Emails released by the Justice Department on Friday appear to show that former Windows boss Steven Sinofsky not only consulted Jeffrey Epstein for help in securing his $14 million “retirement” package in November of 2012, but also in working on future career steps at other companies like Samsung or Apple. One document appears to show that a couple of weeks after Sinofsky’s departure was announced, Epstein wrote to him saying Apple CEO Tim Cook was “excited to meet.”
There was just one hitch, though: Epstein said Cook had heard Sinofsky was starting a company with “farstall.” Epstein wasn’t sure of the spelling — many of his messages have typos — but it appears he was referring to former iOS VP Scott Forstall, whose exit from Apple had been announced one month before.
Despite that, an email exchange six months later finds Sinofsky saying he did meet with Cook, and that the Apple boss told him “we should talk when I want to work full time.”
In between those messages, another email between Epstein and an “Ian Osborne” shows Osborne messaging that he “Will call this afternoon. Was with Tim Cook this morning.”
Osborne’s email address is redacted, but it appears that this message is from the British investor Ian Osborne, who was reportedly a “fixer to billionaires” prior to launching a SPAC, Social Capital Hedosophia, in 2017 with Chamath Palihapitiya. Last year, FT reported that a court case in London revealed that Osborne and Epstein were sending emails back and forth in 2012 discussing lobbying political figures and bank insiders in an attempt to get “our friend” Jes Staley appointed CEO of Barclays.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment from The Verge.