On May 12, 2018 — fourteen months before his arrest — Jeffrey Epstein sat down and emailed himself a to-do list.1

Not a schedule. Not a memo. Just a stream of names, typed into a self-addressed Gmail with no subject line:

steve bannon woody allen noam chomsky ehud barak james watson ariane rothschild leon black tom pritzker larry summers joi ito

Then a row of institutions:

KARP RUEMMLR. world bank geneve davos g20

Then travel targets: kuwait dubai qatar ethiopia mongolia. Then property notes: LSJ tractors cars construction. Then, almost as an afterthought: diet exercise yoga.

This is Epstein's power map. Compressed to one line. Every word a node. Every name a relationship the rest of this series has spent ten articles unpacking.

This article is the index.

The Nameslink

Nine names, one line. Not alphabetical. Not ranked. Just the order they came to mind when a convicted sex offender sat down to inventory his universe fourteen months before it collapsed.

Steve Bannonlink

The political fixer. Trump's former chief strategist appears throughout the late-period correspondence as Epstein's bridge into the MAGA world — and Bannon appears to have used Epstein the same way in reverse.

March 22, 2018: Epstein hosts dinner with Ehud Barak and Bannon at 71st Street. Two days later, he Skypes Reid Hoffman, then lunches with Obama's former White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler — and Bannon again.2 Days later, Epstein tells Hoffman: "had fun with bannon and summers."3

A victim who was with Epstein from 2003 to 2010 told the FBI she saw Bannon at Epstein's house in 2018, there to "reboot his reputation."4

Six days before arrest — June 30, 2019 — Epstein compiled his final network document. The subject line: "list for bannon steve." Approximately 100 names. Gates, Thiel, Clinton, Prince Andrew, Dershowitz, Woody Allen, Summers, Hoffman. The entire Rolodex, handed to Bannon.5

Noam Chomskylink

The intellectual credential. The most famous linguist alive, and a man whose presence at Epstein's table gave the whole operation a veneer of serious inquiry.

Chomsky didn't just attend dinners. He stayed at Epstein's house for days at a time. September 2015, Epstein to Reid Hoffman: "chomsky at the house oct 4-6 hes fun."6 May 2016: "chomsky with me in new york memorial day weekend." May 2017: "chomsky with me in san diego week of june 5." February 2017: "Having lunch with chomsky on sunday you are always welcome."

Epstein deployed Chomsky as social bait — dangling access to lure Hoffman, Thiel, and others into meetings. When he offered Peter Thiel a three-stop VIP tour in August 2017, the itinerary was: "meet chomsky in tucson wednesday. sat larry summers at harvard. and then carib."7

In 2017, Epstein's PR team listed Chomsky as a "Third Party Validator" who would vouch for him publicly alongside Gates, Summers, and Watson.8 In March 2018, Joi Ito asked Epstein to help fund $2.6 million for a Noam Chomsky archive at MIT. Epstein's response: "i will talk to reid on sat."9

His wife, Valeria Chomsky, received personalized sweatshirts from Epstein alongside Joi Ito, Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Kathy Ruemmler, and Ariane de Rothschild.10

Ehud Baraklink

The geopolitical asset. Former Prime Minister of Israel. Former Minister of Defense. The most powerful name on the list in terms of state-level access — and the one Epstein seemed to schedule around most carefully.

An FBI referral document states the Wexner Foundation transferred at least $2.3 million to Barak, with Epstein allegedly signing some of the transfer documents.11 Barak appears across the calendar for years: breakfast at Epstein's with Ariane de Rothschild and Kissinger, dinner with Bannon, lunch with Leon Black back-to-back, Gates dinner the same day.12

Epstein brokered Barak to Summers — "spent the afternoon with Larry Summers. I think he would work well with you" — and brokered Summers to Barak in return.13 When Epstein needed to deny allegations, Barak was among the names: "she knows no sex with ehud as he was also never on the island."14

On the master list, the name sits between "noam chomsky" and "james watson." A former head of state, filed between a linguist and a geneticist.

James Watsonlink

The scientific trophy. Co-discoverer of DNA's double helix. Nobel laureate. And the name Epstein kept closest when the subject turned to genetics, intelligence, and the outer edge of what polite society would discuss.

