The Epstein-Johnny Depp-Justin Baldoni connection

You won’t find any communications between Jeffrey Epstein and Johnny Depp in the millions of Epstein Files released by the Department of Justice so far. But you will find emails between the deceased sex trafficker and the publicist who represented Depp during his 2022 defamation trial against Amber Heard.  

That publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, is mentioned hundreds of times in the Epstein Files. Within the DOJ’s Epstein Library are three invoices showing Hiltzik billed Epstein $25,000 a month for “communications counsel and public relations services” rendered in June, July, and October 2017. At that time, journalists were beginning to take a closer look at the allegations against Epstein, which had resurfaced in Virginia Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell. Former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was asked about the plea deal he gave Epstein in 2008 during his 2017 confirmation hearings.

Right around when POLITICO reported on Epstein’s connection to Donald Trump, who had just begun his first term as president, Epstein and Hiltzik started talking. Their initial calls and meetings, documented in emails in the Epstein Files, led to a May 13, 2017 email signed by Hiltzik Strategies’ Chief Operating Officer Roni Gross that suggested they “structure our agreement” through Epstein’s lawyer, “meaning he/she will be hiring Hiltzik to assist them with your case (but you can pay us directly). This provides for stronger attorney-client privilege protection.”

Hiltzik was once Harvey Weinstein’s spokesperson when he was the head of corporate communications for Miramax in the late 90s. He has also worked for politicians like Hillary Clinton, journalists like Katie Couric, the YouTuber MrBeast, and actors like Brad Pitt and Depp—for those men, he steered the coverage of allegations of domestic abuse against them into narratives in their favor. 

Melissa Nathan, a publicist who worked under Hiltzik and is also mentioned in the Epstein Files (more on that in a second), also represented Depp and later the actor Justin Baldoni when she started her own PR firm The Agency Group (TAG). Nathan is one of the people, along with Baldoni, being sued by Blake Lively for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of PR retaliation after Lively accused Baldoni of on-set workplace sexual harassment. Hiltzik and Nathan also represented Ivanka and Tiffany Trump during Trump’s first campaign, and in 2017 Hope Hicks transitioned from her role at Hiltzik Strategies to the White House communications director.

These kinds of crisis publicists play the role of mitigating controversies around their wealthy, powerful clients. They work to plant positive stories, shape media narratives, and even make negative stories disappear. Increasingly, they use a digital arsenal of tools to influence both traditional and social media. And some of them have been accused of smearing victims of sexual violence. 

When it comes to Epstein, Depp, and Baldoni, Hiltzik and his fellow publicists relied on some of the same tactics, from pseudo-feminist PR spins to access journalism. Their defense attorneys and PR teams worked in tandem to craft narratives to bolster their cases and their reputations. And while people accused of crimes by the government have a constitutional right to a defense, the same can’t be said for civil cases or for having a crisis publicist who charges five figures a month. PR professionals could always choose not to represent individuals accused of sexual violence, or they could abstain from using narratives that rely on victim-blaming, DARVO, and rape culture to defend their clients.

Access journalism, where reporters maintain exclusive proximity to high-profile sources by allowing the source’s interests to guide their reporting, is a cornerstone of how celebrities and politicians engage with the media. Michael Wolff, the journalist and author of bestselling books about Trump’s first term, appeared to be the initial point of contact between Epstein and Hiltzik (in one email in the Epstein Files, Wolff also shared a draft of a passage concerning Epstein with him before publication).

Once Hiltzik was working with Epstein, they discussed cultivating positive press, rather than the headlines about “underage sex” (also known as rape) that were dominating his search results at the time. Ben Sosenko, a publicist at Hiltzik Strategies, suggested then-Page Six reporter Richard Johnson write something about Epstein’s donations, discussing coordinating interviews with Johnson and sources close to Epstein in emails. Epstein identified his “target audience” for this kind of coverage as fellow New York elites, including business leaders who “unfortunately” read Page Six, Silicon Valley figures, European leaders, and academics. Other files reveal how Epstein used a web of prominent individuals from these elite circles to maintain influence, find business clients, and procure young women.

