Files Show Mandelson Sought Visa for Epstein via Deripaska

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.