Former MI6 spy insists Jeffrey Epstein was 'recruited by Russian organised criminals' and 'likely' had kompromat on Trump

Christopher Steele, who used to head up MI6's Russia desk, told Tom Swarbrick that the latest Epstein files published by the US Department of Justice on Friday show the extent of the connection between the disgraced paedophile financier and Russia.

The former spy told LBC that US sources have highlighted that Epstein's money didn't seem to come from business deals and, instead, possibly came from the Soviet Union and then Russia.

Millions of files, including emails and photos, relating to the dealings of Epstein were published by the Department.

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Mr Steele said: "I would argue this goes right back to the 1970s.

"My sources in America tell me that the American government, the American intelligence services assessment was that Epstein was recruited as early as the 1970s by Russian organised crime figures in New York and that his information was being used, his operational techniques were being used from that point onwards.

"So this scandal, this case, if you like, goes back decades."

Mr Steele was thrust into the spotlight for his involvement in producing the infamous Steele dossier.

The dossier was compiled as opposition research on Mr Trump during the 2016 US election with intelligence that included claims that the Russian government was engaging in election interference to secure a presidential win for Mr Trump and that members of his campaign team had met with Russian officials.

As well as this, there are still unverified reports that Russia had compromising material on Mr Trump, which included footage of him engaging in embarrassing sexual behaviour.

Mr Steele told Tom Swarbrick that he believes Epstein - and subsequently the Russians who were handling him - had kompromat on Mr Trump.

Kompromat is a Russian term for compromising material collected, often by a security service, about politicians or public figures with a view to blackmail.

"I think it's quite likely, although I suspect that some of these files have been destroyed," he said.

"One of the interesting aspects of this is that if the American security services knew that this was initially a Russian operation, was a continuing Russian operation over the years, why did they let it run so long? I find that mysterious. I think other intelligence services were also involved. Israelis, almost certainly.

"The value of the kompromat that was being gathered must have been so great that it was attractive to more than just the Russian intelligence services."