A new investigation by Drop Site News (DSN) has alleged that disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein collaborated with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to pursue business and security interests in Nigeria during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The report, based on email exchanges released by the US Justice Department in 2018, details how Epstein allegedly facilitated high-level introductions involving Nigerian and international business figures, while Barak deepened security cooperation between Israel and Nigeria.
Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, reportedly brokered discussions between Jide Zeitlin, then chairman of Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Fund, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, former chairman of Dubai-based logistics giant DP World.
According to the investigation, part of the discussions centred on efforts by bin Sulayem to secure port concessions in Lagos and Badagry after years of unsuccessful negotiations with successive Nigerian administrations dating back to 2005. DP World was said to be reluctant to invest in an industrial zone without outright ownership of surrounding port facilities.
Bin Sulayem resigned from DP World on February 13 after his past association with Epstein resurfaced publicly.
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The report further alleges that Epstein maintained near-daily correspondence with Barak, who after stepping down as Israel’s defence minister in 2013, sought to expand Israeli security and energy business interests in Nigeria.
At the time, Nigeria was grappling with escalating attacks by Boko Haram, the Islamist insurgent group whose violent campaign destabilised parts of the country’s northeast.
The DSN investigation claims that Barak leveraged counterterrorism cooperation as an entry point for Israeli-linked security and technology firms into the Nigerian market.
In 2015, Barak and a business partner invested $15 million in FST Biometrics, founded by Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, a former head of Israeli military intelligence.
The company developed a biometric access control system known as Basel, previously deployed at crossings between Israel and Gaza.
The report states that similar biometric surveillance systems were marketed in Nigeria as counterterrorism tools. One such system was reportedly installed at Babcock University, framed as a protective measure against extremist threats.
Israeli intelligence-linked firms reportedly promoted their technologies as “field-proven,” positioning them as effective tools for large-scale population monitoring across African nations confronting security challenges.
Beyond security technology, the investigation alleges that the partnerships may have provided opportunities to access Nigeria’s petroleum sector, with Epstein playing an advisory and networking role.
In 2013, Nigeria’s House of Representatives raised concerns over a $40 million intelligence contract awarded by then-President Goodluck Jonathan to Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence technology company, to develop online surveillance infrastructure. Lawmakers threatened to suspend the contract amid controversy.
Shortly after, Nigerian media pushed for the passage of a pending Cybercrime Bill designed to create a comprehensive legal framework for digital surveillance. Two days after a cybersecurity conference in Abuja at which Barak reportedly spoke, the Senate advanced the bill.
In 2020, the World Bank supported a cybersecurity partnership involving Nigeria, the Israel National Cyber Directorate, and Toka Group, a cybersecurity firm co-founded by Barak.
The DSN investigation argues that the overlapping security, business, and political engagements during Nigeria’s insurgency years reflect a complex web of interests that extended beyond counterterrorism cooperation.
Neither Barak nor representatives of the companies mentioned in the report have publicly responded to the latest allegations at the time of filing this report.