Nicole Junkermann

Nicole Junkermann is a German investor, founder of the investment company NJF Holdings and of NJF Capital, the renamed Montilla International Corporation, through which she invested alongside Jeffrey Epstein and the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak in the Israeli emergency-response company Carbyne. Epstein called her "my great friend" in 2010, and their correspondence continued until 2019, long after his 2008 Florida conviction. In November 2018 the British government named her to a Healthtech Advisory Board reporting directly to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock. Lancaster University terminated her visiting professorship on February 10, 2026, after the Justice Department's release of the Epstein files.¹²³⁴

Carbyne

Junkermann's investment firm took part in Carbyne's Series A round. Forbes reported in February 2026 that Carbyne's website had listed her as a director until 2020; Carbyne's chief executive, Amir Elichai, said that "she is not and was never a board member," attributed the listing to a mistake by the company's marketing team, and said she no longer held a stake.⁵

Epstein's stake was held through an Israeli limited partnership, SUM (E.B.) Limited Partnership, whose general partner was Ergo (E.B. 2014) Ltd. On February 28, 2019 the partnership's lawyer, Tomer Toor of the Tel Aviv firm Furth, Wilensky, Mizrachi, Knaani, wrote to Epstein's lawyer Darren Indyke, to NJF Capital's finance officer and to Junkermann that SUM held warrants to buy 61,251 additional Preferred A shares of Carbyne for 3.5 million dollars, which would raise its holding "from about 13% to about 26.33%, on a fully diluted basis." The limited partners' shares of the 3.6 million dollar call were set at 66.67 percent, or 2.4 million dollars, for Epstein's Southern Trust Company and 33.33 percent, or 1.2 million dollars, for Montilla International Corporation, renamed NJF Capital Corp in 2018, to be wired to Ergo at Bank Leumi. Toor confirmed on March 11, 2019 that the full amount had arrived.²⁶

When the Israeli bank asked, under its anti-money-laundering rules, for the controlling person and citizenship of each limited partner, Indyke wrote to Epstein on March 12, 2019: "I thought we did not want your name associated with this Investment?" Barak had replied to the same request on March 11: "That's the Israeli banks paranoia after they paid the penalties they've paid to the US authorities for past mistakes. According to our experience it was never leaked out of the banks." On March 14 Epstein confirmed that Indyke could name him as the controlling person of Southern Trust.²⁶

The China Matter

On February 18, 2019, four and a half months before his arrest, Epstein wrote to Junkermann that he had "litle idea of carbyne results to date" and asked to be told "how much we are giving up. how much we would have made." Junkermann answered in a numbered list: "You are my friend and I do not have a lot of them so lets try to find a fair solution for all of us"; "You are right I see it differently, you are a billionaire I am not and I am a mother you are not.. so I have to care about her future and I do not have a choice... and as you know China is difficult if not we would not have this conversation"; "Carbyne invested 1.5 m (1m you and 0.5m me) net of fees is 3.9m your share, Ehud carry 1.5 m and my share 2m"; "China is valued from FSB 1.2 to 1.5b if I can get at least 250m out of there"; and "Can Ehud help? Lets speak." The message does not define "FSB."¹

Earlier Correspondence

On June 15, 2010, replying to a note from a son of the arms dealer Douglas Leese, Epstein wrote: "Definitely, my great friend, nicole junkerman is considering moving to Singapore. May I have her call you."⁷ According to The Lancaster Tab, which reviewed the released files, an email from Junkermann to Epstein in November 2013 read, "You make me smile, you are in my heart :)"; in January 2014 Epstein wrote to her, "Paris on the 29th, coming to interview for chief of staff. Hope to see you. Don't you know any girl in their 20s good family, trustworthy, multilingual?", and the newspaper found nothing to suggest that she acted on the request; and in 2017, the year of her marriage, she wrote, "I am so happy to see you, [her husband] says always when I speak about you I have a smile on my face." The Lancashire Telegraph reported that the files record gifts she bought Epstein, including a cashmere bathrobe and jewelry.⁸

Public Appointments

The Department of Health and Social Care announced on November 19, 2018 the first meeting of the Healthtech Advisory Board, created to advise Hancock on "his technology vision for health and social care" and to "report directly to the Secretary of State." It was chaired by Ben Goldacre of the University of Oxford; Junkermann, listed as "founder of NJF Holdings, an international finance and investment company," sat with the chief executive of UK Research and Innovation, Sir Mark Walport, the chair of the Human Tissue Authority, Nicola Blackwood, the chair of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, Roger Taylor, and Daniel Korski of the venture firm PUBLIC.³

Lancaster University appointed her in September 2025 as visiting professor in practice for technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. After the files were released the university said, "Nicole Junkermann is not an employee of Lancaster University and our connection with her is currently being reviewed," and on February 10, 2026 confirmed that her "post as a visiting professor has been terminated." A spokesperson for Junkermann said: "The scale Jeffrey Epstein's crimes is appalling. As a woman and a mother, Nicole was completely deceived and misled by him and deeply regrets their conversations regarding personal and professional matters. These conversations took place at a time in her life when she was vulnerable, and she was manipulated into trusting him." She has not been accused of any crime.⁴⁸