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The Epstein Files Phase 2: Why Trump Reversed on Releasing the FBI Documents 🕵️
November 18, 2025
On November 16, 2025, Donald Trump abruptly reversed his position on releasing the Epstein files, telling House Republicans to vote for declassification. After nearly a year of resistance, including claiming the documents could “destroy lives,” the reversal came just four days after Epstein’s estate dumped thousands of damaging emails.
The timing wasn’t coincidental. Hidden in those November 12 documents was a bombshell that explains not just Trump’s reversal, but potentially why these FBI files have remained sealed through four presidential administrations since 2006.
But first, let me explain how I found it, and why understanding the four different “Epstein files” matters for seeing the full picture.
The Four Document Dumps: A Roadmap to Confusion
When media reports mention “Epstein files,” they’re conflating four completely different document releases, each with distinct sources and significance:
1. The Maxwell Trial Documents (January 2024)
* What: 943 pages from Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 defamation suit against Ghislaine Maxwell
* Released: January 3-5, 2024, by federal court order
* Contents: Depositions, flight logs, victim testimony, prominent names
* Key revelation: Bill Clinton named 73 times, Trump appears multiple times
2. The DOJ Flight Logs (May 2024)
* What: Epstein’s private jet manifests from 1991-2006
* Released: May 2024, after Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s pressure
* Contents: Passenger lists showing who flew on the “Lolita Express”
* Key revelation: Detailed travel patterns of hundreds of powerful figures
3. The Estate Email Dump (November 2025)
* What: 22,903 files from Epstein’s personal computers and phones
* Released: November 12, 2025, by estate executors
* Contents: Private emails, texts, contact lists from 2005-2019
* Key revelation: The Trump scout emails I’m about to detail
4. The FBI Files (Still Sealed)
* What: FBI investigation files from 2006-2008 Palm Beach case
* Compiled: 2006-2007 during original prosecution
* Status: Sealed for 19 years, now being voted on for release
* Significance: Contains victim interviews, surveillance, and potential co-conspirator evidence
Understanding these distinctions matters because each source reveals different pieces of the network. The FBI files are the only ones that could contain evidence of who was offered immunity deals in 2008.
My Research Methodology: Self-tooled Digital Forensics
When I obtained the November 12 estate dump (22,903 files totaling several gigabytes), I faced a challenge: most were images and PDFs requiring OCR. But digging deeper, I discovered the prosecutors had already extracted text from every document, creating 2,897 searchable text files buried in subdirectories.
I wrote a Python script using only standard libraries to search these files. Here’s a snippet:
This approach (no pip installs, no AI tools, just systematic searching) revealed patterns invisible to surface-level analysis. Of course, had the text not been made, I would have written a program to convert the scanned emails into text.
The results were revealing:
* “Trump”: 8,806 mentions across 1,178 files
* “Mar-a-Lago”: 122 mentions across 67 files
* “Jean-Luc”: 1,577 mentions (Brunel, the MC2 modeling agency head)
* “MC2”: 423 mentions
But quantity wasn’t the story. The bombshell was in a single email.
Tigran Khachatrian: Trump’s Direct Pipeline to Epstein’s Network
To understand why this discovery matters, you need to understand Trump’s deep involvement in the modeling world. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Trump wasn’t just a real estate mogul; he was a major player in international beauty pageants and modeling. He owned Miss Universe from 1996 to 2015[^1], purchased Trump Model Management in 1999[^2], and was known for personally involving himself in model selection, famously walking into dressing rooms unannounced during pageants[^3].
Trump Model Management operated from the 14th floor of Trump Tower, recruiting models from Eastern Europe and Latin America. The agency promised young women from poor countries a chance at American success. But the modeling industry’s dark side (promises of visas, pressure for “favors,” and exploitation of desperate young women) was an open secret. Trump’s agencies needed scouts, people who could identify and recruit beautiful young women from remote places like Siberian villages or Brazilian favelas.
Enter Tigran Khachatrian.
On July 16, 2010, Daniel Siad, a facilitator operating from Ibiza, sent Jeffrey Epstein an email that would later prove explosive:
“A great friend of mine rented Huge House in Ibiza so invited a lots of girls from Russia all models… with and great scout named Tigrane He use to scout For Trump but he deosnt work for him any more he coming with 12 girls the first weeck 22th of Jully then 13 others the second weeck…”
Epstein’s response revealed his priorities: “tigran has the best taste next to you… i am happy to meet him”
Through cross-referencing Getty Images archives and BBC documentation, I identified “Tigrane” as Tigran Khachatrian, who ran Noah Models in Russia. His operation wasn’t subtle. In 2014, he organized what he called a “giant cast for Top Model” in Novosibirsk, Siberia, photographing hundreds of young women[^4]. The following year, the BBC featured him in their documentary “Teen Model Factory,” which exposed how modeling scouts recruited girls as young as 13 from Russia’s poorest regions with promises of international careers[^5].
