Question
Who was Alfredo Rodriguez and what did he do with Epstein’s black book?
Answer
Alfredo Rodriguez was Jeffrey Epstein’s personal household manager for properties in Palm Beach and elsewhere. Following Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, Rodriguez stole a copy of Epstein’s personal contact directory — a comprehensive address book containing contact information for hundreds of people, including many of the elite figures in Epstein’s social network.
Rodriguez then attempted to sell the contact directory to a civil attorney representing one of Epstein’s victims. The attorney — Brad Edwards — notified law enforcement rather than purchasing it. Rodriguez was arrested and in 2009 convicted of obstruction of justice for attempting to sell what was determined to be evidence in ongoing civil proceedings.
Rodriguez was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. He died in 2015, before much of the subsequent litigation that would have made the directory particularly significant.
The contact directory itself — which Rodriguez had described as Epstein’s “little black book” — included contact information for Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, scientists, financiers, celebrities, and hundreds of other individuals. The document was obtained through legal process and portions were eventually made public, generating extensive reporting on the scope of Epstein’s elite network.
The sheer breadth of the contact list reinforced the picture of Epstein as someone who had systematically cultivated relationships across virtually every domain of American and international elite society.
Sources
- U.S. v. Rodriguez, Southern District of Florida, 2009
- Gawker publication of Epstein’s black book excerpt, 2015
- Miami Herald reporting on Rodriguez and the contact directory