Who is Ariane de Rothschild? Head of Edmond de Rothschild bank named in Epstein files

Ariane de Rothschild, head of the family-owned Edmond de Rothschild Swiss private bank, has now found mention in the recent documents released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

According to the documents, analyzed by Mint, Ariane de Rothschild corresponded with the late sex offender multiple times and agreed to several meetings over about five years before his 2019 arrest and jailing.

While the documents released on 30 January do not seem to show any sign of criminal wrongdoing, they do raise questions over the bank's earlier description of the relationship, Reuters reported. In 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that the bank had said she met Epstein as part of her routine responsibilities.

The disclosure of the previously unknown familiarity between the two adds de Rothschild to the rapidly growing list of prominent figures revealed to have been in Epstein's social circle, after the documents were released by the DOJ under pressure from victims and members of Congress.

On 19 March 2019, nearly four months before Epstein was arrested, he wrote to de Rothschild, telling her about his presence in Paris. She responded, "Are you really ?!! I'm here as well. When would you be free?"

"Its been much, much too long," Epstein replied, before they arranged to meet the following day. However, whether the meeting took place or not can't be established.

A spokesperson for Edmond de Rothschild bank informed Reuters that the late wealthy financier was de Rothschild's business acquaintance from 2013 to 2019 and added that she did not know about his conduct and "unequivocally condemns his behaviour and the crimes which he committed".

The emails between the two largely date from the mid-to late-2010s. In the documents released, de Rothschild's name appears 4,400 times, many of which were duplicate files.

Some of the email exchanges between the two also took place with the help of assistants. In an exchange from 2016, Epstein's assistant arranged to return a hoverboard to de Rothschild's daughter.

She also became the first woman to run a Rothschild financial institution in a banking dynasty that dates to 18th-century Frankfurt, Germany.

Epstein was later arrested in 2019 on charges of trafficking girls, some as young as 14 years old. He later died on 10 August 2019, in his cell while awaiting a trial.