But here’s what makes this revelation explosive: the email explicitly states Khachatrian was bringing these models to help build “this great network for MC2.”
Epstein’s MC2: The Modeling Agency That Was Actually a Trafficking Operation
MC2 Model Management wasn’t just any modeling agency. It was Jean-Luc Brunel’s operation, funded with $1 million of Jeffrey Epstein’s money in 2005[^6]. On paper, MC2 looked legitimate, with offices in Miami, New York, and Tel Aviv, claiming clients like Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The agency’s models appeared in major magazines and walked prestigious runways.
But according to court testimony from multiple victims, MC2 was something far darker. Virginia Giuffre (who died via “suicide” April 25, 2025, shortly after announcing she had new evidence to share) stated in her 2015 affidavit that MC2 was “a front for sex trafficking.”[^7] She testified that Brunel would “bring young girls (ranging from ages as young as 12) to the United States for sexual purposes and farm them out to his friends, especially Epstein.”
Brunel himself was a longtime figure in fashion’s shadows. Starting in Paris in the 1970s, he’d built a reputation as someone who could find “fresh faces,” industry code for very young girls from poor countries. Notably, Brunel lived in Trump Tower during the 1990s, putting him in the same building as Trump Model Management, which operated from the 14th floor. This physical proximity between Brunel and Trump’s modeling operations occurred years before MC2 was founded with Epstein’s money.
By the time he partnered with Epstein, Brunel had perfected a system: scout vulnerable girls in Eastern Europe or South America, promise them modeling contracts, bring them to the U.S. on tourist visas, and then pressure them into “entertaining” wealthy men to keep their careers alive. The business model was disturbingly similar to what would later emerge in lawsuits against Trump Model Management: foreign models brought over on tourist visas (not work visas), housed in crowded apartments, charged exorbitant fees that kept them in debt, and pressured to attend parties with wealthy men.
The FBI knew about MC2. Flight logs show Brunel took 25 trips on Epstein’s private jet between 1998 and 2005. When Epstein was arrested in 2019, Brunel fled to South America. When he tried to return to France in December 2020, French police arrested him at Charles de Gaulle Airport. He was charged with rape of minors and held at La Santé prison, the same facility where he was found hanged in his cell on February 19, 2022, his death ruled a suicide.
The Ibiza Connection: Where Models Became Victims
The July 2010 emails paint a disturbing picture of how the network operated. Ibiza wasn’t chosen randomly; the Spanish party island has long been a playground for Europe’s wealthy, a place where normal rules don’t apply during the summer season. Daniel Siad, the man connecting all these players, had arranged a “huge house” there.
Siad himself was someone mainstream media completely missed. When The Guardian reported on these same emails in November 2025, they referred to him only as “an unidentified associate,” failing to connect his role in the network. But the emails show he had direct access to Epstein, personal relationships with both Khachatrian and Brunel (“I just called Jean Luc”), and was actively working to connect Trump’s former scout with Epstein’s trafficking network. He was managing logistics for 25 Russian models (12 arriving the first week of July, 13 more the second week), ostensibly for “magazine shoots.”
But magazine shoots don’t require introduction to Jeffrey Epstein. They don’t require building “networks” with MC2. And they certainly don’t require a convicted sex offender’s approval of the scout’s “taste” in selecting girls.
What Siad was actually doing was facilitating the pipeline: models recruited from Russia by Trump’s former scout were being brought to Ibiza, where they could be evaluated by Epstein and potentially integrated into MC2’s operations. From there, the vulnerable ones (the ones without family connections, without money, without options) could be pressured into the darker services that Epstein’s circle demanded.
Khachatrian Also Scouted Models for Trump
The timeline tells a disturbing story. Before 2010, Tigran Khachatrian was scouting models for Donald Trump. We don’t know exactly when this relationship began or ended, but by July 2010, Khachatrian had moved on, bringing 25 Russian models to meet Jeffrey Epstein in Ibiza.
This wasn’t a casual introduction. The email makes clear Khachatrian wanted to “build something” with Epstein. Daniel Siad explicitly mentioned creating a “great network for MC2.” And Epstein, despite Khachatrian having “told many bad things about me” to one of the models, was eager to meet him because of his “taste” in selecting girls.
Think about what this means: Trump’s model scout didn’t just know Epstein socially. He was actively building business with a trafficking network that would operate for another decade. MC2 continued recruiting and transporting young women until 2019, when it dissolved immediately after Epstein’s arrest. Brunel fled to South America but was eventually arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport in December 2020, charged with rape of minors. Fifteen months later, he was found dead in his prison cell.
Then came November 12, 2025. The estate released thousands of emails, including the Khachatrian revelation. Four days later, Trump reversed his yearlong opposition to releasing the FBI files.
