Zohran Mamdani's mother Mira Nair named in Epstein files

Mira Nair, the film director and mother of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, attended an afterparty at Ghislaine Maxwell’s New York townhouse for her 2009 film Amelia, according to newly released documents linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The detail appears in an email included in a large set of files made public by the US Justice Department, bringing fresh attention to Epstein’s social network.

The Justice Department on Friday released more than three million pages of FBI material, including 2,000 videos and 1,80,000 images. The release follows the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law signed by President Donald Trump that requires all federal records related to Epstein to be shared with the public. Officials said the process involved months of review to protect victims’ identities and ongoing investigations. "Today's release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference.


Among the files is an email dated October 21, 2009, sent by publicist Peggy Siegal to Epstein just after she left the gathering at Maxwell’s home. The message listed several high-profile attendees and mentioned Mira Nair by name.

The filmmaker's name has at least 12 mentions in the datasets.

"Just left Ghislaine's townhouse...after party for film," the email read.
"Bill Clinton and Jeff Bezos were there...Jean Pigozzi, director Mira Nair...etc. Film received tepid reaction though women like it much more...Hillary Swank and [Richard] Gere are at stupid party in Bloomingdales cheap sportswear department...very weird," it added. "Studio went for free party from store and windows for a month... Going to be in Wall Street 2 tomorrow ....more to come. xoxo Peg," the email continued.

Nair’s film Amelia starred Hilary Swank as aviator Amelia Earhart and Richard Gere as her husband, publisher George Putnam. The email described the guests’ reaction to the movie as “tepid.”

Maxwell, Epstein’s former partner, was later convicted of sex trafficking a minor and other charges and is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States.

The newly released files also include email exchanges between Epstein and billionaire Elon Musk about a possible visit to Epstein’s private island. In one message, Epstein asked about travel plans, and Musk responded about who would accompany him and asked which night would be the “wildest party.”

At the press conference, Blanche rejected claims that powerful figures were being protected. "There's this built-in assumption that somehow there's this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about, that we're covering up, or that we're not, we're choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case," he said.

President Trump has acknowledged a long-standing friendship with Epstein but has denied any knowledge of the sex-trafficking network prosecutors say Epstein ran.

The Justice Department had initially missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress to release the full cache of documents. Officials said hundreds of lawyers were assigned to review the material for redactions to protect victims. Blanche said content that could expose victims or harm investigations was withheld, and all women mentioned in the files, except Maxwell, were obscured in images and videos.

Some victims have criticised the scope of the redactions, saying even previously public information was blacked out. An earlier batch of records released in December included flight logs from the 1990s and photos showing figures such as Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, Woody Allen and former President Bill Clinton with Epstein. None of those shown have been charged in connection with the case.

Epstein died by apparent suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.