Epstein Emails Reference Bitcoin Meeting With Brock Pierce at Manhattan Mansion

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce has spoken Bitcoin with former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan home, according to a series of emails from the disgraced financier’s estate.

The exchange, which occurred after Epstein’s conviction as a sex offender in 2008, will be reported in an article for New York Magazine in 2015, but the outlet appears to have never published the story highlighting many of Epstein’s high-profile guests.

During the meeting, Pierce, who co-founded stablecoin Issuer Tether described Summers as “the most active investor in Bitcoin,” according to a version of the article included in the email, which was released by US lawmakers on Wednesday.

Summers, a former president of Harvard University, saw “opportunity” with Bitcoin, but was concerned about damage to his reputation if he lost his funds, the article says.

“He could go from being seen as a figure of some probity and some intelligence to being a figure of a lot less intelligence and a lot less probity,” Summers said, according to the article, in response to an update from Pierce about “rapid Bitcoin price swings.”

The interaction in the article, which spans a handful of paragraphs, ends with Pierce saying that “you’re going to have some low-quality characters playing first in the space.”

Pierce’s connection to Epstein has been documented before, including a 2011 visit to the Virgin Islands, where Pierce attended a science conference organized by Epstein called Mindshift.

A Pierce spokesman said The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 that “the few communications that Mr. Pierce had with Epstein related to cryptocurrency,” and that they were seen “at industry events, where many other prominent people were present.”

The materials released this week show how Epstein could have played a bigger role in Pierce’s business efforts than previously known, as someone who could connect with powerful people in the realm of traditional finance and academia, when Bitcoin was a relatively nascent asset.

Pierce and Summers did not immediately respond Decryptthe request for comment.

Who wrote the story?

The former child actor, who starred in Disney’s “The Mighty Ducks,” wasn’t the only individual with ties to cryptocurrency that was referenced in the article.

On Epstein’s schedule, around the time of Pierce’s conversation with Summers, was PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, the article says. Thiel’s Founders Fund first bought Bitcoin in 2014, as one of the first institutional investors in the space, according to Reuters.

The article only specifies that Epstein’s interaction with Summers, Pierce, and possibly Thiel occurred after the conviction of the disgraced financier in 2008. But e-mails show that it was verified by journalist Alex Yablon in March 2015.

Yablon did not immediately respond Decryptit’s for the comment.

Among dozens of questions about Epstein’s lifestyle, Yablon asked: “Did you meet with Brock Pierce to discuss Bitcoin? Did Larry Summers join this meeting?”

A separate email shows that Epstein immediately forwarded Yablon’s questions to author Michael Wolff, with the message “nfw,” which is shorthand for “no dick.”

Four minutes later, Epstein forwarded Yablon’s fact-checking efforts to Darren Indyke, who served as his personal attorney and became co-executor of Epstein’s estate at the time of his death in 2019, another email shows. No message has been included.

When President Donald Trump was running for the White House in 2015, Wolff gave Epstein advice on how he could take advantage of his history with the politician, potentially “creating a debt,” other emails show.

Wolff, who has written several books about President Donald Trump, played down the idea that he was helping a convicted pedophile in an interview published by The Everyday Beast on Wednesday, describing the move as a way to gain greater access.

Wolff did not immediately respond Decryptthe request for comment.