Epstein’s Bodyguard Gives ‘Nervous’ Interview, ‘Backs Away’ From Previous Statements

In an interview with M.L. Nestel published by New York Magazine Wednesday, the former bodyguard of Jeffrey Epstein — the wealthy financier who was found dead in his cell from suspected self-strangulation on Saturday amid a series of unusual circumstances — contradicted statements Nestel said he made to him in a previous, unpublished interview conducted four years ago.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect that he’d try to back away from the assertions he made in our original interview — but he did,” writes Nestel in the lead-in to the interview. “He also seemed, it is safe to say, quite nervous about saying anything at all.”

The disgraced financier’s former bodyguard, former Russian UFC fighter Igor Zinoviev, told Nestel in the follow-up interview that he “never” talked with Epstein about the first case against him, which resulted in the billionaire pleading guilty to underage prostitution charges.

Nestel, who appeared genuinely surprised by the assertion, followed up by reading what he said was a direct quote from Zinoviev in their 2015 interview about Epstein’s relationships with teenage girlfriends: “So many time I tried to stop him. I try to tell tell him my opinion about that. He don’t listen to me. That’s the reason why I’m not working for him no more. I make him do that — to let me go.” . . .

When Nestel stressed that he “definitely” told him previously there were teenage girls involved, Zinoviev said, “No, no. It’s not that. He working like work-release on other stuff. And I just tell him, you know, he would order his girlfriends around, and I told him, ‘Calm down.’ It’s not just teenage girls,” Zinoviev replied. “I never see teenage girls in my life at his house. That’s what it is. That’s a misunderstanding. Completely.” (Read more from “Epstein’s Bodyguard Gives ‘Nervous’ Interview, ‘Backs Away’ From Previous Statements” HERE)

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