Paula Penfold searched 1000 New Zealand Epstein files. Here's what they reveal
Thursday, 5 February 2026
When the United States Department of Justice released millions of files linked to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, New Zealand readers who typed our country into the dataset got more than 1000 matches. But much of it was noise, so we filtered the material on your behalf. The documents paint an intriguing picture of aspiration, excess, power – and some recognisable names.
When you type “New Zealand” into the Department of Justice Epstein archive, it produces 1023 results.
The latest release – more than three million files, including 2000 videos and 180,000 images – is the largest document dump since a law passed last year forced their release.
It’s only natural to want to know if and how we figure.
But the problem with keyword searches is that they pull any vague mention of New Zealand, a lot of which is meaningless: news briefings and generic financial updates, loads of admin. Even when documents look interesting, they are often duplicates or slightly different iterations of the same email chains.
From the thousand or so matches, we scanned the descriptions accompanying each one to rule out those that fell obviously into the “passing mention” category.
We downloaded those that looked more substantive, and because of the volume, used AI to assist with the initial analysis. (As an aside we also wanted to give you a chance to review the files via what you see below).
So what connects Epstein to New Zealand?
These are not encrypted messages or hidden chat logs. Most people, including Epstein, communicate via Gmail addresses about everything from travel and finance introductions to funding pitches.
Epstein’s writing is extremely casual and often full of errors. He has no time for capitalisation or punctuation.
His correspondents are overwhelmingly deferential and polite. Epstein often replies to well-considered emails with a single word – yes or no – frequently drifting away from conversations, leaving half-formed plans and repeated pleas for engagement.
Stuff has previously reported standout New Zealand angles, including Kiwi couple Brice and Karen Gordon who managed Jeffrey Epstein’s sprawling New Mexico ranch and also travelled across his other properties, including his notorious Caribbean island, Little St James.
They are both former members of the New Zealand Defence Force.
Then there’s Auckland academic Brian Boyd whose emails with Epstein were revealed, including Boyd providing his account number so Epstein could fund him to write a book.
A Stuff story about a yacht, Dancing Hare, also features in an FBI email exchange referencing the vessel docking at Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour in 2020. The 58m yacht was previously owned by Robert Maxwell, the father of Epstein’s longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, who in 2022 was sentenced to a 20-year prison term after being found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences.
What else?
Lawrence Krauss and a proposed move to New Zealand
If one name recurs throughout the New Zealand files, it’s Canadian physicist Lawrence Krauss.
Over several years, emails show Krauss travelling to New Zealand, proposing joint trips with Epstein, and eventually seeking financial backing for a move he hoped would involve an academic role at Otago University – which the documents show the university did engage with him over.
Prior to these papers, Krauss had already appeared in publicly released documents – 20,000 pages released in November 2025. The New York Times reported he had received a pointed list of questions from reporters preparing an article about sexual misconduct allegations against him, and turned to Epstein for advice.
Krauss said in a statement at the time that he had never hidden his association with Epstein, and had “sought out advice from essentially everyone I knew” when faced with sexual misconduct allegations. He says those accusations are false.
The New Zealand files show exchanges between Krauss and Epstein beginning in 2009, stemming from a query from another academic, Martin Nowak, a Harvard professor who once led a programme Epstein had donated to.
“I am thinking so much about what you have told us,” Nowak writes, before launching into a question about relativity and the nature of time.
Krauss is enthusiastic but apologetic in his response.
“You caught me in an airline lounge in new Zealand on my way to Sydney so icannit give a detailed answer but will.”
(Emails are quoted with typos, as they were originally written.)
So, a peripheral reference to New Zealand, as is the case in hundreds of the files.
But in the Krauss instance, what begins as a passing comment developed into something sustained, including several suggestions that he and Epstein travel together to New Zealand.
Krauss proposes dates and itineraries. Epstein sometimes signals the timing works, before later withdrawing.
According to these documents, Epstein did not travel to New Zealand.
