Leah Pisar’s Fundraising Trail Through Ghislaine Maxwell to Epstein

 

In the glittering world of international diplomacy, where handshakes seal fortunes and whispers shape policies, the Pisar family stands as a monument to elite entanglement. Samuel Pisar, a Holocaust survivor turned global power broker, built a legacy that intertwined his kin with corporate raiders, suspected spies, and the sordid underbelly of Jeffrey Epstein’s empire. At the heart of this web is his daughter, Leah Pisar, whose warm, chatty emails to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice in sex trafficking, reveal a chilling comfort in soliciting funds from a man whose “philanthropy” masked a network of abuse. These aren’t just polite exchanges; they’re windows into a system where “peace-building” organisations like Seeds of Peace serve as props for influence, often at the expense of the very youth they claim to uplift.

Picture the human stakes: Palestinian and Israeli teens, scarred by conflict, funnelled into programs bankrolled by a predator, while the Pisars navigated halls of power with impunity. This story isn’t about abstract connections; it’s about real people, from trafficked girls to manipulated children, caught in the gears of an unaccountable elite. Yet, to understand the depth of this complicity, we must first dissect Leah Pisar’s rise and her revealing correspondences.

Leah Pisar’s life reads like a masterclass in transatlantic privilege, but her correspondence with Maxwell exposes the moral rot beneath. Born and raised in Paris, she earned a BA in government from Harvard, an MA in political science from Sciences Po Paris, and a PhD in international relations from the University of Paris (Panthéon-Assas). Her Clinton-era roles—director of communications at the National Security Council, positions in the State Department’s Bureau of Public Affairs, and speechwriter for Ambassador Pamela Harriman in Paris—propelled her into the inner circles of U.S. foreign policy. After leaving government in 2001, she delved into academia, authoring Orage sur l’Atlantique on U.S.-France frictions over Iraq, co-editing works on transatlantic ties, and teaching at Sciences Po from 2013 to 2018. (Leah Pisar CV)

As rapporteur for the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) task force “Renewing the Atlantic Partnership,” chaired by Henry Kissinger and Lawrence Summers, and initiated by Leslie H. Gelb, Leah synthesised discussions on strengthening U.S.-Europe bonds, essentially shaping elite consensus on global alliances. But the CFR’s own ties to Epstein cast a shadow over his 15-year membership during which Epstein donated $350,000, landing in the Chairman’s Circle, the top donor tier. Yet after his 2008 guilty plea to sex crimes, CFR leaders admitted they never even discussed handling his funds, per a Washington Post investigation. Leah’s role in this Kissinger-Summers orbit underscores her embeddedness in a network that overlooked Epstein’s predations for financial gain.

Her emails (EFTA00578682) to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner in crime, humanise this complicity with a mix of flattery and opportunism. In December 2002, Leah reached out casually: “Dear Ghislaine: It was great speaking with you the other day”, adding in French, “Salut ma belle. Je viens de t’envoyer toute la propagande sur Seeds of Peace.” (translation: “Hi beautiful. I just sent you all the propaganda about Seeds of Peace“) (EFTA00578686), pitching Maxwell and ultimately Jeffrey Epstein for corporate sponsorship from Victoria’s Secret,  and espcially the L Brand Foundation tied to Epstein’s enabler Les Wexner.  (more...)

Leah Pisar’s Fundraising Trail Through Ghislaine Maxwell to Epstein