Douglas Leese

Douglas Leese (1923 – 2011) was a London‑born defense contractor widely reported to have operated as an independent arms broker; parliamentary records place him in the money‑flow of the £40​billion Al‑Yamamah fighter‑jet package negotiated for BAE Systems with Saudi Arabia in the mid‑1980s.¹

Multiple investigative accounts add that he worked alongside Saudi fixer Adnan Khashoggi on that and earlier deals and later introduced Jeffrey Epstein to financier‑fraudster Steven Hoffenberg in 1987, branding Epstein "a genius" while arranging a $25 000‑a‑month consulting retainer.²³

These intersecting threads—big‑ticket weapons sales, offshore finance and covert networking—explain how Leese sits at the nexus of Epstein's early money‑making and Khashoggi's oil‑for‑arms milieu.

  Biography & Career Snapshot

  Relationship Matrix

  Epstein Thread

TrueHoop, Daily Kos and Vanity Fair each quote Hoffenberg describing how Leese praised Epstein's skill at "selling securities," secured the monthly fee, and floated arms‑trade ventures where "morals would not impede profit."⁷¹⁰⁸

Social‑graph databases such as LittleSis list Leese as Epstein's early sponsor and denote a "protégé" link.¹¹ A 2023 crowd‑sourced open‑source‑intelligence map further traces shared offshore entities—Butterfield Bank (Bermuda) and shell companies in the Caymans—used by both men.¹²

  Khashoggi Thread

Al‑Yamamah evidence is first‑party: Hansard details secret commissions channelled "through a British businessman, Douglas Leese."¹

LittleSis, investigative blogs and recent activist archives agree that Khashoggi and Leese ran parallel lobbying for Western and Saudi buyers, earning eight‑figure fees each.³¹³

Analysts note this same Khashoggi network later surfaces in Epstein's 1980s Middle‑East travel—e.g., his Austrian passport listing a Saudi address—suggesting Leese bridged the circles.¹⁰

  Selected Timeline

  Key Takeaways Table

Most open‑source documentation rests on parliamentary records and interviews with Hoffenberg; primary corporate records remain sealed, leaving finer‑grained money‑flows opaque.

  Footnotes

1. Al-Yamamah Arms Deal Debate, Hansard ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Steven Hoffenberg, Wikipedia ↩

3. Khashoggi–Leese Relationship, LittleSis ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Douglas Leese: Arms Dealer and Epstein Mentor, Novus Confidential ↩ ↩²

5. Bribes and Commissions in Al-Yamamah, TheyWorkForYou ↩

6. Jeffrey Epstein: Man in the Middle, PREVAIL ↩

7. Epstein's Former Business Partner Interview, TrueHoop ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. The Talented Mr. Epstein, Vanity Fair ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Ghislaine Maxwell: Privilege, Power, Perversion, Inkshares ↩ ↩²

10. Epstein and Arms Dealers in the 1980s, Daily Kos ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. Douglas Leese Profile, LittleSis ↩

12. Epstein–Leese Offshore Links, Dr Subroto Roy on X ↩ ↩²

13. Khashoggi–Leese Network, Palestinian Youth Movement on X ↩