maintain business and social ties for many years before his conviction in Florida in 2008. He enjoyed access to some of the world's wealthiest people along with a luxurious lifestyle.
He allegedly died by suicide while in custody in 2019.
Other nations have already started looking into leaders whose names are mentioned in the Epstein Files.
Paris, for example, has a special team of magistrates to analyse the files. The new team will work closely with prosecutors from the national financial crimes unit and police with a view to opening investigations into any suspected crimes involving French nationals.
As part of that initiative, they will be reopening their files on the late Jean-Luc Brunel, a former French modelling agency executive. The aim is to be able to extract any piece that could be usefully reused in a new investigative framework, said prosecutors.
Brunel, who had links with Epstein, was found dead in his cell in a Paris prison in 2022 after having been charged with raping minors.
