The Khartoum Charter: Epstein, Maxwell, and Bill Richardson's Sudan Trip

On December 28, 2006, Epstein emailed his jet service: "get me paris khartoum ,, and a flight time and path from albuquque to khartoum and back" (d48798e0fb8fe624b13c1c0ce0f28c1b-0). Albuquerque was in Bill Richardson's home state of New Mexico. Richardson was then Governor of New Mexico, weeks from announcing his presidential run.

Maxwell had already scouted the logistics. She reported back to Epstein the next day after speaking with Richardson's office: "it is a trip pre some sort of presedential running announcement - not state sponsored, not UN sanctioned - he is hoping to be invoted by Chad govt (not confimed yet) he is flying to Kartoum because you can't fly to darfur as it is too dangerous. US embassy will arrange for a flight from Kartoum to Darfur where he will meet w/anyone who'll meet w/him" (cf909a32874bbd0ba7fd3561886e0527-0). She flagged the risk: "not un or us sanctioned so no real protection for the plane or pilots."

Epstein was unfazed. "I'll call him," he wrote. "He is old friend of the sudanese presidnt however" (cf909a32874bbd0ba7fd3561886e0527-0). The Sudanese president was Omar al-Bashir, later indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur.

Maxwell pushed for security details. "TW sd he is interested in the trip but only if he can understand and feel safe about security - what type of plane fly from kartoum to darfur - what security do we have on the trip what security on the ground." She added: "I'd love to go but given no un and not govt sponsored trip security is a key question - life is cheap out there." Epstein told her to "talk to bill about your concerns" (cf909a32874bbd0ba7fd3561886e0527-0).

By December 31, Maxwell had made her decision. "TW I don't think will do trip," she wrote, "but if you are going to pay for part of the charter then I probably would go w/Pat" (2d10603b4028a195b05ab3cd7569a15a-0). Three days later, the price came in. Janis Hartley, Director of Scheduling in the Office of Governor Bill Richardson, emailed Maxwell directly: "Ghislaine -- Half the price of a charter plane to Khartoum would be around $183,000. Is this possible?" Epstein's reply to Maxwell: "have him call me today!!" (d1a5370b6715ae20b2b3fbd4d68d381d-0).

No email in the archive confirms the trip took place. Richardson announced his presidential campaign on January 21, 2007. He later served as Obama's Energy Secretary nominee before withdrawing over a grand jury investigation into pay-to-play allegations. In 2008, a woman filed a complaint accusing Richardson of groping her at a party. Richardson died in September 2023, months after being named in the Epstein civil suit documents.