Ivory Coast President's Niece Acted as Epstein Fixer, Emails Reveal
Newly released correspondence appears to show how a glamorous niece of the president of the Ivory Coast acted as a fixer for convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. The emails suggest she introduced him to powerful politicians and assisted in sourcing young women.
Keita's Role and Connections
Nina Keita, whose uncle Alassane Ouattara has led the West African nation since 2010, began corresponding with Epstein in 2011. At that time, she was a model who had worked in France before later returning home to take up a senior role at the state oil storage firm Gestoci. She is now married to employment minister Adam Kamara.
The emails indicate Keita visited Epstein in New York, flew on his private jet, and organised a trip for him to Abidjan. During this visit, he was scheduled to meet the president and senior ministers to discuss investment projects.
Dark Turn in Correspondence
According to The Times, the correspondence takes a darker turn. In May 2011, Keita asked Epstein if he wanted to meet one of her friends in Paris. He replied: 'How old is she tell me about her? Do you have other friends.'
Keita responded: 'She is 25. But she has a lot of friends too in Paris. You can meet her first and ask her I'm sure she'll be happy to do that.' Months later, after an apparent meeting at the Ritz in Paris, Epstein wrote: 'Ask [redacted] to send pictures of her sister. I prefer under 25.'
When no pictures were sent, Keita forwarded photographs herself. The same year, Epstein floated selling his Boeing 727—believed to be the so-called Lolita Express—telling Keita: 'I am told your uncle is trying to charter my 727. The same one you flew on to Europe. I suggest he buys it instead.' No sale is believed to have occurred.
Political Engagements and Questionable Activities
In January 2012, Keita set up a packed itinerary in Abidjan, including meetings with the president, the economy and interior ministers, and senior officials such as the late Amadou Gon Coulibaly, who later became prime minister.
Ahead of one engagement, she wrote: 'Also what's your maximum bed time? Hamed has something planned for you but I'm afraid it might go very late ( dinner at his house with wife + drinks somewhere+ private night at his penthouse( he knows what you like).'
Involvement in Karim Wade Case
Years later, Keita also appeared central to efforts to free Karim Wade, son of former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade. After Wade was jailed for corruption in 2015, she begged Epstein for financial help to hire US lobbyists.
She wrote: '[Wade] is asking again if you could help with hiring a lobbying firm ( as I previously told you). Jeffrey, he really, really needs your help… A lot of his friends have disappeared, he has few one left and most people are afraid to help.' Emails indicate Epstein sent $100,000. When Wade was freed the following year, Keita wrote: 'Thank you for everything you have done for him!!!!'
The Daily Mail has approached Keita for comment.
Broader Context of Epstein Files Release
This revelation comes as over 18,000 images and 2,000 videos—or 14 hours of footage—were published by the US Department of Justice on January 30 in a tranche of over three million files related to the late child sex offender.
The files show how the disgraced financier solicited explicit, self-filmed content from young women as a matter of habit. Several clips feature girls in a state of undress, often with a large teddy bear in frame. In one video, Epstein is seen forcibly exposing an unidentified woman’s breasts to the camera.
Other disturbing clips show Epstein dancing alongside potential victims and enjoying private ‘entertainment’ by unclothed young females in a red-panelled study in his Paris home. The footage aligns with emails where Epstein frequently solicited sexually provocative nude images and videos.
For instance, on June 11, 2015, he wrote to one redacted email address: 'Where are my new photos?' The unidentified person replied: 'My butt used to be smaller...now it hardly fits in the photo.' Epstein responded: 'When do you leave for home? phots are grat [Sic],' before asking again: 'Take some nudes sexy if you are comfortable.'
In another exchange from 2012, he instructed via Skype: 'Head straight , stand on toes , twist torso. That pose nude.' When the woman, an aspiring model, asked if she would always have to be photographed unclothed, Epstein replied: 'You look great, be brave try new things.'
Historical Allegations and Patterns
Epstein also made young girls perform in semi-clothed catwalk auditions, lending evidence to the theory that he lured victims by masquerading as a Victoria’s Secret talent scout. In 1997, he assaulted model and aspiring actress Alicia Arden at a hotel in Santa Monica after claiming to be a talent scout for the brand.
Arden, now 56, told the New York Times: 'His weapons were his hands.' She went to the police the day after the attack, concerned he could be harming other women. Her testimony remains one of the earliest known police records of sexual misconduct allegations against Epstein.
The released files include explicitly pornographic videos, such as one filmed at a beach zooming in on a woman seemingly undressed. While there is no indication Epstein filmed it himself, it appears he downloaded it onto his computer from a third-party distributor.
More than a dozen videos show young women—faces heavily censored—dancing for Epstein in his French property, often in a state of undress. The red room where these dances were filmed is the same study where Lord Peter Mandelson was photographed in his underpants next to a woman in a white bathrobe.
Emails published by the DOJ show the former Washington ambassador frequently stayed at the luxurious Avenue Foch apartment, which overlooks the Arc de Triomphe, and used it for business meetings. Another clip shows a potential victim dancing provocatively to Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, wearing black stockings and festive tinsel.