The timing suggests calculation. With the scout connection now public, continuing to fight the FBI release would raise an obvious question: What’s in those files about Trump’s relationship with the man who recruited models for him?
Why the 2006 FBI Files Are the Smoking Gun
To understand why these specific files matter so much, you need to understand what was happening in 2006. The Palm Beach Police had just completed their investigation of Epstein, interviewing over 30 victims who described a systematic operation: Epstein would pay girls 300 for “massages” that turned sexual, then pay them to recruit their friends. The youngest victim was 14.
But when Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter brought the case to State Attorney Barry Krischer, something strange happened. Despite overwhelming evidence, Krischer took the case to a grand jury and came back with just one charge: solicitation of prostitution. Reiter was furious. He did something unprecedented: he bypassed local prosecutors and went directly to the FBI.
This is when the FBI files were created. Between 2006 and 2008, federal investigators built their case. They interviewed victims before anyone could pressure or pay them to stay quiet. They pulled phone records showing who Epstein called before and after each assault. They documented financial transactions, tracked his planes, and most importantly, they identified potential co-conspirators: the people who helped recruit, schedule, and pay the girls.
The FBI’s work was thorough. According to reporting from the Miami Herald, they drafted a 53-page federal indictment with 60 counts against Epstein. This wasn’t just about one man’s crimes; the indictment detailed a conspiracy involving multiple participants. Federal prosecutors were ready to bring the full weight of the justice system against everyone involved.
Then in 2008, everything stopped. U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta negotiated what federal judge Kenneth Marra would later call an “illegal” deal. Epstein pled guilty to two state charges and served 13 months in county jail with work release. But buried in the agreement was extraordinary language: immunity for “any potential co-conspirators.” The FBI investigation was shut down, the 53-page indictment was shelved, and all the files were sealed.
The timing of what happened next raises disturbing questions. In 2017, nine years after granting Epstein and his co-conspirators immunity, Alex Acosta was appointed by Donald Trump as Secretary of Labor. He served until July 2019, resigning just days after Epstein’s arrest when his role in the immunity deal became public. Was this appointment a reward for protecting powerful people in 2008? The FBI files might answer that question.
Think about what this means. For 19 years, through the Obama administration, Trump’s first term, the Biden administration, and now Trump’s return, these files have remained locked away. Four different administrations, both political parties, all maintaining the same silence. When documents stay buried through that many changes in power, it suggests they contain information damaging not to one side or the other, but to the entire power structure.
The FBI files would show who else was under investigation in 2006. Who needed that immunity deal. Who the FBI believed was involved but never charged. And possibly, who made the calls to shut it all down.
What the Pattern Reveals
When you step back and look at all four document sources together, a clear pattern emerges. It’s not just about who knew whom, or who flew on whose plane. It’s about an international recruitment pipeline that connected legitimate businesses to criminal operations.
The pipeline worked like this: Scouts like Tigran Khachatrian would identify young women in places like Siberia, where poverty and desperation made them vulnerable. These scouts had legitimate covers (working for pageant organizations, modeling agencies, or talent competitions). They would promise the girls modeling contracts, visa sponsorship, and a chance at Western success.
Once recruited, the girls would be brought to staging areas like Ibiza, where facilitators like Daniel Siad would manage logistics. There, people like Epstein and Brunel would evaluate them. The “best” ones (meaning the youngest, most vulnerable, most controllable) would be brought into operations like MC2. Others might actually get some modeling work, maintaining the legitimate cover story.
From there, the exploitation would begin gradually. First, pressure to attend parties with wealthy men. Then suggestions that “entertaining” clients was part of the job. For girls whose visas depended on their agencies, who didn’t speak English well, who had no money to get home, the pressure could be overwhelming.
What makes Trump’s involvement significant isn’t just that he knew Epstein; lots of powerful people did. It’s that Trump’s own employee, his scout Khachatrian, became part of this pipeline. When Khachatrian left Trump’s employment and immediately started supplying models to Epstein’s network, it raises unavoidable questions: Did Trump know where his scout was taking the girls he recruited? Did any of the models Khachatrian found for Trump end up in Epstein’s hands? And most importantly, is this why Trump fought so hard to keep the FBI files sealed?
Digital Forensics vs. Traditional Journalism
My approach to uncovering this story demonstrates the power of systematic digital investigation. When I received the November 12 estate dump, I faced 22,903 files, an impossible amount to review manually. Traditional journalists might have searched for obvious keywords or relied on sources to point them to important documents. Instead, I took a forensic approach.
First, I discovered that prosecutors had already extracted searchable text from every document, creating 2,897 text files. Rather than installing complex software, I wrote a simple Python script using only standard libraries. This allowed me to search for any term across all documents simultaneously, capturing context around each match.