Watson appeared on Epstein's "smart day" Harvard itineraries alongside Summers, Chomsky, George Church, and Eric Lander.15 He was on the PR validator list. In February 2017, Epstein invited Summers to "Watson lunch fri. Dick Cavett Richard Axel sat" — two Nobel laureates and a talk-show host in one weekend.16

When Watson was stripped of his honors in January 2019 for racist comments about intelligence, Epstein and Summers discussed it directly. Summers: "Watson way out there. Hopkins really a humorless bitchy idiot." Epstein: "watson ill. now in hospital. he hated the facts but refused to ignore them."17

Four months later, Epstein texted Summers again: "Spoke to Jim Watson. 80 percent back, and if nothing else it gives him pleasure to stick it in the face of those that would prefer not to hear unpleasant facts."18

A registered sex offender, checking in on a disgraced Nobel laureate. Reporting his recovery to a former Treasury Secretary. That was the network.

Ariane Rothschildlink

The banking dynasty. CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Group. One of the most consequential financial relationships in the entire corpus, documented across ten thousand pages.

A $10 million wire transfer from Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA. Furniture bills totaling hundreds of thousands. Epstein advising Ariane on the family's internal naming dispute — "inflict damage? could be better worded." And the line that captures the whole relationship: after Ariane pitched Epstein on an infrastructure fund, Epstein replied: "trump will want to do private public partnerships on most things. donald loves the rothschild name."19

Epstein brokered Ariane's meetings with Summers, Gates, and Barak. Ariane wrote back: "wish to thank you for your guidance."20

On the sweatshirt list, "rothschild" appears alongside Hoffman, Thiel, Ito, and Ruemmler. Personalized gifts for the inner circle. The full story is in "The Rothschild Router."

Leon Blacklink

The money. Co-founder of Apollo Global Management, which manages over $500 billion in assets. The man who paid Epstein $158 million in "consulting fees" — and whose name appears in a victim's contemporaneous journal alongside a poem titled with his name and the underlined words: violent, fatso millionaire, bloody baby.21

The financial architecture is staggering. Epstein designed the Gates Donor Advised Fund blueprint with Black on the advisory board: "$100 million minimum donation. It will be the most exclusive of clubs."22 Joi Ito emailed Epstein: "$500K came into my slush fund account. Should I thank Leon Black?" Epstein: "Yes." Ito: "Does he know he's giving more money in Dec and Jan or should I not mention that?"23

In 2003, Ghislaine Maxwell confirmed a dinner guest list at Epstein's house to Bill Clinton: "Leon Black, Lawrence Stroll who owns Asprey."24 The calendar shows Black as a near-constant — breakfast one day, lunch the next, walking to Black's Apollo office with Bill Gates in between.25

Tom Pritzkerlink

The establishment bridge. Chairman of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Pritzker Prize jury member. Epstein's word for the relationship: "like family."26

Pritzker appears at the intersection of every power cluster. Flying with Kissinger to Davos: "Kissinger is flying w me and got a message from ehud that he will be there."27 First meeting of the day when Gates visits New York: "10am Bill Gates and Tom Pritzker at the Park Hyatt."28 Post-election 2016, Epstein offered Summers a triple: "ehud in on sun pritzker mon. dinner woody sunday."29

The name also appears in both the January and May 2018 master lists — on the "current circle" roster alongside Hoffman, Thiel, Bannon, and Chomsky.

Larry Summerslink

The deepest relationship on the list. Former Treasury Secretary. Former President of Harvard. The man who "pretzelled" his schedule to attend a tea-cake meeting with Gates at a sex offender's house.30

Summers appears in more dossier documents than any other individual except Gates. Photos of Summers and Gates were displayed in Epstein's dining room — used as social proof for other visitors.31 He attended the September 2013 Jagland dinner with Bill and Melinda Gates. He flew from Boston to join Epstein-Barak lunches. He presented on AGI at dinners with Hoffman, Ito, and Danny Hillis. His 60th birthday: celebrated on Epstein's island.32

In November 2018, Summers confided in Epstein about pursuing a young woman — the daughter of a "Chinese economic official." Epstein coached his approach: "she feels proud of herself. you are her prey. not the reverse." Summers: "Wish I asked your advice earlier."33

Seven months before arrest: still texting, still intimate, still active. The full depth of this relationship — across finance, academia, politics, and personal life — exceeds what any single article can contain. Summers is everywhere in this series because Summers was everywhere in the network.

Joi Itolink

The institutional gateway. Director of the MIT Media Lab. The man who turned one of the world's most prestigious research institutions into a funding conduit for a convicted sex offender.

"Bill Gates has asked if he can join me in an endeavor. Is there a structure at your Lab, where a donation could be used for deception fun etc.?"34 That was Epstein to Ito, September 2013. Ito immediately asked: "Would the money be coming from Bill or the foundation?"

