Files Show Mandelson Sought Visa for Epstein via Deripaska (1)

Peter Mandelson and Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, who together founded the lobbying firm Global Counsel,appear to have tried to secure Jeffrey Epstein a last-minute Russian visa through Oleg Deripaska — the Russian billionaire described by the convicted sex criminal as a “friend of Putin.”

Email exchanges between Mandelson, Wegg-Prosser, Epstein and what appears to be Deripaska’s office show attempts to use high-level contacts in Russia to obtain Epstein and a traveling companion visas to Moscow. The exchanges date from November 2010, the month in which Global Counsel was launched.

The efforts don’t seem to have worked out in time, according to ...