The results revealed patterns invisible to surface-level analysis. Searching for “Trump” yielded 8,806 mentions across 1,178 files, far too many to review individually. But searching for “scout” led me to a handful of emails, including the crucial July 16, 2010 message from Daniel Siad. Cross-referencing names from that email with other searches revealed the network: Khachatrian appeared with Brunel, Brunel with MC2, MC2 with victim testimony about trafficking.
This methodology (treating documents like crime scene evidence rather than interview subjects) reveals connections that human sources might never admit. Tigran Khachatrian might deny working for Trump. Trump might claim not to remember him. But the emails don’t lie. They sit there in plain text, waiting for someone to connect the dots.
Questions That Remain
Even with these revelations, critical questions persist:
About Khachatrian’s Role:
* When exactly did he work for Trump?
* Was he scouting for Miss Universe, Trump Model Management, or something else?
* Did any models he recruited for Trump become Epstein victims?
About the FBI Files:
* Does Trump appear in the 2006-2007 investigation?
* Was he considered a “potential co-conspirator” in 2008?
* Did he receive immunity or just benefit from the investigation being shut down?
About the Reversal:
* Did Trump’s team know about the Khachatrian emails before November 12?
* Was the reversal damage control or genuine transparency?
* What other connections might the FBI files reveal?
Why This Matters Now
The Epstein network wasn’t just about one predator; it was an international operation involving modeling agencies, private jets, and powerful men. The revelation that Trump’s own model scout fed directly into this network transforms our understanding from “Trump knew Epstein socially” to “Trump’s employee became part of the trafficking pipeline.”
With Congress now voting on releasing the FBI files, we may finally learn:
* Who else employed scouts that fed into Epstein’s network
* Which powerful figures were documented in 2006 but never charged
* Why four administrations kept these files buried
The FBI files are the last piece of the puzzle. Unlike flight logs showing who traveled, or emails showing who communicated, these files could show who the FBI believed were co-conspirators, and who got protected instead of prosecuted.
The Vote That Could Change Everything
As Congress prepares to vote on declassifying the FBI files, remember what’s at stake: not just embarrassing details about powerful people, but potential evidence of a protection racket that has survived nineteen years and four presidencies.
Trump’s reversal on November 16, four days after the estate emails exposed his scout, suggests he knows continuing to fight their release would only raise more questions about what he’s trying to hide.
The question now isn’t whether these files contain damaging information; Trump’s desperate reversal confirms they do. The question is whether Congress will finally reveal who the FBI wanted to prosecute in 2006, and why they were protected instead.
Note: All documents referenced in this article are from official releases: the Maxwell trial documents (January 2024), DOJ flight logs (May 2024), Epstein estate documents (November 12, 2025), and pending FBI files. The author’s February 2025 article “The Epstein Files Phase 1” is available at https://tatsuikeda.substack.com/p/the-epstein-files-phase-1.
Epstein Estate Files available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hTNH5woIRio578onLGElkTWofUSWRoH_
Update: As this article goes to publication, the House is expected to vote on H.R. [pending number] to declassify the FBI’s 2006-2008 Epstein investigation files. The Senate has already passed the measure. The President has indicated he will sign it.
Footnotes
[^1]: “Trump sells Miss Universe Organization to IMG,” CNN Money, September 14, 2015. Trump purchased the Miss Universe Organization in 1996 and sold it to IMG in 2015, maintaining control over the pageants for nearly two decades. https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/14/media/donald-trump-sells-miss-universe/
[^2]: “The Rise and Fall of Trump Model Management,” The Guardian, September 4, 2017. The agency was founded in 1999 and operated from Trump Tower, recruiting models primarily from Eastern Europe before closing in 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/trump-model-management-closing
[^3]: “Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing,” BuzzFeed News, October 12, 2016. Multiple contestants confirmed Trump’s pattern of entering dressing rooms unannounced. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kendalltaggart/teen-beauty-queens-say-trump-walked-in-on-them-changing
[^4]: Getty Images Archive, “Giant Casting Call Organized by Noah Models in Novosibirsk,” November 2014. Photographs show Tigran Khachatrian organizing mass recruitment events with hundreds of young Russian women. Getty Images ID: 458937342
[^5]: “Reggie Yates’ Extreme Russia: Teen Model Factory,” BBC Three, April 2015. Documentary following Tigran Khachatrian and Noah Models as they recruit girls as young as 13 from Siberia for international modeling careers. Available on BBC iPlayer.
[^6]: “Epstein Funded Jean-Luc Brunel’s MC2 Model Management,” Miami Herald, November 28, 2018. Court documents show Epstein provided $1 million in startup funding for MC2 in 2005 and maintained financial control over the agency. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article221897990.html
[^7]: Virginia Roberts Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell, U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, Case 15-cv-07433, Document 1090-12, Filed 08/09/2019. Giuffre’s 2015 affidavit details MC2’s role in trafficking and Brunel’s methods of recruiting underage girls.