By 2012, the correspondence shifts to something more ambitious.
Krauss begins discussing the possibility of basing himself in New Zealand in a role connected to Otago University. Emails show him engaging directly with then vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne.
Hayne raises immigration requirements, employment structures, and how such an appointment might work within university policy.
Epstein’s role is financial backer. Krauss repeatedly references the need for funding, described the uncertainty as “taking a toll,” and discussing housing, indicating he is considering purchasing a property.
Eventually, in the face of Krauss’s repeated emails, Epstein simply says “re new zealand,, I can’t get behind it”.
The proposal ends there.
Asked about the exchanges, a spokesperson for Otago University said the discussions with Krauss were exploratory only, and the university only learned with the release of the documents that Krauss had approached Epstein about funding.
No funding was provided, and the university had no direct contact with Epstein. Neither Krauss, nor his wife Dr Nancy Dahl-Tacconi, who also featured in the discussions, were employed.
Krauss did not respond to Stuff’s request for comment on the Epstein exchanges, of which there are many more in the wider three million files – Stuff has only reviewed those pertaining to New Zealand.
Peter Thiel surfaces in investment correspondence
A different kind of New Zealand reference appears in financial correspondence involving billionaire investor and New Zealand citizen Peter Thiel, with New Zealand not as a destination, but part of a track record – in an investment pitch to Epstein.
In a 2014 exchange, Thiel introduces Epstein to Andrew McCormack and James Fitzgerald. In 2010 the three co-founded venture capital firm Valar Ventures. Thiel describes his co-founders to Epstein as “two guys that are scouring the world for me to look for terrific early-stage VC investments”.
He goes on to explain that he had scored “two terrific hits in the last four years”, including New Zealand accounting software company Xero.
“It would make sense for you to put in $10-20mm here – and I’d be happy to discuss some more when I see you next in person.”
Epstein’s reply: “no need to meet guys, you like them, good enough for me”.
The introduction leads to direct contact, with Valar partners sending Epstein fundraising material and offering an introductory call.
By the following month they’d spoken. “James and I are excited to have you as an investor in Fund II,” McCormack wrote.
A 2025 New York Times report said in 2015 and 2016 Epstein put $40 million into two funds managed by Valar Ventures, ultimately becoming the largest asset in his estate.
Stuff has approached Thiel for comment but he had not responded by publication.
What else about New Zealand?
Beyond academia and finance, the files offer glimpses into the culture surrounding Epstein – a world of vast wealth and social hierarchy.
In 2014, Epstein wrote to Google co-founder Larry Page: “when you are next on your island give me a call and come visit. I would like to take you up on your invitation to test your new zealand catamaran. next step?”
Page bought the 59.2m yacht Senses from New Zealand businessman Sir Douglas Myers in 2011, for around NZD$60m.
A couple of months later Epstein instructs a staff member to “reach out to lary paige guy, re, trying their new zealand boat”, who responds that she will make arrangements.
Many of the remaining references are procedural, such as staff seeking approval for trips.
But a couple of them neatly package both the type of man Epstein was, and the international tendrils following his demise.
In one, an exchange with someone whose identity is redacted, they discuss holiday plans. New Zealand is only a peripheral reference again, as a possible destination.
“What about New Zealand, Bora Bora, or Bali? Or Maldives?,” the person writes, before asking if the trip would be a birthday or a chanukah present.
Epstein doesn’t mind which destination, and says it is a birthday present. “Chanukah maybe a car.”
That was in 2017.
In 2019, Epstein died by suicide in New York while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, though his death continues to attract widespread scrutiny and speculation.
One of the final documents recorded a 2020 online tip to the FBI, regarding “possible information” relating to someone whose name is withheld, and Epstein, in a location that is blacked out.
“I am willing to cooperate fully towards this,” the tipster writes. “However being unemployed i am seeking a better lifestyle, and if we can topple this conglomerate ring, im sure there is enough for all of us.”
The tip was sent from New Zealand.