Landon Thomas Jr.

The Thomas-Epstein relationship went beyond a journalist accepting gifts from a source. The email record documents a structured reciprocity that operated on multiple levels. Thomas received story tips and access to Epstein's network of billionaires -- the currency of financial journalism. In return, Epstein received advance warning of incoming investigations and input into how he was portrayed in the press.

The 2002 New York Magazine profile illustrates the pattern's origin. Thomas's piece, according to researcher Thomas Volscho, was rushed to publication to preempt Vicky Ward's Vanity Fair investigation, which took a more adversarial approach. The resulting article framed Epstein as an enigmatic financier. Volscho characterizes this as one of several "transactional/collusion-style relationships" Epstein maintained with reporters -- a capability that, in Volscho's analysis, "elite sex traffickers have that ordinary offenders do not." The profile's sourcing from Maxwell associates and its use of softening language established a narrative frame that persisted for years.

By the time Thomas was at the NYT, the arrangement had developed into a regular intelligence exchange. Thomas alerted Epstein when journalist John Connolly was writing a book with James Patterson (November 2015), warned him about renewed interest in the Ken Starr hiring, flagged the Politico article on the Acosta plea deal (February 2017), and asked about the David Boies / Weinstein connection (November 2017). In each instance, Thomas gave Epstein time to prepare responses or engage lawyers before stories went public. After Epstein's 2008 conviction, Thomas pitched him an NYT interview that would allow him to "define the story on your terms."

The financial dimension of the Thomas-Epstein relationship was routed through the Ricardo O'Gorman Garden and Center for Resources and Humanities (EIN 13-4061835), a small Harlem Montessori preschool for at-risk children where Thomas was evidently a board member or supporter. On March 30, 2015, Thomas emailed Epstein wire instructions for a TD Bank account in the organization's name. Epstein immediately forwarded these to his financial gatekeeper Richard Kahn with a two-word instruction: "10k from foundation." This was the first confirmed payment.

A second, larger payment followed in August 2017: $30,000 from Gratitude America Ltd, Epstein's USVI-based private foundation. Thomas's email asking "what name the check would come under" suggests awareness that the money would not come directly from Epstein -- consistent with the broader Epstein practice of routing payments through entity layers to obscure their origin. The total confirmed flow is at least $40,000. IRS 990 filings for the O'Gorman Garden show a steady small nonprofit whose operations were unaffected by Epstein's arrest, suggesting the arrangement was episodic rather than ongoing.

The routing follows patterns documented across Epstein's network. Gratitude America -- which received $10,003,000 from Leon Black via BV70 LLC in October 2015 -- served as a general-purpose disbursement vehicle. The $30,000 to Thomas's charity sits alongside $525,000 to the International Peace Institute, $225,000 back to Black's Melanoma Research Alliance, and hundreds of thousands more to various recipients. The charity-to-charity routing provided a layer of separation between Epstein and the ultimate recipient.

A structurally notable dimension of the Thomas relationship is how Epstein used Thomas's professional output as material for third parties -- specifically Jes Staley, who served as CEO of JPMorgan's investment bank and later CEO of Barclays. In May 2010, Epstein forwarded Thomas's financial analysis directly to Staley with the annotation "keep confidential nytimes" ¹. In a separate email, Epstein forwarded Thomas's NYT article ideas to Staley under the heading "new york times Thinkers piece" ².

By August 2012, Thomas and Staley were participating in three-way email threads with Epstein, discussing the upcoming Barclays CEO succession. Thomas provided inside reporting that board chairman David Walker was favoring Antony Jenkins over Staley for the top job. Epstein then relayed this to Staley, writing: "as you already know the name is anthony jenkins. the story you should look at is david walker is choosing jenkins." Thomas later covered Staley's departure from Barclays in August 2017, maintaining contact with the Epstein-Staley axis throughout.

The "keep confidential nytimes" annotation indicates Epstein understood that the information had value specifically because it came from an NYT reporter's analysis. The email record suggests Thomas was unaware that his work product was being forwarded to banking executives, though this cannot be confirmed from the available correspondence alone. The pattern represents a case where a reporter's professional output was redistributed through informal channels to financial decision-makers.

The Thomas-Epstein correspondence intensified around political subjects during the 2016 presidential campaign and its aftermath. On December 8, 2015, Epstein offered Thomas "photos of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen" followed by a reference to "hawaiin tropic girl lauren petrella." By May 2016, Thomas was writing to Epstein: "I am kind of shocked that our reporters did not contact you re the Trump women story. He seems to have got off rather lightly," and offered to "pass information to a political reporter" at the Times.

The exchanges covered multiple domains. Thomas solicited Epstein's knowledge of Trump's Wall Street finance supporters (June 2016), asked about Saudi money flows for an NYT investigation into royal family finances (October 2016), and shared Trump election analysis. Epstein responded with specific financial intelligence: "most of the saudi money is tied up in pe funds. no withdrawals allowed. and im not seeing much in the secondary market." This exchange occurred three weeks before Epstein's documented November 7-10 Riyadh trip, placing it in the context of his active Saudi financial relationships.

After the election, the exchange continued. In March 2017, Trump retweeted a Thomas NYT story, prompting Thomas to tell Epstein: "I think my wife is going to change the locks." In December 2017, Thomas asked about Jamie Dimon harassment rumors, and Epstein responded with a list of names: "Jamie, gates Michael Douglas, gagosian." After the Schneiderman resignation in May 2018, Thomas asked Epstein: "What about that other story involving a pretty senior newspaper personality? Dropped?" -- a reference to allegations that Thomas appeared to know about through private channels.

The clearest documentation of the transactional nature of the Thomas-Epstein relationship comes from a series of 2016-2017 emails in which Thomas openly linked his editorial output to requests for access. On October 17, 2016, Thomas emailed Epstein: "does my story on Abraaj get me a meeting with Gates next time he is in town." His NYT coverage of Abraaj Group, a Dubai-based private equity firm that later collapsed in fraud, was framed as a credential to be exchanged for a meeting with Bill Gates.

The SoftBank/Masayoshi Son thread further documents this dynamic. On January 3, 2017, Thomas told Epstein he was doing a story on the new SoftBank tech fund and tried to arrange an Epstein introduction to the Masa/SoftBank circle. On March 3, Thomas sent his published NYT article on Masayoshi Son. Six days later, on March 9, Thomas wrote: "Trying to get you in with Masa crowd. Some resistance though, due to all the headlines/controversy -- as you might expect. I tell them about your relationship with Saudis/Gates/Trump crowd but still doubts. Working on it." In this exchange, Thomas was simultaneously covering SoftBank as a reporter and advocating for Epstein's inclusion in the SoftBank circle, citing Epstein's other connections as credentials.

By April 2017, Thomas asked: "So if I offer up to Masa's bankers a meeting with Nathan would he agree to it" -- proposing to trade access to an Epstein associate (likely Nathan Myhrvold) for access to Son's inner circle. The SoftBank thread shows Thomas operating in a dual capacity, using his editorial platform to open doors for Epstein while pursuing stories that required access Epstein could help facilitate. This pattern served both Thomas's career advancement and Epstein's post-conviction effort to rebuild relationships with major technology and financial figures.