​
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By Tatsu IkedaNovember 18, 2025
On November 16, 2025, Donald Trump abruptly reversed his position on releasing the Epstein files, telling House Republicans to vote for declassification. After nearly a year of resistance, including claiming the documents could “destroy lives,” the reversal came just four days after Epstein’s estate dumped thousands of damaging emails.
The timing wasn’t coincidental. Hidden in those November 12 documents was a bombshell that explains not just Trump’s reversal, but potentially why these FBI files have remained sealed through four presidential administrations since 2006.
But first, let me explain how I found it, and why understanding the four different “Epstein files” matters for seeing the full picture.
The Four Document Dumps: A Roadmap to Confusion
When media reports mention “Epstein files,” they’re conflating four completely different document releases, each with distinct sources and significance:
1. The Maxwell Trial Documents (January 2024)
* What: 943 pages from Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 defamation suit against Ghislaine Maxwell
* Released: January 3-5, 2024, by federal court order
* Contents: Depositions, flight logs, victim testimony, prominent names
* Key revelation: Bill Clinton named 73 times, Trump appears multiple times
2. The DOJ Flight Logs (May 2024)
* What: Epstein’s private jet manifests from 1991-2006
* Released: May 2024, after Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s pressure
* Contents: Passenger lists showing who flew on the “Lolita Express”
* Key revelation: Detailed travel patterns of hundreds of powerful figures
3. The Estate Email Dump (November 2025)
* What: 22,903 files from Epstein’s personal computers and phones
* Released: November 12, 2025, by estate executors
* Contents: Private emails, texts, contact lists from 2005-2019
* Key revelation: The Trump scout emails I’m about to detail
4. The FBI Files (Still Sealed)
* What: FBI investigation files from 2006-2008 Palm Beach case
* Compiled: 2006-2007 during original prosecution
* Status: Sealed for 19 years, now being voted on for release
* Significance: Contains victim interviews, surveillance, and potential co-conspirator evidence
Understanding these distinctions matters because each source reveals different pieces of the network. The FBI files are the only ones that could contain evidence of who was offered immunity deals in 2008.
My Research Methodology: Self-tooled Digital Forensics
When I obtained the November 12 estate dump (22,903 files totaling several gigabytes), I faced a challenge: most were images and PDFs requiring OCR. But digging deeper, I discovered the prosecutors had already extracted text from every document, creating 2,897 searchable text files buried in subdirectories.
I wrote a Python script using only standard libraries to search these files. Here’s a snippet:
This approach (no pip installs, no AI tools, just systematic searching) revealed patterns invisible to surface-level analysis. Of course, had the text not been made, I would have written a program to convert the scanned emails into text.
The results were revealing:
* “Trump”: 8,806 mentions across 1,178 files
* “Mar-a-Lago”: 122 mentions across 67 files
* “Jean-Luc”: 1,577 mentions (Brunel, the MC2 modeling agency head)
* “MC2”: 423 mentions
But quantity wasn’t the story. The bombshell was in a single email.
Tigran Khachatrian: Trump’s Direct Pipeline to Epstein’s Network
To understand why this discovery matters, you need to understand Trump’s deep involvement in the modeling world. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Trump wasn’t just a real estate mogul; he was a major player in international beauty pageants and modeling. He owned Miss Universe from 1996 to 2015[^1], purchased Trump Model Management in 1999[^2], and was known for personally involving himself in model selection, famously walking into dressing rooms unannounced during pageants[^3].
Trump Model Management operated from the 14th floor of Trump Tower, recruiting models from Eastern Europe and Latin America. The agency promised young women from poor countries a chance at American success. But the modeling industry’s dark side (promises of visas, pressure for “favors,” and exploitation of desperate young women) was an open secret. Trump’s agencies needed scouts, people who could identify and recruit beautiful young women from remote places like Siberian villages or Brazilian favelas.
Enter Tigran Khachatrian.
On July 16, 2010, Daniel Siad, a facilitator operating from Ibiza, sent Jeffrey Epstein an email that would later prove explosive:
“A great friend of mine rented Huge House in Ibiza so invited a lots of girls from Russia all models… with and great scout named Tigrane He use to scout For Trump but he deosnt work for him any more he coming with 12 girls the first weeck 22th of Jully then 13 others the second weeck…”
Epstein’s response revealed his priorities: “tigran has the best taste next to you… i am happy to meet him”
Through cross-referencing Getty Images archives and BBC documentation, I identified “Tigrane” as Tigran Khachatrian, who ran Noah Models in Russia. His operation wasn’t subtle. In 2014, he organized what he called a “giant cast for Top Model” in Novosibirsk, Siberia, photographing hundreds of young women[^4]. The following year, the BBC featured him in their documentary “Teen Model Factory,” which exposed how modeling scouts recruited girls as young as 13 from Russia’s poorest regions with promises of international careers[^5].
