Jeffrey Epstein was among six advisers, including former prime minister Kevin Rudd, engaged by the Mongolian president to help revive the economy and resolve an impasse with Rio Tinto over the development of an $11 billion copper project that was crucial to the country’s growth.

Mr Rudd told a conference call of the advisers, attended by the disgraced financier in 2014, that major mining companies could take a “ruthless approach” in disputes with governments, according to a trove of emails published by the Justice Department in the United States.

That correspondence is among the millions of documents published by the department that show Epstein acting as a ringleader for the world’s wealthiest and most powerful. Epstein was a convicted paedophile and was facing charges of sex trafficking when he died in a US prison in 2019.

The emails show the extent of Epstein’s influence in Mongolia, where he dined with then president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in 2013 and was asked to join a high-level group to provide advice about the country’s economy.

The Mongolian economy was struggling in 2013 because a dispute with Rio over expansion of the country’s biggest private business – the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine – had scared away other foreign investors.
Epstein participated in a meeting with Mr Elbegdorj in January 2014 alongside other advisers including Mr Rudd, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Bondevik and former US Treasury secretary and Harvard University president Lawrence Summers.

Epstein and Mr Summers were in regular contact over their Mongolia work. When Mr Summers received an email invitation from the World Bank to visit Mongolia and speak on economic matters, he immediately forwarded the email to Epstein with the message: “Do I want to be doing this?”

At the 2014 meeting with Mr Elbegdorj, Mr Summers warned that foreign investors viewed Mongolia as a high-risk destination, adding its borrowing costs could be lowered if it struck a deal with Rio to proceed with an expansion of Oyu Tolgoi. At the time of the meeting, Rio had paused the expansion because the Mongolian government was seeking to revise an investment agreement struck for the mine in 2009.

“Investor confidence could be increased by resolving issues between Rio Tinto and the government of Mongolia in relation to the Oyu Tolgoi mine,” said Summers, according to a summary of the meeting, which was among the documents seized from Epstein.

“A solution should be found in line with international obligations and honouring contracts that have been signed. The government should make it clear that it expects others to do the same,” Summers said, according to the meeting summary. “Such a negotiated solution would improve Mongolia’s credit worthiness and bring down interest costs.”

Mr Rudd, whose first stint as prime minister ended in a 2010 fight with Rio and BHP over a resources tax, told the meeting that big miners could be “ruthless”, but it was best that Mongolia did not breach its agreements.

“[Rudd] stressed the importance of honouring contracts for the sake of the country’s international reputation, particularly for attracting [foreign direct investment],” according to the summary of the meeting.

“[Rudd] noted the sometimes ruthless approach of mining companies, and underlined the importance of effective legislation.”

A Rio spokesman said the miner had never hired Epstein to act as a lobbyist, nor had it had any dealings with him. Rudd, who is mentioned in the financier’s emails dozens of times, has previously said that he had “no reason to believe that he ever met with Jeffrey Epstein at any time”.

In correspondence revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald late last month, Epstein’s assistant writes that Mr Rudd had “also asked if he can bring his wife and son” to a September 2015 meeting with the then Mongolian president.

In a statement, Mr Rudd’s office said he had been invited to the event by the International Peace Institute, the think tank he chaired at the time, but did not attend and did not know if the dinner went ahead without him.

BY: Peter Ker covers resource companies for The Australian Financial Review, based in Melbourne. Connect with Peter on Twitter. Email Peter at pker@afr.com

Published Date:2026-02-10