Epstein files show image ops, emails funding employees’ flights to PH

MANILA, Philippines – Within the data in the emails of the Epstein files are emails pointing to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein attempting to clean up his image post-conviction with the help of a Philippine information operations agency.

In addition to this, Epstein apparently served as a magnanimous boss to employees working for him who needed to return to the Philippines to attend to personal matters or go on vacation.

‘Al Seckel’ and outsourced reputation cleaning

The Philippine Star first reported that Jeffrey Epstein was apparently using his connections to find agencies that would help keep his reputation clean online despite his 2010 conviction as a sex offender.

A search of the Epstein files in the US Justice Department’s database and in JMail.world, a searchable, indexed database of the Epstein files made to have a Gmail-like user interface, showed that Epstein asked for help from an “Al Seckel” who may be the husband of the sister of convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

The request was to launder Epstein’s reputation by optimizing search results to reduce mentions of his 2008 sex offender conviction, where he pled guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18.

Seckel was paid to outsource the task of damage control to a Philippine outfit.

Said Seckel in an email dated December 7, 2010: “Google suggests has gotten rid of two negatives… jeffrey epstein jail and one jeffrey epstein pedophile…. another thing I’ve had the Philippines work on since day one. Also, the daily beast is now number 9. we’re close to bumping it off the radar. When the google bots hit our sites around the 12th, all the other Jeffrey Epstein sites we have been promoting will kick in and we should see some real positive results…”

Further emails pointed to a continuing battle with Wikipedia and other sites to bury negative coverage of Epstein. The Verge, in a November 2025 report, noted Seckel’s involvement with trying to bury unflattering depictions of Epstein.

An email on December 15, 2010, noted how “Wikipedia was an important victory, as it will always be at the top of the search engine results. Now the headlines do not mention convicted sex offender or pedophile. Instead, Philanthropic work, Epstein Foundation, promotion of Scientists.”

Seckel added, “Your wiki entry now is pretty tame, and bad stuff has been muted, bowdlerized, and pushed to the bottom. Careful editing and wording has muted the effect immensely.”

‘Jojo Fontanilla,’ ‘Merwin Dela Cruz,’ and Filipinos working for Epstein

Esquire, in a July 2020 article, meanwhile mentioned Jojo and Jun-lyn Fontanilla, who worked for Epstein as housekeepers on one of his estates.

Searching for “Jojo” in the Jmail version of the database showed emails from him or from a Luciano Fontanilla (referenced interchangeably at times within the emails), with Jojo replying to requests from Epstein’s executive assistant, Lesley Groff.

Additionally, Jojo’s emails showed he was thankful for Epstein’s apparent magnanimity regarding granting their travel to and from the Philippines to go on vacation, with Epstein going as far as to give them a cash advance of $2,000 in September 2010.

Additional names mentioned at times within the current email set include Jun-lyn Fontanilla, Jojo’s wife, who also emailed thanks to Epstein in 2010 for his treatment of them when they served as his housekeepers.

References to “Merwin de la Cruz” were also shown in the Epstein files, as he worked for Epstein, and apparently did caretaker work in New York for the estate at 9 East 71st Street. A May 2012 email from Lesley Groff mentioned he was having hand surgery and could not wax the front doors. In July 2015, meanwhile, Merwin thanked him for letting him go on vacation and paying for the trip to and from the Philippines.

Meanwhile, a cleaner named Tes or Tess thanked Epstein for letting her see her mother in the Philippines and paying for the trip.

Why this matters

There are many faces to a person, and while some people may see a good-hearted boss, others may see that same face as something far more businesslike or sinister.

Jeffrey Epstein, in that sense, used Filipinos to his benefit.

He hired Filipinos to take care of his home and immediate affairs at his estates, while also asking for help to hire Filipinos to rehabilitate his image after his conviction as a sex offender.

While Filipinos working for Epstein may not necessarily be responsible or perhaps not even knowledgeable of his wrongdoings at the time of his conviction, they were, past a certain point, defending their boss or benefactor.

Merwin, for example, was mentioned at least once by Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn of HBRK Associates. Writing to Epstein on February 9, 2017, Kahn explained that someone attempted to serve papers to the Epstein residence at 9 East 71st Street in New York.

Said Kahn, “merwin was attempted to be served this am at 9 east 71st bell rang and merwin said who is it – gentleman said he had a package for jee merwin went to door and asian man ripped off top paper and threw loose papers in door merwin threw them back outside in front of the man outside the door should he retrieve from the snow or ignore please advise thank you.”

– Rappler.com