But here’s what makes this revelation explosive: the email explicitly states Khachatrian was bringing these models to help build “this great network for MC2.”
Epstein’s MC2: The Modeling Agency That Was Actually a Trafficking Operation
MC2 Model Management wasn’t just any modeling agency. It was Jean-Luc Brunel’s operation, funded with $1 million of Jeffrey Epstein’s money in 2005[^6]. On paper, MC2 looked legitimate, with offices in Miami, New York, and Tel Aviv, claiming clients like Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The agency’s models appeared in major magazines and walked prestigious runways.
But according to court testimony from multiple victims, MC2 was something far darker. Virginia Giuffre (who died via “suicide” April 25, 2025, shortly after announcing she had new evidence to share) stated in her 2015 affidavit that MC2 was “a front for sex trafficking.”[^7] She testified that Brunel would “bring young girls (ranging from ages as young as 12) to the United States for sexual purposes and farm them out to his friends, especially Epstein.”
Brunel himself was a longtime figure in fashion’s shadows. Starting in Paris in the 1970s, he’d built a reputation as someone who could find “fresh faces,” industry code for very young girls from poor countries. Notably, Brunel lived in Trump Tower during the 1990s, putting him in the same building as Trump Model Management, which operated from the 14th floor. This physical proximity between Brunel and Trump’s modeling operations occurred years before MC2 was founded with Epstein’s money.
By the time he partnered with Epstein, Brunel had perfected a system: scout vulnerable girls in Eastern Europe or South America, promise them modeling contracts, bring them to the U.S. on tourist visas, and then pressure them into “entertaining” wealthy men to keep their careers alive. The business model was disturbingly similar to what would later emerge in lawsuits against Trump Model Management: foreign models brought over on tourist visas (not work visas), housed in crowded apartments, charged exorbitant fees that kept them in debt, and pressured to attend parties with wealthy men.
The FBI knew about MC2. Flight logs show Brunel took 25 trips on Epstein’s private jet between 1998 and 2005. When Epstein was arrested in 2019, Brunel fled to South America. When he tried to return to France in December 2020, French police arrested him at Charles de Gaulle Airport. He was charged with rape of minors and held at La Santé prison, the same facility where he was found hanged in his cell on February 19, 2022, his death ruled a suicide.
The Ibiza Connection: Where Models Became Victims
The July 2010 emails paint a disturbing picture of how the network operated. Ibiza wasn’t chosen randomly; the Spanish party island has long been a playground for Europe’s wealthy, a place where normal rules don’t apply during the summer season. Daniel Siad, the man connecting all these players, had arranged a “huge house” there.
Siad himself was someone mainstream media completely missed. When The Guardian reported on these same emails in November 2025, they referred to him only as “an unidentified associate,” failing to connect his role in the network. But the emails show he had direct access to Epstein, personal relationships with both Khachatrian and Brunel (“I just called Jean Luc”), and was actively working to connect Trump’s former scout with Epstein’s trafficking network. He was managing logistics for 25 Russian models (12 arriving the first week of July, 13 more the second week), ostensibly for “magazine shoots.”
But magazine shoots don’t require introduction to Jeffrey Epstein. They don’t require building “networks” with MC2. And they certainly don’t require a convicted sex offender’s approval of the scout’s “taste” in selecting girls.
What Siad was actually doing was facilitating the pipeline: models recruited from Russia by Trump’s former scout were being brought to Ibiza, where they could be evaluated by Epstein and potentially integrated into MC2’s operations. From there, the vulnerable ones (the ones without family connections, without money, without options) could be pressured into the darker services that Epstein’s circle demanded.
Khachatrian Also Scouted Models for Trump
The timeline tells a disturbing story. Before 2010, Tigran Khachatrian was scouting models for Donald Trump. We don’t know exactly when this relationship began or ended, but by July 2010, Khachatrian had moved on, bringing 25 Russian models to meet Jeffrey Epstein in Ibiza.
This wasn’t a casual introduction. The email makes clear Khachatrian wanted to “build something” with Epstein. Daniel Siad explicitly mentioned creating a “great network for MC2.” And Epstein, despite Khachatrian having “told many bad things about me” to one of the models, was eager to meet him because of his “taste” in selecting girls.
Think about what this means: Trump’s model scout didn’t just know Epstein socially. He was actively building business with a trafficking network that would operate for another decade. MC2 continued recruiting and transporting young women until 2019, when it dissolved immediately after Epstein’s arrest. Brunel fled to South America but was eventually arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport in December 2020, charged with rape of minors. Fifteen months later, he was found dead in his prison cell.
Then came November 12, 2025. The estate released thousands of emails, including the Khachatrian revelation. Four days later, Trump reversed his yearlong opposition to releasing the FBI files.
