Short Answer
Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi billionaire arms dealer notorious for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, moved in some of the same elite financial and social circles that Epstein inhabited. A direct documented personal or business relationship between the two is not well established in public records, but their networks overlapped significantly.
In Detail
Adnan Khashoggi was one of the wealthiest and best-connected men in the world during the 1980s. Born in 1935 in Saudi Arabia and educated in the United States, he became a principal arms broker for deals involving multiple governments and was a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal. By the late 1980s and into the 1990s he maintained residences in New York, Europe, and the Middle East and moved in international financial circles that intersected with Epstein’s developing social network.
Overlapping Networks
Both Khashoggi and Epstein cultivated relationships with the same strata of international finance, real estate, and political/royal connections. Khashoggi’s social events were famous for their lavishness and drew exactly the type of powerful men — politicians, royals, foreign officials, financiers — that Epstein was simultaneously cultivating. Their shared social geography makes contact plausible.
The Passport Question
One document found in Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse safe after his 2019 arrest was an Austrian passport issued under a Saudi Arabian address in the early 1980s. Some researchers and journalists have speculated about whether this document was connected to Epstein’s relationships with Middle Eastern financial figures of that era, potentially including connections to the Khashoggi network. This remains speculative.
What Is Confirmed
No deposition, civil filing, or criminal record in the Epstein case has named Khashoggi (who died in 2017) as a direct participant in or enabler of Epstein’s trafficking operation. His relevance to the Epstein story is primarily as context for the international financial and political world that Epstein was penetrating during his formative years as a financier.