In other emails with Hiltzik, Epstein suggests men willing to defend him, including famed academics Noam Chomsky and Lawrence Krauss—Krauss would soon face his own allegations of sexual misconduct and email Epstein to get advice for combatting them. In emails between Sosenko, Epstein, and Swedish businesswoman Barbro Ehnbom, Epstein tried to surreptitiously get Ehnbom to talk to Hiltzik’s firm about his “support for female economists” and “how important that funding is.” In between their conversations about PR, Epstein offered for Hiltzik to spend time with former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak at one of Epstein’s residences. Hiltzik and Sosenko didn’t respond to my requests for comment.

The narrative that Epstein and Hiltzik attempted to craft together was one where Epstein was a lauded philanthropist whose efforts actually helped women, not hurt them. It reminds me of how Baldoni curated a charitable male feminist persona publicly while sending examples of viral social media content that smeared celebrity women to his publicists behind-the-scenes. 

One of those publicists, Nathan, is mentioned in the Epstein Files regarding a May 5, 2017 meeting scheduled between Epstein and Hiltzik that Sosenko and Nathan were supposed to attend. Bryan Freedman, the lawyer representing Baldoni and Nathan against Lively, denied that this meeting took place in an exclusive statement he shared with Zack Peter, a militantly anti-Lively and pro-Baldoni podcast host who gained attention in recent days for spreading cruel, baseless conspiracies that broadcaster Savannah Guthrie is hiding information from the public about her mother’s highly-publicized kidnapping.

This is reminiscent of when Depp’s lawyer Adam Waldman testified that he had been in contact with three pro-Depp YouTubers, engaging with them like he would with journalists. In Nathan’s case, the people most likely to care that she’s in the Epstein Files is the audience most avidly following the case against her and Baldoni. By issuing a denial through such a partisan source, she and Freedman are speaking through and to their most sympathetic audience. The mainstream media has yet to pick up on this, shielding the denial from much scrutiny. Peter didn’t respond to my request for comment.

In his statement shared with Peter, Freedman denied that Nathan or anyone working at TAG “has ever met, engaged with, or provided public relations or any type of services for Jeffrey Epstein.” Peter published this statement in full, with seemingly no further questions. Other, more critical observers, found that a publicist identified as a TAG employee in court documents had emailed Epstein in 2016 too invite him to another client’s film premiere, which Epstein’s assistant said he would attend with three guests. That publicist, Breanna Butler Koslow, also previously worked at Hiltzik Strategies. Freedman didn’t respond to my request for comment.

Ultimately, I would argue that Epstein didn’t need a lot of PR help until his twilight years. There were plenty of wealthy, powerful, well-connected men and women willing to look past his 2008 conviction. Government officials were willing to give him a sweetheart deal and prison officials were willing to give him a six-day-a-week work release. It wasn’t until the last second that many of Epstein’s associates finally cut ties with him, after the public backlash finally became too overwhelming.

Even now, Epstein’s reputation is being laundered by commentators minimizing his crimes and referring to public outrage as part moral panic. Many of the people mentioned in the Epstein Files have said nothing and at least one person who emailed with him said he doesn’t regret it. The FBI failed to investigate many of the allegations made about Epstein and so has the DOJ, which has actually retaliated against victims by leaking their names and nude photos while simultaneously redacting incriminating information about alleged perpetrators.

These kinds of publicists benefit from the fact that the system is already broken in their favor and the status quo around sexual violence already works in their favor. As Nathan infamously texted a fellow TAG publicist representing Baldoni: “It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people [who] really want to hate on women.” Perhaps the most damning thing about these publicists’ interactions with Epstein is that, for them, it was just another day on the job. 

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