The timing suggests calculation. With the scout connection now public, continuing to fight the FBI release would raise an obvious question: What’s in those files about Trump’s relationship with the man who recruited models for him?
Why the 2006 FBI Files Are the Smoking Gun
To understand why these specific files matter so much, you need to understand what was happening in 2006. The Palm Beach Police had just completed their investigation of Epstein, interviewing over 30 victims who described a systematic operation: Epstein would pay girls 300 for “massages” that turned sexual, then pay them to recruit their friends. The youngest victim was 14.
But when Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter brought the case to State Attorney Barry Krischer, something strange happened. Despite overwhelming evidence, Krischer took the case to a grand jury and came back with just one charge: solicitation of prostitution. Reiter was furious. He did something unprecedented: he bypassed local prosecutors and went directly to the FBI.
This is when the FBI files were created. Between 2006 and 2008, federal investigators built their case. They interviewed victims before anyone could pressure or pay them to stay quiet. They pulled phone records showing who Epstein called before and after each assault. They documented financial transactions, tracked his planes, and most importantly, they identified potential co-conspirators: the people who helped recruit, schedule, and pay the girls.
The FBI’s work was thorough. According to reporting from the Miami Herald, they drafted a 53-page federal indictment with 60 counts against Epstein. This wasn’t just about one man’s crimes; the indictment detailed a conspiracy involving multiple participants. Federal prosecutors were ready to bring the full weight of the justice system against everyone involved.
Then in 2008, everything stopped. U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta negotiated what federal judge Kenneth Marra would later call an “illegal” deal. Epstein pled guilty to two state charges and served 13 months in county jail with work release. But buried in the agreement was extraordinary language: immunity for “any potential co-conspirators.” The FBI investigation was shut down, the 53-page indictment was shelved, and all the files were sealed.
The timing of what happened next raises disturbing questions. In 2017, nine years after granting Epstein and his co-conspirators immunity, Alex Acosta was appointed by Donald Trump as Secretary of Labor. He served until July 2019, resigning just days after Epstein’s arrest when his role in the immunity deal became public. Was this appointment a reward for protecting powerful people in 2008? The FBI files might answer that question.
Think about what this means. For 19 years, through the Obama administration, Trump’s first term, the Biden administration, and now Trump’s return, these files have remained locked away. Four different administrations, both political parties, all maintaining the same silence. When documents stay buried through that many changes in power, it suggests they contain information damaging not to one side or the other, but to the entire power structure.
The FBI files would show who else was under investigation in 2006. Who needed that immunity deal. Who the FBI believed was involved but never charged. And possibly, who made the calls to shut it all down.
What the Pattern Reveals
When you step back and look at all four document sources together, a clear pattern emerges. It’s not just about who knew whom, or who flew on whose plane. It’s about an international recruitment pipeline that connected legitimate businesses to criminal operations.
The pipeline worked like this: Scouts like Tigran Khachatrian would identify young women in places like Siberia, where poverty and desperation made them vulnerable. These scouts had legitimate covers (working for pageant organizations, modeling agencies, or talent competitions). They would promise the girls modeling contracts, visa sponsorship, and a chance at Western success.
Once recruited, the girls would be brought to staging areas like Ibiza, where facilitators like Daniel Siad would manage logistics. There, people like Epstein and Brunel would evaluate them. The “best” ones (meaning the youngest, most vulnerable, most controllable) would be brought into operations like MC2. Others might actually get some modeling work, maintaining the legitimate cover story.
From there, the exploitation would begin gradually. First, pressure to attend parties with wealthy men. Then suggestions that “entertaining” clients was part of the job. For girls whose visas depended on their agencies, who didn’t speak English well, who had no money to get home, the pressure could be overwhelming.
What makes Trump’s involvement significant isn’t just that he knew Epstein; lots of powerful people did. It’s that Trump’s own employee, his scout Khachatrian, became part of this pipeline. When Khachatrian left Trump’s employment and immediately started supplying models to Epstein’s network, it raises unavoidable questions: Did Trump know where his scout was taking the girls he recruited? Did any of the models Khachatrian found for Trump end up in Epstein’s hands? And most importantly, is this why Trump fought so hard to keep the FBI files sealed?
Digital Forensics vs. Traditional Journalism
My approach to uncovering this story demonstrates the power of systematic digital investigation. When I received the November 12 estate dump, I faced 22,903 files, an impossible amount to review manually. Traditional journalists might have searched for obvious keywords or relied on sources to point them to important documents. Instead, I took a forensic approach.
First, I discovered that prosecutors had already extracted searchable text from every document, creating 2,897 text files. Rather than installing complex software, I wrote a simple Python script using only standard libraries. This allowed me to search for any term across all documents simultaneously, capturing context around each match.
