As I examine Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to far-right politics, one of the more intriguing threads to emerge from the recently released files places him in the orbit of 4chan’s founder at a fateful moment years before that platform helped to give rise to QAnon conspiracy theories. Could the notorious child predator have had any influence on the platform that gave rise to a whole mythology centered on outlandish claims about sexual perversion among elites?
In October 2011, years after Epstein pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with a minor, an adviser to Bill Gates named Boris Nikolic emailed Epstein about wanting to introduce him to a “cool guy.” The message included a link to the Wikipedia page for 4chan founder Christopher Poole (who also goes by “moot”). Poole oversaw the platform until 2015.
Four days later, Epstein responded to Nikolic about his meeting with Poole to say, “i liked mmot slot. i drove him home, he is very bright.”
The timing of the introduction is interesting. The same month that Nikolic introduced Epstein to Poole, 4chan launched a politically oriented forum called /pol/, which became popular with right-wing extremists. The site eventually became a cesspool of far-right extremism, violent rhetoric and propaganda, and incubated the pro-Trump conspiracy theory known as QAnon.
Four days after Epstein met with Poole, Nikolic emailed Epstein again with a comment on 4chan’s potential. “This article describes why I find moot interesting. The potential for manipulation is huge,” Nikolic wrote, linking to a Washington Post article that discussed how 4chan had been used to foment bigotry, launch cyberattacks and fuel a “hive mind” mentality.
Poole’s name appears in Epstein emails later as well, including the next month, when Poole coordinates with one of Epstein’s subordinates about meeting up in New York. “Chris, Jeffrey has also said to feel free to bring anyone you think is clever!” the email reads. Poole responds, “Great! I’ll think of some people and get back to you.” Poole’s correspondence with Epstein (or at least what’s in the currently available files) does not appear to extend past the following February. Poole did not respond to a request for comment that MS NOW submitted to his employer, Crunchbase. MSNOW is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from NBC, AP, CNBC and CBS. Journalists from each newsroom worked together to examine the documents and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
