DOJ files show Epstein was invited to McConnell fundraiser, hired EKU grad as pilot
There’s a bit of the Bluegrass State in the Epstein Files.
Though Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender and financier whose crimes have sparked huge public interest, was not known for being associated with Kentucky, mentions of the state and some key figures and institutions permeate the newly released investigative files.
They include a reference to Epstein’s pilot being a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, a discussion about living in Lexington, an application to work for Epstein from a University of Kentucky graduate and a 2013 invitation to a Virgin Islands fundraiser for Sen. Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, among other things.
The Department of Justice’s release of the files comes after immense public pressure.
During the 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump and his team said they would release the files, but fell short of doing so throughout much of 2025.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican representing Northern Kentucky, led the push in Congress, alongside California Democrat Ro Khanna, to pass a bill forcing their release. It eventually passed late last year with the president’s approval.
Roughly half of the potentially responsive documents were released as of Jan. 30.
Here are the records tied to Kentucky.
Epstein’s pilot
David Rodgers, formerly Epstein’s longtime private pilot, is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and originally from Kentucky, according to emails exchanged between Epstein and Larry Visoski, another of Epstein’s pilots.
“Jeffrey, Dave has requested to be off Duty. October 18-21. He’s going to go to Eastern Kentucky University Homecoming. Is this approved,” Visoski asked in a September 2018 email.
“Ues,” Epstein responded, appearing to misspell the word “yes.”
In a similar email, Visoski sought approval from Epstein to grant Rodgers time off to fly to Kentucky “for a high school graduation for a family member (a niece).”
Rodgers, who is originally from Carrollton and lives in Florida, according to his social media profile, has been a key witness and source of evidence for cases against Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Rodgers kept a personal flight log that helped corroborate some accounts of Epstein’s accusers. He also reportedly cooperated with the FBI in its probe into Epstein.
Rodgers did not return Herald-Leader messages seeking comment.
McConnell invitation
Some of the emails shown in the files indicate Epstein was asked to give money to McConnell.
Erika Kellerhalls, Epstein’s attorney in the U.S. Virgin Islands, sent Epstein a February 2015 email that featured a fundraiser for McConnell. Guests included former U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp.
“Do you want to make a donation,” Kellerhalls asked, punctuated with a smiling “: )” emoticon.
Epstein responded simply: “no.”
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In January 2013, John Catsimatidis, the billionaire grocery chain founder and former GOP candidate for mayor of New York City, invited Epstein via email to a fundraiser for McConnell at his home.
There is no record of Epstein, who tended to support Democrats and was friends with former President Bill Clinton as well as Trump, ever donating to McConnell or an organization linked to him, according to records with the Federal Elections Commission.
Student seeking job
One March 2017 email came from a Kentucky student seeking work as a personal assistant.
Then a soon-to-be-graduate of the University of Kentucky, the woman was connected via a third party to someone who appeared to work for Epstein, though that person’s name and identity is redacted in the files.
She stated her age — 20 at the time — and her experience working as a personal assistant for Robert Flaxman, a Beverly Hills real estate mogul who later died by suicide in 2022 after being convicted in a sweeping college admissions scandal.
The Herald-Leader is not naming the woman who inquired about the job because she has not publicly identified herself.
“I was basically to run any errands, do anything he asked, and run his West Hollywood home,” she wrote. “I am willing to move to NY or Paris, as I am very open and flexible to anything. I have attached a picture of myself as well so that you can get a feeling for me. If you think that I would be a possible candidate, I would be happy to let you know anything else you feel is necessary.”
The young woman had no idea Epstein’s name was connected, she told the Herald-Leader, and was never involved with him in any way.
“I did not know Jeffrey Epstein and never worked for him. Years ago, in college, I responded to an online personal assistant listing posted by a third party and had no idea his name was connected. There was no interview, no employment, and no further contact,” she wrote in a statement to the Herald-Leader.
“I did not apply to work for him. My name appears in the files only because I applied to a job and sent it to another individual who then forwarded it without my knowledge,” she added.
