Mongolia has suddenly found itself at the center of one of the loudest corruption scandals of recent years. From declassified correspondence by Jeffrey Epstein, it became clear that the financier, convicted of pedophilia, spent years giving direct instructions to the country’s government and personally to President Elbegdorj on how to deal with the corporation Rio Tinto. These are not backstage rumors but documented emails.
It all started with a publication by the Western investigative portal DropSiteNews. The outlet posted the correspondence between former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Epstein. In the documents of the U.S. Department of Justice, the word “Mongolia” appears hundreds of times. Epstein called Mongolia “a state where you can try anything at once,” and saw it as a convenient “gray zone” for corruption operations. This launched an international scheme involving the Mongolian elite. Financial Times, Bloomberg, DropSite News, and The Guardian have written about this based on the Handala leaks from 2025–2026. And all of it revolved around a single asset: the strategic Oyu Tolgoi deposit and its operator, Rio Tinto.
Why Mongolia in particular? The country is squeezed between Russia and China, possesses colossal mineral reserves, and at the same time has weak regulatory bodies. In Epstein’s files, such countries are directly labeled as “useful” and “low-risk.” He even planned to launch a sovereign digital currency there called the “Genghis Khan Coin,” but nothing came of it.
In 2013, Mongolia demanded a revision of the 2009 agreement on the Oyu Tolgoi copper‑gold deposit, one of the largest mines in the world, with nearly 1,800 tons of gold reserves—truly an enormous source of wealth for the country. The public opposed the fact that Rio Tinto controlled 66% of the shares. The terms were described as unprofitable and onerous. Public debt was growing, the budget was cracking, sovereignty was weakening. And right at the peak of this confrontation, Jeffrey Epstein received the status of official adviser to the president of Mongolia. Behind him stood people who decided the fate of the deposit in the interests of global corporations. At the Davos Forum in those years, a clear task was set: by any means necessary “to improve Rio Tinto’s relations with Mongolia.” Epstein pressured the Mongols with threats of international audits, courts, and exposures.
The declassified files point to the key role of former president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, who was in power from 2009 to 2017. While cultivating an image of a reformer and anti‑corruption fighter, he personally initiated the creation of a presidential advisory council. And he invited…Jeffrey Epstein to join it. From 2013 to 2016, Epstein officially served on this council. Also in Davos operated the International Peace Institute led by Norwegian Terje Rød‑Larsen, who likewise joined the Mongolian council. The Davos group included former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and World Bank chief economist Lawrence Summers. Epstein was listed as a “financier.” An external consultant was the British lord and former UK ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson.
Elbegdorj did not just formally appoint Epstein. He actively communicated with him and visited receptions on his private island together with his adopted children. In photographs from the published files, it is clear that the president was completely under Epstein’s influence. After a dinner at the financier’s New York mansion, Elbegdorj sent him a personal note of thanks for the “profound discussions.” If Epstein had compromising materials on the Mongolian elite, this explains a lot: why the head of state so obediently followed the recommendations of a man convicted of pedophilia.
At first, Elbegdorj could not completely ignore public sentiment. Mongolians were outraged at how a foreign company managed their subsoil resources. For some time the president demonstratively criticized Rio Tinto and even demanded that the terms of the agreements be changed in 2009. But after Epstein appeared in his inner circle, Elbegdorj abruptly changed his position in favor of the corporation. In effect, Epstein, through the president, was informally controlling the republic’s financial flows. Meanwhile, Elbegdorj’s status within the global elite grew, despite accusations of pedophilia back home. And the schemes built from the island of Little Saint James hit the country hard: sovereignty weakened, Oyu Tolgoi‑related debt increased, and Mongolia lost its levers of influence.
In February 2026, the Financial Times called Epstein’s operating model a “social pyramid.” The principle is the same as in a financial pyramid, only instead of money it is built on people. For ten years, this pyramid worked against Mongolia. Epstein created Mongolia’s dependence on Rio Tinto through loan schemes; he also stood behind the Dubai Agreements of 2025. By the time the Mongols realized they had lost control over the country’s main asset, had piled up multibillion‑dollar debt, and let a foreign intermediary into state governance, it was already too late to change anything. Epstein embedded himself into the official structure under Mongolian authorities, blocked the revision of the unfavorable agreement with Rio Tinto, and left behind more than $20 billion in debt along with the loss of control over Oyu Tolgoi. Epstein’s Mongolian files have already entered the public domain and can seriously damage Elbegdorj’s allies among Mongolian democrats ahead of the 2027 elections.
Today, the accomplices of the late Epstein’s schemes are being held to account by law enforcement. Terje Rød‑Larsen has been arrested in Norway. Peter Mandelson has been stripped of his lordly title and is under investigation in England. Deals involving Epstein are being reviewed around the world, and Mongolia should not be an exception. Sovereign states reclaim their natural resources when fraud is exposed. This is exactly what Kyrgyzstan did by nationalizing the Kumtor gold mine from the Canadian company Centerra Gold.
The government of Mongolia still has a whole series of well‑founded claims against Rio Tinto: underpayment of taxes, opaque debt obligations, environmental violations, industrial accidents, and other incidents.
The scheme Epstein built is falling apart. Today, the government of Mongolia has a real chance to restore control over Oyu Tolgoi. Epstein’s Mongolian files have already become public and may deal a blow to the allies of former president Elbegdorj from the Democratic Party in the new election cycle.
