Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson alleged that the late financier Jeffrey Epstein operated a blackmail scheme on behalf of Israeli intelligence, telling attendees at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit in Tampa on 12 July that Israel had “committed crimes on American soil.” Carlson claimed Epstein was “working on behalf of intel services, probably not American,” and argued that questions about the financier’s reported ties to Israel and its intelligence agency, Mossad, should not be considered taboo. Epstein died by apparent suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His death has fueled continuing speculation about possible links to intelligence agencies. Carlson’s remarks come amid renewed attention to a 2024 Manhattan federal lawsuit in which one of Epstein’s alleged victims said he had boasted of being a Mossad asset. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has acknowledged meeting Epstein on multiple occasions between 2013 and 2017 but denies any wrongdoing. Neither the Israeli government nor U.S. authorities have commented on Carlson’s assertions. Previous investigations by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice found no evidence that Epstein was murdered or that he worked for a foreign intelligence service.