I-TEAM: Why is Toledo mentioned in the Epstein files?

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - You may be surprised to hear that Toledo was mentioned in the most recent release of documents in the Epstein files.

He was pointed to a meeting in Toledo and those documents even include a response from Jeffrey Epstein himself, years ago, about the city.

There are several Toledo references in the trove of documents released last week.

They are mostly news articles about random topics or crimes in our region, where Epstein is also mentioned. One conversation in particular talks about Toledo’s economy and what business leaders think about it, with Epstein giving his thoughts.

In early March of 2017, there was a meeting held at One Seagate in downtown Toledo along the banks of the Maumee River. That meeting was a CEO breakfast where business leaders discussed the economy under President Donald Trump. He was elected a few months before that.

It turns out, a New York Times reporter named Landon Thomas Junior was covering the meeting.

Before his article was published, Thomas reached out to Epstein.

On Thursday, March 9, Thomas said the following to Epstein:

“I was in Toledo, Ohio, yesterday drilling down on small business animal spirits. Amazing how bullish they are there for all of DJT’s craziness, his ability to present himself as a small biz owner pissed off about regulations/health care/anti-business sentiment in White House was a brilliant stroke. They really dig him down there.”

Epstein was not at the meeting in Toledo and it’s not clear why he was being informed of the meeting.

The author even sent him a link to the article with the subject line: “The foot is coming off brake in Toledo, Ohio.”

That got a response from Epstein in one simple line: “Foot off the brake.”

The article from the New York Times in 2017 makes no reference to Epstein, who had his hands in several financial ventures before becoming notorious for sex trafficking allegations and an indictment. He was found dead in jail in 2019.

None of the references to Toledo in any of the files mentions children or any kind of sex crimes regarding Epstein. When it comes to the Toledo references, there’s an op-ed talking about Jeep, a person who had a family reunion near Toledo, even something looking at Epstein’s image and how it’s viewed in several cities -- and Toledo is included.

There is one reference to Peter Nygard. He’s a former Canadian fashion designer convicted of sexual assault. An FBI agent in Toledo interviewed a former girlfriend of his back in 2017.

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