She and two other women writing similar emails — both from different countries — around the same time stated the position was posted by someone named “Evan Luthra.” That’s the name of an entrepreneur and influencer from New Delhi, India, known for flaunting his lavish lifestyle in social media posts, though the influencer did not return requests for comment confirming if he was the one referenced in the files.
Luthra made Forbes’ “30 under 30” list in 2025 as a “crypto visionary.” On his LinkedIn page, he lists himself as the Minister of Information Technology of Liberland, an unrecognized libertarian-aligned entity that has attempted to claim disputed territory on the Danube River in Europe. Profiles of Luthra note that he was incredibly tech savvy at a young age.
In a March 2017 email thread titled “Re: Beautiful young Assistant,” Epstein asked a person whose name is redacted about Luthra.
“Evan Luthra is very good friend of mine who has a big datebase of friends 18-24 years old,” the person wrote.
Professor looking at UK
The University of Kentucky was the topic of a back-and-forth discussion between Epstein and Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist who got research money from Epstein; in one email, Trivers made reference to Epstein offering $100,000 to the City University of New York in exchange for hiring him. Trivers made reference to UK in 2016 emails when he was looking for work.
Trivers appeared to vent to Epstein in an email, with Epstein asking about his finances. UK seemed like an option for Trivers at one point, and in September, he spoke at a September 2016 event honoring the legacy of Lexington evolutionary biologist Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan.
“It went well enough and i will hit them tomorrow with human evolutionary genetics about which they know even less than self-deception. Something else, Jeffrey, traveling this country. Stillwater, Oklahoma City, Lexington, Kentucky, incredible place... Always free to visit VI,” Trivers wrote, with the initials likely to represent the Virgin Islands, where Epstein’s island was.
Before that trip, Trivers told Epstein in an email that he was “looking at other places who are looking at me,” and compared Lexington favorably to Stillwater, Oklahoma, home of Oklahoma State University.
“Not sure I want to live in Stillwater Oklahoma (Oklahoma State) but Lexington Kentucky would be more plausible (University of Kentucky), but none of these people promoting me either know me or are very strong,” Trivers said in an August email.
He told Trivers in a July email that he had spent “some time dealing with jobs and job opportunities.”
“CUNY perhaps, U of Kentucky at Lexington, Oklahoma in Stillwater (kind of hard to imagine, although it is a completely open-carry state so you’d be armed against them,” Trivers wrote.
Brief mentions:
- In Epstein’s ongoing and intimate correspondence with one of the top business figures in Dubai, Sultan Bin Sulayem, the logistics entrepreneur mentioned that he was in Kentucky for the 2010 World Equestrian Games, which were held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Sulayem wrote to Epstein that “our team got gold metal (sic) in the world endurance race.” Later, Sulayem sent emails to Epstein about prostitution and his experiences with women, including details like age, weight and bra size.
- John Brockman, a literary agent with strong ties to Epstein, emailed him a 2013 New York Times story about a $250 million gift from the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust (no apparent relation) that had been announced to Centre College, which was set to be the largest-ever gift to a liberal arts college. Brockman wrote: “I know what you’re thinking. Why Kentucky?!!” The gift was pulled just six weeks after it was announced.
- Two of Epstein’s victims who have publicly identified themselves, sisters Annie and Maria Farmer, are from Paducah, Kentucky. Their cases are featured throughout the files. Their father recalled to the New York Times an incident at Epstein’s estate in Ohio where he got a call from Maria, who was “upset enough that he drove to the estate in Ohio from Kentucky to get her.”
- In March 2022, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General interviewed a man from Northern Kentucky who had worked security at the New York correctional facility where Epstein took his own life. The guard said in the interview that he “had even left the institution before Jeffrey Epstein got there.” Agents asked him several questions about the security and surveillance set up at the correctional facility.
- The only mention of another prominent Kentucky politician in the files is when Epstein emailed two attorneys he was close with, “Rand Paul not for brett ! oy,” on July 30, 2018. If he meant that Paul was not supporting U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose confirmation process was dominating the news, then his information was outdated. A few hours earlier, Paul announced that he would support Kavanaugh after weeks of holding out.
