Ex-Israel PM Ehud Barak Regularly Stayed in Jeffrey Epstein's New York Apartment, Emails Show - Israel Political News
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak regularly stayed in an apartment in a New York building used by convicted child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein to host associates, employees and women, according to correspondence by Epstein and his circle published last week by the U.S. Justice Department.
Barak confirmed that he stayed in Epstein's apartment "from time to time."
According to hundreds of messages reviewed by Haaretz, Barak's visits to the apartment took place between 2015 and 2019 – after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a 14-year-old girl and served 13 months in prison, and before the former prime minister ran in Israel's 2019 Knesset election. Barak served as Israel's defense minister until 2013 and left politics after that year's elections.
The correspondence shows that Epstein's maintenance staff and his personal assistant referred to the apartment as "Ehud's apartment." In September 2016, the apartment was mentioned in an email sent by one employee to Epstein. "Please find list of apartments that we are paying for," she wrote.
The correspondence also shows that Barak's wife, Nili Priel Barak, spoke frequently with Epstein and his employees, scheduled meetings between the couple and the convicted sex offender and kept contact details for some of his staff to reach them directly. Priel Barak updated the staff on the couple's arrival dates and, according to the messages, there were numerous visits. In July 2015, the couple informed Epstein's staff that they would be staying in the apartment for three months.
Epstein's employees corresponded with his personal assistant, Lesley Groff, about the frequent cleaning of the apartment, the couple's requests during their stays, and the items and groceries to be left for them upon arrival – such as flowers, coffee and food.
In an October 2015 exchange, one employee wrote to another: "Jeffrey is asking if you can get faster internet to apt 11J … Ehud is requesting it … looks like this slowly this is becoming his apartment!" In May 2019, Groff informed Priel Barak that 24 boxes belonging to the couple had been moved into the apartment.
The correspondence between Epstein and his employees and the couple, conducted with Priel Barak, via her email address or Barak's, began to focus on the apartment in the summer of 2015. According to the messages, Epstein suggested that the two view an apartment in the building, and they replied that they would be happy to stay there. "Hi Jeffrey … It is a whole different feeling to be in an apartment. we live like new yorkers," Priel Barak wrote in an email about a month later. "While in a hotel room we wanted to run out, to escape, we pass here days without leaving the cozy space."
According to the documents, the email exchanges continued until a few weeks before Epstein's second arrest in 2019, on suspicion that he ran a sex trafficking network involving minors. In June 2019, Priel Barak informed Epstein's staff that the couple planned to arrive at the apartment on the 21st of that month – about two weeks before the arrest.
Apartment 11J is one of several guest apartments used by Epstein in a building on East 66th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a few minutes' drive from his private residence. In staff conversations about maintaining the apartments in the building, a list of units is mentioned regularly – some designated for guests, including the apartment in which Barak stayed, and others referred to by employees as "the girls apartments."
It has previously been reported that for years Epstein housed models in this building. In 2022, The Guardian reported that at times they were brought there from other countries, and that the youngest among them were 13 years old. It is unclear whether the girls continued to live there during Barak's stays, and the documents do not indicate that any contact occurred between them and the Baraks.
In 2019, after Epstein's second arrest, Barak stated that he had met him "at least ten times" – but never in the presence of women or girls. Haaretz previously reported that Epstein was a partner of Barak in an investment in a startup company founded by the former Israeli prime minister in 2015.
In a 2020 interview on Kan 11, Barak said of his ties with the billionaire: "I knew him the way Trump knew him and the way Clinton knew him… Clearly, if I could roll the film back, I would prefer not to have met him at all." Asked how many times they had met, Barak replied: "Let's say 20 or 30 over eight years."
Yogurt, fruit and a piano
In exchanges between Epstein's employees, Apartment 11J is repeatedly described as belonging to the Barak couple. Staff members corresponded among themselves about cleaning schedules and confirmed to their supervisors that the apartment should be prepared ahead of the couple's arrival. At times, shopping lists or special instructions were attached.
"Could one of you please buy a little food and flowers for Ehud and Nili who are due to arrive on Friday April 8th," read a 2016 email. "Nili has requested no milk, butter, cookies or bread as they will not eat this stuff," it added.
A grocery list was attached: water, coffee, tea, fruit and berries and yogurt were among the items listed; pastries and granola, the email noted, were to be purchased at a specific bakery, Le Pain Quotidien.
In September 2015, Priel Barak asked Groff whether it would be possible to bring a piano into the apartment. The assistant said she would check and later informed her that the request could be accommodated. In July 2016, Priel Barak asked for help operating the television following a malfunction. In a May 2017 email to Epstein from an employee whose name was redacted, he was asked which apartments should have Apple TV installed.
"Do you want Apple TV for the girls apartments as well? (we know you want it for the Guest Apartments)," the message read. A breakdown of the apartments followed, with the tenants' names redacted. Under the heading "Girls apartments," five units were listed, each with a redacted name.
Under the guest apartments, six units were listed; no tenant names appeared next to them except for the last one, 11J, followed by redacted parentheses. Later correspondence shows that a television was eventually installed in the couple's apartment.
A call to the security officer
On January 15, 2016, Priel Barak sent Groff an email with the subject line "Alarm." A technician had visited the apartment, she wrote, and planned to install two devices and six window sensors to secure it.
"They can neutralize the system from far, before you need somebody to enter the apartment. the only thing to do is call," she added, directing her instructions to the building's staff and explaining that they should contact a representative of the Israeli consulate.
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Emails sent by the representative himself to Epstein's employees show that he was a security officer at Israel's diplomatic mission in New York.
"Jeffrey says he does not mind holes in the walls and that this is all just fine! i don't think there will be a problem to make a call … before entering," Epstein's personal assistant replied, asking how much advance notice the security officer would need. "I will be sure to tell Karyina and Tess as they are the ones that normally go in…" Groff wrote.
"They are arranging the alarm today. I shall be in touch with you when they finish," Priel Barak wrote to Groff on January 19, 2016. In a later message, she attached the security officer's phone number.
"All sounds great," Groff replied, promising to pass the number on to the cleaning and maintenance staff. From that day on, the correspondence shows, no one could enter the apartment without calling to have the alarm disabled. "When you want to enter 11J from now on," followed by the number and name of the security officer, read an email from that year.
According to the emails, Barak's security arrangements required that the security officer receive the personal details of all employees entering the apartment. Groff sent the security officer numerous emails containing photos of her employees' driver's licenses – all of which were redacted in the documents that were published. Toward the end of 2017, a new security officer was appointed.
"Hello Nili … wanted you to know that we are having a bit of a difficulty," Groff wrote in an email dated November 21, 2017. "he says he doesn't know our staff and won't disarm the alarm for us … we provided the previous guy with all the passports/ID's/Driver's License for each of the employees who might need to enter your apartment," she reminded her.
"Might you be able to have a conversation with him? I wanted to send in [the employee's name is redacted in the document] to leave a little food and flowers like we always do, but she was told she must to wait 2 more hours to possibly get entry." Priel Barak replied that she would speak with the new security officer.
Barak's office said in response: "Indeed, during some of their visits to the U.S. in those years as private citizens, the Barak couple occasionally stayed in an apartment owned by Epstein. These are facts that have been known for years. Maintenance staff in the building handled upkeep. Barak, who was already a private citizen, was lawfully provided security by Shin Bet guards, and the security arrangements were coordinated with them. Barak regrets, in hindsight, the connection with Epstein."