The results revealed patterns invisible to surface-level analysis. Searching for “Trump” yielded 8,806 mentions across 1,178 files, far too many to review individually. But searching for “scout” led me to a handful of emails, including the crucial July 16, 2010 message from Daniel Siad. Cross-referencing names from that email with other searches revealed the network: Khachatrian appeared with Brunel, Brunel with MC2, MC2 with victim testimony about trafficking.
This methodology (treating documents like crime scene evidence rather than interview subjects) reveals connections that human sources might never admit. Tigran Khachatrian might deny working for Trump. Trump might claim not to remember him. But the emails don’t lie. They sit there in plain text, waiting for someone to connect the dots.
Questions That Remain
Even with these revelations, critical questions persist:
About Khachatrian’s Role:
* When exactly did he work for Trump?
* Was he scouting for Miss Universe, Trump Model Management, or something else?
* Did any models he recruited for Trump become Epstein victims?
About the FBI Files:
* Does Trump appear in the 2006-2007 investigation?
* Was he considered a “potential co-conspirator” in 2008?
* Did he receive immunity or just benefit from the investigation being shut down?
About the Reversal:
* Did Trump’s team know about the Khachatrian emails before November 12?
* Was the reversal damage control or genuine transparency?
* What other connections might the FBI files reveal?
Why This Matters Now
The Epstein network wasn’t just about one predator; it was an international operation involving modeling agencies, private jets, and powerful men. The revelation that Trump’s own model scout fed directly into this network transforms our understanding from “Trump knew Epstein socially” to “Trump’s employee became part of the trafficking pipeline.”
With Congress now voting on releasing the FBI files, we may finally learn:
* Who else employed scouts that fed into Epstein’s network
* Which powerful figures were documented in 2006 but never charged
* Why four administrations kept these files buried
The FBI files are the last piece of the puzzle. Unlike flight logs showing who traveled, or emails showing who communicated, these files could show who the FBI believed were co-conspirators, and who got protected instead of prosecuted.
The Vote That Could Change Everything
As Congress prepares to vote on declassifying the FBI files, remember what’s at stake: not just embarrassing details about powerful people, but potential evidence of a protection racket that has survived nineteen years and four presidencies.
Trump’s reversal on November 16, four days after the estate emails exposed his scout, suggests he knows continuing to fight their release would only raise more questions about what he’s trying to hide.
The question now isn’t whether these files contain damaging information; Trump’s desperate reversal confirms they do. The question is whether Congress will finally reveal who the FBI wanted to prosecute in 2006, and why they were protected instead.
Note: All documents referenced in this article are from official releases: the Maxwell trial documents (January 2024), DOJ flight logs (May 2024), Epstein estate documents (November 12, 2025), and pending FBI files. The author’s February 2025 article “The Epstein Files Phase 1” is available at https://tatsuikeda.substack.com/p/the-epstein-files-phase-1.
Epstein Estate Files available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hTNH5woIRio578onLGElkTWofUSWRoH_
Update: As this article goes to publication, the House is expected to vote on H.R. [pending number] to declassify the FBI’s 2006-2008 Epstein investigation files. The Senate has already passed the measure. The President has indicated he will sign it.
Footnotes
[^1]: “Trump sells Miss Universe Organization to IMG,” CNN Money, September 14, 2015. Trump purchased the Miss Universe Organization in 1996 and sold it to IMG in 2015, maintaining control over the pageants for nearly two decades. https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/14/media/donald-trump-sells-miss-universe/
[^2]: “The Rise and Fall of Trump Model Management,” The Guardian, September 4, 2017. The agency was founded in 1999 and operated from Trump Tower, recruiting models primarily from Eastern Europe before closing in 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/trump-model-management-closing
[^3]: “Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing,” BuzzFeed News, October 12, 2016. Multiple contestants confirmed Trump’s pattern of entering dressing rooms unannounced. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kendalltaggart/teen-beauty-queens-say-trump-walked-in-on-them-changing
[^4]: Getty Images Archive, “Giant Casting Call Organized by Noah Models in Novosibirsk,” November 2014. Photographs show Tigran Khachatrian organizing mass recruitment events with hundreds of young Russian women. Getty Images ID: 458937342
[^5]: “Reggie Yates’ Extreme Russia: Teen Model Factory,” BBC Three, April 2015. Documentary following Tigran Khachatrian and Noah Models as they recruit girls as young as 13 from Siberia for international modeling careers. Available on BBC iPlayer.
[^6]: “Epstein Funded Jean-Luc Brunel’s MC2 Model Management,” Miami Herald, November 28, 2018. Court documents show Epstein provided $1 million in startup funding for MC2 in 2005 and maintained financial control over the agency. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article221897990.html
[^7]: Virginia Roberts Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell, U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, Case 15-cv-07433, Document 1090-12, Filed 08/09/2019. Giuffre’s 2015 affidavit details MC2’s role in trafficking and Brunel’s methods of recruiting underage girls.
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