The Epstein-Mossad Theory: From Fringe Allegation to Popular Myth

An Evidence-Based Examination of Its Origins, Credibility, and Consequences

Jul 13, 2025

Introduction: In a Time of Narrative Warfare, Let’s Lay Out the Facts

We are living in an age where opinion gets mistaken for fact, where viral repetition is often confused with evidence, and where conspiracy theories can travel halfway around the world before the truth finishes its first sentence. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way people talk about Jeffrey Epstein—and especially the claim that he was a Mossad agent running a blackmail operation for Israeli intelligence.

You’ve probably heard this theory stated not as speculation, but as if it were confirmed fact—“Epstein was Mossad,” people say, with absolute certainty. But is it true? Where did this idea come from? What’s the evidence?

This paper does one simple thing: lays out the verifiable facts. No spin. No wishful thinking. No viral noise. Just the origin of the claim, the credibility of the people behind it, and the way it spread. Then you can decide for yourself what’s real and what’s not.

I. The Origin: A Single, Discredited Source

The claim that Epstein was a Mossad asset was not uncovered by investigative journalists, intelligence agencies, or leaked documents. It was asserted by one man: Ari Ben-Menashe, a self-described former Israeli intelligence officer. His allegation first appeared in the 2020 book Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales, co-written with tabloid editor Dylan Howard. In it, Ben-Menashe claims Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ran a “honeytrap” operation for Mossad, compromising global elites with sexual blackmail.

But here’s the key fact: there is no evidence to support this claim beyond Ben-Menashe’s own words. No corroborating witnesses. No documentation. No admissions from Israeli officials. No intelligence verification. Just his story—and as we’ll see, that story comes from someone with a long history of inconsistency, fabrication, and strategic self-promotion.

II. Ari Ben-Menashe’s Record: Fabrication, Foreign Lobbying, and Credibility Collapse

A. Discredited in the October Surprise Investigation

Ben-Menashe first came to public attention in the early 1990s when he claimed the Reagan campaign had secretly conspired with Iran in 1980 to delay the release of U.S. hostages. In 1993, a bipartisan House Task Force led by Rep. Lee Hamilton investigated and concluded:

“Mr. Ben-Menashe’s allegations are riddled with inconsistencies, lack corroboration, and in many cases are directly contradicted by official records.”
— House October Surprise Task Force Final Report (1993)

Israeli officials, including then–Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, flatly denied that Ben-Menashe was ever part of Israeli intelligence. The documents he provided were judged to be either forgeries or unverifiable.

B. Arrested for Arms Trafficking, Then Acquitted on a Technicality

In 1990, Ben-Menashe was arrested in the U.S. for illegally attempting to sell military aircraft to Iran. He claimed it was part of a covert intelligence operation. He was acquitted, but only because the case was procedurally murky, not because his story held up. The judge did not endorse his claims, and Israeli authorities again denied he was acting on their behalf.

III. The FARA Trail: Paid by Russian-Aligned Regimes

After publishing the Mossad claim in 2020, Ben-Menashe reinvented himself as a registered foreign lobbyist, filing numerous declarations under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). His clients? A list of authoritarian regimes and Russian-aligned political actors, including:

Tobruk Parliament in Libya (aligned with Kremlin-backed General Haftar)
Sudan’s military junta
Burkina Faso’s post-coup regime
A Palestinian businessman seeking U.S. backing for power in Gaza

All of these were registered with the U.S. Department of Justice between 2020 and 2025. These weren’t intelligence operations. They were transparent influence campaigns—for regimes with deep ties to Russian geopolitical strategy.

IV. Picked Up by Russian State Media—Almost Instantly

Within weeks of Ben-Menashe’s Mossad theory going public, it was amplified by Russian state outlets like:

RT (Russia Today)
Sputnik
Press TV (Iran)
Al-Ahed and Al-Mayadeen (Lebanese outlets linked to Hezbollah and Iran, which often echo Russian narratives)

These platforms treated Ben-Menashe’s story as gospel, repackaging the Mossad theory to discredit Western institutions, paint Israel as a puppetmaster, and frame the U.S. elite as corrupt and compromised. In other words, it was immediately co-opted by foreign propaganda ecosystems—with zero vetting of the source’s credibility.

This is a classic case of information laundering: one dubious source makes a sensational claim, foreign adversaries pick it up, and through repetition it starts to feel true.

V. Co-Author Dylan Howard: Another Compromised Figure

The man who helped Ben-Menashe write Dead Men Tell No Tales, Dylan Howard, is no investigative journalist. He’s a former tabloid executive at American Media Inc.—the company behind the National Enquirer. In 2024, Howard was called to testify in Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial because of his role in arranging the “catch and kill” cover-ups that buried damaging stories about Trump.

He was part of the same operation that paid off women, buried affairs, and misused journalistic platforms for political advantage.

This is who co-authored the Epstein–Mossad claim.

VI. The Problem with Repetition

By 2024, you could hear “Epstein was Mossad” on podcasts, YouTube, Reddit, and even TV panels. But the sheer repetition of a claim does not transform it into truth. It transforms it into folklore.

One man said it. He had no proof. And Russian propaganda outlets loved it.
That’s the entire origin story.

Meanwhile, every serious journalist who’s investigated Epstein—from Julie K. Brown to Vicky Ward—has pursued facts, not fantasy. None have produced a single document, source, or testimony that supports the Mossad theory.

VII. Conclusion: Mystery Is Not Proof

It’s okay to have unanswered questions. Epstein’s story is still full of them. But we must resist the urge to fill in those gaps with stories that just feel satisfying.
The Mossad theory is built on:

One unreliable narrator
A discredited track record
Political agendas
Zero evidence

We’re living in a time when truth is harder to find than ever. That’s why we check the facts, follow the money, examine the sources—and leave the rest in the dustbin of bad intelligence and better propaganda.