Testimony from a former intern sheds light on how Jeffrey Epstein used the International Peace Institute to attract, move, and control young women under the guise of diplomatic opportunities –including in Geneva.
“I was promised a career in international diplomacy. In reality, it was just a façade,” Svetlana Pozhidaeva tells Le Temps. In 2012, the Russian woman, who was less than 30 years old, was more familiar with fashion runways than meetings at the United Nations.
A graduate of Russia’s elite Moscow State Institute of International Relations, which is run by the foreign ministry, she first came in touch with Jeffrey Epstein through modeling in 2008. Four years later, the American millionaire facilitated her access into the diplomatic world through the International Peace Institute (IPI), an independent think tank based between New York, Vienna, and Bahrain, promoting causes aligned with the UN.
After joining an IPI delegation to Kazakhstan in 2014, Pozhidaeva was hired as an intern to help organise a conference in Geneva on pandemic preparedness.
Now 42, she says she was among the many “assistants” sexually exploited by Epstein. She agreed to speak to Le Temps, she says, to expose the “system designed to bring women to the United States under the pretext of professional opportunities.” Pozhidaeva describes the control the millionaire exerted over her – managing her US visa, finances, and housing, while pressuring her to introduce him to models. She now lives under a different name. In an email, her New York-based lawyer, Brittany Henderson, said her client is “one of many victims of Epstein and suffered serious abuse at his hands.”
In her case, as revealed by the Epstein files, the financier leveraged his ties with Terje Rød-Larsen, who led the IPI from 2005 to 2020. The Norwegian diplomat gained prominence as one of the architects of the Oslo Accords.
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Terje Rød-Larsen, former International Peace Institute president in New York, 19 September 2017.
Rød-Larsen, now 78, was close to Epstein, whom he described as his “best friend and a super rare, thoroughly good human being.” The Epstein files suggest their relationship extended beyond professional ties, with stays at Epstein’s residences, inclusion in his will, and loans among some of the perks of their friendship. In addition to funding from partner states and foundations, the think tank reportedly received around $650,000 from Epstein.
A new batch of exchanges made public by US authorities in January details the network Epstein built to attract young women, promising them professional opportunities through his contacts in academia, politics, and diplomacy. Pozhidaeva describes this system as “chains that kept me tied to my abuser, allowing Epstein to move me internationally and continue his abuse under the cover of institutional legitimacy.”
IPI’s facilitating role
According to her, the IPI played a key role in these movements, with the support of Rød-Larsen. In September 2015, the think tank organised a meeting in Geneva entitled ‘Preparing for Pandemics’. At the Palais des Nations, Rød-Larsen delivered the opening speech. The guest list included public health experts, doctors, historians, and representatives from civil society and international organisations. Around ten IPI staff members were also present, including Pozhidaeva, then an intern affiliated with the Vienna office.
She claims the think tank facilitated the travel arrangements orchestrated by Epstein: “On his instructions, the IPI obtained several visas for me to the United States and the European Union, claiming I was conducting ‘essential work’ for the organisation.”
This account was corroborated by ‘Erik’ a former employee contacted by Le Temps asking that his real name not be published, who helped organise the event in Geneva. He said there had even been plans to open an IPI office on the shores of Lake Geneva, though this never materialised. According to him, Pozhidaeva introduced herself at the Vienna office as Epstein’s girlfriend, though Pozhidaeva firmly denies she ever had a romantic relationship with him. The IPI declined to answer questions, instead forwarding them to Rød-Larsen and his lawyers, who did not respond. The think tank said it is no longer in contact with him, and remains “deeply concerned by the recently published documents.”
One of the last mentions of Pozhidaeva in the released Epstein files dates back to February 2019. A bank record shows she received a monthly income of over $8,000, paid by Epstein. It also includes a 2017 recommendation letter for a US visa, written on IPI letterhead and signed by Rød-Larsen. Yet she maintains these were not genuine professional assignments. “Instead of the professional role I had been promised, I was relegated to taking photos at events or transcribing notes which, I believe, were never published,” she says.
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A trace of Svetlana Pozhidaeva's trip to Kazakhstan is found in a letter of recommendation signed by Terje Rød-Larsen.(US Department of Justice)
According to Erik, Geneva was chosen for the pandemic event partly because of its partnership with the World Health Organization, as well as funding for the event from the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation. This appears to be supported by an email sent a year before the meeting in which Epstein writes that he’s “happy to hear that an Edmond Rothschild-related foundation has agreed to sponsor the IPI Health and security conference”.
An IPI working document even referred to the initiative as “The Rothschild Conference on Health and Security”. The foundation was mentioned as a partner “involved in the issue of peace and health, as well as humanitarian issues,” alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross, WHO, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with which Epstein reportedly acted as an intermediary for the IPI.
However, according to an investigation by Le Monde, Rød-Larsen introduced Epstein to Ariane de Rothschild in 2013. A spokesperson for the Edmond de Rothschild Group said the foundation “never funded events organised by the IPI.”
The IPI is also mentioned in other exchanges revealed in the files. In a previous investigation into Epstein’s links with students in Switzerland, Le Temps reported a case in which Rød-Larsen, acting on Epstein’s instructions, contacted a Swiss diplomat to assist with a visa application for a student wishing to enrol at the Glion Institute of Higher Education near Montreux. In messages about the procedure, Epstein advised the student to tell the Swiss consulate in New York that she worked for “Terje Rød-Larsen’s International Peace Institute.”
A second ‘assistant’ recruited by the IPI
“I know I am not the only one who was trapped in this IPI mechanism,” Pozhidaeva says. Le Temps was able to identify a second young woman from eastern Russia who was hired by the think tank. She communicated regularly with Epstein over more than eight years, from May 2011 to June 2019.
Beyond sexually explicit exchanges, in which Epstein joked about having sex with her, Barbara (not her real name) became a reliable “assistant”. Over time, she took on a recruiting role, arranging meetings between other young women and Epstein. As with Pozhidaeva, her lawyer Brittany Henderson stated that she is “one of many victims of Jeffrey Epstein and suffered serious abuse at his hands.” Close to Karyna Shuliak, Epstein’s last known girlfriend, the young Russian joined the think tank in New York in 2016 as an intern for two years. “She was first an intern, then an employee, then again an intern, before becoming a consultant. Her status changed several times,” Richard (not his real name), a work colleague of Barbara’s in New York, tells Le Temps.
Tensions rose within the IPI in 2019, fuelled by internal incidents and media reports, particularly in The Daily Beast. Le Temps learned of a strongly-worded letter by staff to Rød-Larsen. This may explain why Barbara’s ties to Epstein were more concealed within the organisation. “Everyone I spoke to in the office was very shocked and had no idea,” Richard recalls. Articles co-authored by her are still accessible on the think tank’s website.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019. Barbara was still working at the IPI until a few weeks prior to his detention, though she no longer works there. Rød-Larsen, for his part, was forced to resign in 2020 by the IPI’s board following the publication by the US justice department’s first filings revealing his ties to Epstein.
But that checks out and makes 100% sense
