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JAMES PaTTERSON Jeffrey Epstein. Finally, desperately, he tried to sell the informa- tion he'd stolen. The papers named underage girls and the places where Epstein had taken them. The list included locations in Califor- nia, Paris, New Mexico, New York, and Michigan. The papers also included the names, addresses, and phone numbers of | famous individuals —Henry Kissinger, Mick Jagger, Dustin Hoff- ; F man, Ralph Fiennes, David Koch, Ted Kennedy, Donald Trump, | j Bill Richardson, Bill Clinton, and former Israeli prime minister 7 q Ehud Barak among them. S) 4 This was intriguing, if not at all damning. Epstein made a ; a habit of collecting such information for future use. But informa- 4 ez tion pertaining to the girls would have bolstered the state's case against Jeffrey Epstein, and by withholding it from the Palm Beach PD and the FBI, Rodriguez had committed a crime. In his defense, Rodriguez would say that the papers were an “insurance policy.” Without them, he believed, Epstein would have made him “disappear.” But now Rodriguez needed the money. And so a few weeks 2 after Epstein’s release from the Stockade, he approached a lawyer d who was representing some of Epstein’s masseuses. He had the “holy grail,” he insisted. A “golden nugget.” The names of hun- q dreds of girls, he said, who had been abused by Epstein. 4 The lawyer told Rodriguez in no uncertain terms that he was | obliged to turn whatever he had over to the authorities. By | demanding money for the information, Rodriguez was commit: | ting another crime. According to a sworn statement by Christina Pryor, a special | agent with the FBI, Rodriguez “persisted that he would only turiy over the information in his possession in exchange for $50,000." 218 Fit: Two months later, on Octobe: who insisted once more on hy lawyer told him that an associ What the lawyer knew anc the associate in question was. the FBI. A few days later, on } guez and sets up a meeting, wi “During the meeting, Roc book and several sheets of lega ten notes,” Special Agent Pryo continues: Rodriguez explained that he his former employer's resid 2004 to 2005 and that the bo working for his former emp detail the information within ant information to the UCE. I he had previously lied to the. about the $50,000, took posse counting it. Rodriguez was then detai: Proceedings, Title 18, U.S. Co tioned. After Miranda warning Rodriguez waived his rights a those rights. Rodriguez admit and book in his possession an to local law enforcement or th HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_010557