"Moonves' Guy": The iMessages Where Jeffrey Epstein Name-Dropped CBS's Fallen CEO While Planning His Own Defense

# "Moonves' Guy": The iMessages Where Jeffrey Epstein Name-Dropped CBS's Fallen CEO While Planning His Own Defense

*Published by DugganUSA LLC | February 24, 2026*

*Source: 142,000+ DOJ documents, searchable at epstein.dugganusa.com*

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In December 2018, Jeffrey Epstein was scrambling. The Miami Herald had just published its devastating "Perversion of Justice" series. His carefully maintained wall of secrecy was crumbling. And in two separate conversations recovered from his personal devices, Epstein name-dropped Leslie Moonves — the CBS chairman who had been ousted three months earlier over sexual misconduct allegations — as both a strategic reference point and a network connection.

The documents, released by the House Oversight Committee and now indexed in DugganUSA's searchable database of 142,000+ DOJ files, reveal Epstein coordinating crisis management with Michael Wolff, the author of *Fire and Fury*, and conducting strategic text conversations that reference Moonves, Trump, Noam Chomsky, Woody Allen, and Steve Bannon's political operations — all within the same week.

Document 1: "Moonves' Guy" (HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_032832)

On December 4, 2018, Michael Wolff — yes, *that* Michael Wolff, the journalist who wrote the explosive tell-all about the Trump White House — emailed Jeffrey Epstein at his personal Gmail ([email protected]) with this message marked **Importance: High**:

> "I think you should reach out to Matt. Moonves' guy, who I had lunch with yesterday, says he would probably use Hiltzig."

The "Matt" appears to be Matt Hiltzik, one of New York's premier crisis PR strategists. Hiltzik's client list has included Harvey Weinstein, Katie Couric, and Justin Bieber. "Moonves' guy" — someone from Moonves' inner circle — was recommending Hiltzik to handle Epstein's media crisis.

Epstein had written minutes earlier:

> "should i, or you reach out to matt. or sean. or ?"

Wolff's advice was blunt:

> "I think it's a useful point, potentially a powerful one. But I don't think anything is going to get attention now. I would look for some reporter to do a more nuanced post-mortem on the case — with its Trump overtones, legal joustings, #metoo-isms, and profit-motives. WSJ is probably right place."

And Epstein's question that prompted all of this?

> "do you think the press would react to the fact that all the settlement money is going to the attorney and none to the girls?"

Read that again. Jeffrey Epstein was not concerned about his victims. He was exploring whether he could weaponize the fact that settlement money went to their attorneys, not to them. And the author of *Fire and Fury* was helping him strategize.

Document 2: "It Is Not Moonves Getting BJs" (HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027549)

The very next day, December 5-6, 2018, an iMessage conversation extracted from Epstein's personal MacBook reveals an even more disturbing picture.

In a wide-ranging text exchange, Epstein wrote:

> "It is not moonves getting bjs on a transactional (NYT) basis."

This was Epstein's defense strategy in a single sentence: *I'm not as bad as Moonves.* He was comparing himself favorably to the disgraced CBS chief, minimizing his own conduct by invoking someone whose misconduct was, in Epstein's view, more transactional.

But the full conversation is far more explosive than a single Moonves reference. In the same thread, Epstein:

**Discussed providing intelligence on Trump:**

> "I've been asked, what can I give them on djt."

**Acknowledged his position as political leverage:**

> "Some dems think I'm their silver bullet, some republicans with the same view prefer I not be a credible witness. Can't win."

**Claimed his victims were older:**

> "Not 15 not 16"

**Discussed hiring former FBI agents:**

> "What do you think about me hiring former judges fbi to do a thorough investigation so as to separate truth from fiction"

**Considered a Ken Starr/Dershowitz op-ed:**

> "Considering op ed, by ken Starr and or Dershowitz."

**Referenced Noam Chomsky:**

> "Spoke to Chomsky, he's all in"

**Discussed filming a documentary with Woody Allen's involvement and Marvin Minsky's widow:**

> "James Watson. All in, he said to hurry before he dies"

> "You can interview Gloria Minsky. Marvin's widow. Father of artificial intelligence."

The other participant in the conversation referenced the Belgium government collapse, Brexit, Salvini in Italy, Mark Meadows, David Bossie, and Robert Lighthizer — all hallmarks of Steve Bannon's political orbit in late 2018.

The Timeline

This convergence matters because of *when* it happened:

- **September 9, 2018**: Leslie Moonves ousted from CBS

- **November 28, 2018**: Miami Herald publishes "Perversion of Justice"

- **December 4, 2018**: Wolff emails Epstein about "Moonves' guy" and crisis PR

- **December 5-6, 2018**: Epstein texts about Moonves, Trump intel, Chomsky, documentary plans

- **July 6, 2019**: Epstein arrested by SDNY

- **August 10, 2019**: Epstein found dead in his cell

In the seven months between the Miami Herald expose and his arrest, Epstein was not hiding. He was *organizing*. He was tapping the networks of other disgraced power players. He was coordinating media strategy with the author of America's most famous political tell-all. He was exploring what intel he could offer on the President of the United States.

The NDA Connection (EFTA00019249)

A Washington Post article circulated within the DOJ files explicitly linked Moonves and Epstein through their shared use of non-disclosure agreements to silence accusers:

> "Powerful men such as producer Harvey Weinstein and television executive Leslie Moonves reportedly made use of the agreements to hide evidence of sexual assault or harassment. This secrecy in turn allowed offenders to target additional victims."

Three men. Three NDA playbooks. All connected through the same social networks, the same crisis PR firms, and the same legal strategies.

What This Means

The Moonves references in the Epstein files aren't about Leslie Moonves being complicit in Epstein's crimes. They're about something arguably more insidious: that at the highest levels of American power, there existed a shared infrastructure of crisis management — PR fixers, legal strategists, NDA architects — that serial predators could access through mutual contacts.

When Epstein needed a PR strategy, he didn't start from scratch. He reached into Moonves' network through Wolff, who had lunch with "Moonves' guy" the day before. These men weren't isolated predators. They were nodes in a system.

Every document cited in this article is a government exhibit, released by the DOJ or the House Oversight Committee. You can search all 142,000+ of them yourself at [epstein.dugganusa.com](https://epstein.dugganusa.com).

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**Document References:**

- HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_032832 (Michael Wolff → Epstein email, Dec 4, 2018)

- HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027549 through 027567 (iMessage conversation, Dec 5-10, 2018)

- EFTA00019249 (Washington Post article, forwarded within DOJ files, June 2019)

**Search it yourself:** [epstein.dugganusa.com](https://epstein.dugganusa.com)

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*DugganUSA LLC indexes only government-released documents. Every finding is the government's own narrative, made searchable. Two people. $500/month. Zero outside funding.*

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*Her name was Renee Nicole Good.*

*His name was Alex Jeffery Pretti.*