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NewslettersMPW Daily

How Jeffrey Epstein used elite institutions to maintain control over women

Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
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May 11, 2026, 10:16 AM ET
Jeffrey Epstein's control of women continued long after they first entered his orbit.
Jeffrey Epstein's control of women continued long after they first entered his orbit. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
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Despite all the reporting about Jeffrey Epstein, there is still so much we don’t know. My colleague Jessica Mathews unpacks another layer of Epstein’s abuse in a new investigation published in Fortune.

Her story focuses on the International Peace Institute (IPI), a think tank affiliated with the United Nations that works to settle and prevent armed conflicts. One of IPI’s key funders was the Gates Foundation; Epstein connected the two organizations in 2013. The late convicted sex offender advised IPI employees on what to say to obtain their first $5 million donation from the Gates Foundation and Epstein worked behind the scenes with Bill Gates to speed up the process, Jessica reports. Between 2013 and 2015, the Gates Foundation contributed 20% of IPI’s total donations.

Meanwhile, Epstein was using IPI as another avenue to “control women and keep them in his orbit,” this story confirms. One of those women was Svetlana Pozhidaeva, who went on the record in this piece. A former Russian model, Pozhidaeva was 31 at the time and had been “a so-called ‘assistant’ to Jeffrey Epstein for about five years.”

She says she, like so many others, was sexually abused by Epstein. But these connections to elite leaders made her question whether anything was wrong. “If someone like this comes to [Epstein’s] house, maybe it’s me who doesn’t understand something here,” she remembers thinking.

She says that Epstein told her she would orchestrate a conference on preparing for pandemics with health experts and diplomats, in partnership with both IPI and the Gates Foundation. But she recalls that she was never given anything to do—and the promise of the job was “one of the hooks” Epstein used to keep her close to him.

The Gates Foundation said in a statement that “the harm Epstein inflicted on women and girls was horrific, and no one should ever have to experience what they did. It’s deeply troubling that, without our knowledge, Epstein used the Gates Foundation’s name to further his agenda.” IPI said in a statement that it “joins with those around the world who have expressed solidarity with the survivors of Epstein’s wrongdoings.”

Jessica’s story gives us more insight into what happened to women in Epstein’s orbit in the years after they were first connected to him. While Epstein targeted young women and teen girls, some of these women were trapped for years to come with these kinds of tactics.

Read Jessica’s full investigation here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

Bumble is killing off the swipe. In its efforts to reinvent itself and achieve a turnaround, the dating app is debuting a new format. Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd says Bumble will be saying goodbye to the swipe and "hello to something that I believe is revolutionary for the category" in select markets starting in the fourth quarter of this year. 

Mifepristone is the political battle of the moment. President Trump is reportedly planning to fire his FDA chief Marty Makary; one issue for Makary is the FDA's oversight of mifepristone, the drug used in medication abortion. Anti-abortion activists have grown frustrated with the administration for what they view as a lack of action to restrict the drug. But prescription of mifepristone via mail is now in the hands of the Supreme Court; the court's temporary restoration of access to the drug by mail after a Louisiana lawsuit was valid through today. 

Two of the WNBA's biggest stars faced off on Opening Day. The Indiana Fever played the Dallas Wings, putting Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers against each other on the court. The game featured the last four No. 1 draft picks in the WNBA—a reminder of the league's growth and where it's heading.

Wordle is becoming a TV show! Savannah Guthrie will host a game show on NBC based on the popular word game. For the New York Times under CEO Meredith Kopit Levien (No. 50 on last year's Most Powerful Women list), the show will be the first time the media company associates itself with a "prime-time entertainment program on a major broadcaster."   

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PARTING WORDS

"This idea that boards offload risk onto women is a really demotivating idea. Most transformations succeed or fail because of people." 

— Cindy Rose, the new CEO of WPP and the first woman to lead a major ad holding company, on her skepticism of the glass cliff amid advertising's AI reckoning 

This is the web version of MPW Daily, a daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
About the Author
Emma Hinchliffe
By Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

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