The money came from everywhere. Leon Black's $500K to the "slush fund." A separate $2 million "from bill gates." Reid Hoffman's $15 million. All routed through or coordinated by Epstein — who called Ito's network "our secret society" in an iMessage, alongside Ed Boyden and Caleb from "MIT agro."35

Ito resigned from MIT in September 2019, two months after Epstein's arrest. The full story is in "Our Secret Society."

The Institutionslink

Below the names, the list continues:

KARP RUEMMLR. world bank geneve davos g20

"KARP" is Brad Karp, managing partner of Paul Weiss — one of the most powerful law firms in the world. "RUEMMLR" is Kathryn Ruemmler, former White House Counsel to President Obama, who became Epstein's personal lawyer and, later, his girlfriend. Together they represent the legal-political infrastructure that kept the machine running.

"World bank geneve davos g20" — these aren't destinations. They're the institutional circuit where Epstein placed people, brokered introductions, and exercised influence. The Davos article documents how deep this went: Gates scheduling through Epstein, Summers nominated for Young Global Leader, "Davos set for you. Replace Mnuchin" — texted three weeks before arrest.

The Patternlink

This list appeared three times in the archive.

January 8, 2018 — Epstein emails himself "radical breakthrough" notes. Two name rosters: one historical (kashoggi, prince andrew, bill clinton, donald trump, larry summers, leon black), one current (church martin hopkins danny joscha watson chomsky thiel hoffman sinofsky ehud bannon barrak ruemmler reid karp). Summers appears on both.36

May 12, 2018 — The master list analyzed in this article.1

May 19, 2018 — One week later, Michael Wolff asks Epstein for names for a documentary project. Epstein's list: "woody allen. noam chomsky. ehud barak. james watson. ariane rothschild. leon black. tom pritzker. larry summers. joi ito." Wolff responds: "All v good. More women. An Arab. Bannon." Epstein adds: "bill gates. nathan myhrvold."37

Three versions of the same list. The same nine names, reshuffled. The network wasn't evolving — it was crystallized. These were the load-bearing relationships, and Epstein knew it.

The Last Listlink

June 30, 2019. Six days before the FBI walked into Teterboro Airport.

Epstein compiled one final document: "list for bannon steve." Approximately 100 names. Every person in this article appears on it. Plus Gates, Thiel, Hoffman, Clinton, Prince Andrew, Dershowitz, Ken Starr, Musk, Mandelson.5

He was handing Bannon the keys.

We don't know what Bannon was supposed to do with it. But we know what the list meant. It was the same nine names, expanded to a hundred, plus the institutions and the travel circuit and the legal infrastructure — the whole architecture, compressed into a document by a man who had six days left as a free person.

He spent those days the way he'd spent the previous decade: updating the list.

Sources & Documentslink

All documents referenced below are from the U.S. Department of Justice Epstein document release or House Oversight Committee files, searchable on Unsealed.

  1. EFTA02669703 — Epstein self-email, May 12, 2018: master name list. "steve bannon woody allen noam chomsky ehud barak james watson ariane rothschild leon black tom pritzker larry summers joi ito." View →
  2. EFTA00850537 — March 2018 calendar: Bannon dinner with Barak 3/22, Leon Black breakfast 3/23, Hoffman Skype 3/24, Bannon+Ruemmler lunch 3/24, Ito 3/25. View →
  3. EFTA02492204 — Epstein to Hoffman, March 28, 2018: "had fun with bannon and summers. ask joi for his view." View →
  4. FD-302 testimony — Victim/model recruited at age 17–18. Saw Bannon at Epstein's house in 2018 trying to "reboot his reputation." Epstein coached her to deny Clinton was on the island.
  5. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029622 — "List for bannon steve," June 30, 2019 — six days before arrest. ~100 names. View →
  6. EFTA02487923 — Epstein to Hoffman, September 18, 2015: "chomsky at the house oct 4-6 hes fun." View →
  7. EFTA02640982 — Epstein to Peter Thiel, August 13, 2017: "meet chomsky in tucson wednesday... sat larry summers at harvard... and then carib." View →
  8. EFTA00630101 — Hiltzik PR plan, August 6, 2017: Third Party Validators: "Bill Gates, Lawrence Summers, James Watson, Kathryn Ruemmler, Bill Richardson, Noam Chomsky." View →
  9. EFTA02499732 — Joi Ito to Epstein, March 20, 2018. Subject: "Noam Chomsky archive." Ito: $2.6M to archive 300 boxes. Epstein: "i will talk to reid on sat." View →
  10. EFTA02301988 — Epstein sweatshirt order, June 2016: "lets make sweatshirts for valeria chomsky, joi, martin reid thiel ruemmler and rothschild." View →
  11. EFTA01249848 — FBI/DOJ referral: Wexner Foundation transferred at least $2.3M to Ehud Barak. Epstein allegedly signed transfer documents. View →
  12. EFTA00384352 — September 2013 calendar: Barak at noon, Gates dinner at 7:30, Summers TBD. View →
  13. EFTA01951614 — Epstein to Barak, September 28, 2013: "spent the afternoon with Larry Summers. I think he would work well with you." View →
  14. EFTA00866513 — Epstein "joint defense agreement": "she knows no sex with ehud as he was also never on the island." View →
  15. EFTA01871405 — Epstein to Caroline Lang, March 31, 2012: "having smart day at Harvard. Larry Summers-finance. chomsky-language. Eric Lander, George Church-genetics." View →
  16. EFTA02658935 — Epstein to Summers, February 23, 2017: "Watson lunch fri. Dick cavett Richard axel sat." Two Nobel laureates in one weekend. View →
  17. EFTA02606131 — Summers to Epstein, January 14, 2019: "Watson way out there. Hopkins really a humorless bitchy idiot." View →
  18. EFTA01618701 — Epstein to Summers, May 9, 2019: "Spoke to Jim Watson. 80 percent back... gives him pleasure to stick it in the face of those that would prefer not to hear unpleasant facts." View →
  19. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_026431 — Epstein to Ariane de Rothschild: "donald loves the rothschild name." View →
  20. EFTA01966356 — Ariane de Rothschild to Epstein, July 1, 2013: "For Larry Summers please let me know what you think is best... wish to thank you for your guidance." View →
  21. EFTA02731420 — Victim 3 contemporaneous journal: names Leon Black, Larry Summers, Prince Andrew, George Mitchell. Poem titled with Black's name. View →
  22. EFTA02542076 — Epstein to Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes (JPMorgan): Gates DAF blueprint. "$100 million minimum. The most exclusive of clubs." Leon Black on advisory board. View →
  23. EFTA01923587 — Joi Ito to Epstein, May 29, 2014: "$500K came into my slush fund account. Should I thank Leon Black?" View →
  24. EFTA02335776 — Ghislaine Maxwell to Clinton, April 12, 2003: dinner at "JE house" with "Leon Black, Lawrence Stroll." View →
  25. EFTA01749584 — Groff schedule, September 8, 2014: Full day with Gates. 10am Tom Pritzker → 11:30am Leon Black → 12pm Summers → 2pm Zuckerman → 3pm Ruemmler. View →
  26. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027222 — Epstein iMessage: "Tom Pritzker — like family. the chairman of CSIS." View →
  27. EFTA (Pritzker-Kissinger-Davos) — Pritzker to Epstein: "Kissinger is flying w me and got a message from ehud that he will be there." Search →
  28. EFTA01749584 — September 8, 2014: "10am Meet Bill Gates and Tom Pritzker at the Park Hyatt." View →
  29. EFTA01742156 — Epstein to Summers, November 11, 2016 (3 days post-election): "ehud in on sun pritzker mon. dinner woody sunday. or have you gone dark." View →
  30. EFTA01868870 — Summers on Gates dinner at Epstein's, April 2011: "I am pretzelling sched big time to be there." View →
  31. EFTA01844429 — Epstein to Tom Barrack, January 2012: "IN the dining room there are photos of Bill Gates with Larry Summers taken at the house the other day." View →
  32. EFTA00358120 — November 2014 schedule: "It is Larry's 60th Birthday!!" Boeing 727 to island. View →
  33. EFTA02612442 — Epstein coaches Summers on pursuing "Ms China," November–December 2018: "you are her prey. not the reverse." Summers: "Wish I asked your advice earlier." View →
  34. EFTA01956683 — Epstein to Joi Ito, September 7, 2013: "Bill Gates has asked if he can join me in an endeavor. Is there a structure at your Lab, where a donation could be used for deception fun etc.?" View →
  35. Dossier #22454 — Epstein iMessage, April 2017: "both are welcome to our secret society, they will join joi ito ed boyden and caleb." NUCLEAR tier.
  36. EFTA02540965 — Epstein self-email, January 8, 2018: "radical breakthrough" notes. Two name lists — historical and current circle. Summers on both. View →
  37. EFTA02661562 — Epstein to Michael Wolff, May 19, 2018: full name list for documentary project. Wolff: "All v good. More women. An Arab. Bannon." View →

This article draws on the Secret Societies & Elite Power Networks research dossier. For deep dives on individual nodes: Rothschild · Lynn Forester · Kissinger · Bilderberg · CIA Directors · The Placement Machine · Davos · Our Secret Society · The Conspiracy Files.

Part 11 of the Secret Societies & Elite Power Networks series.