The Mega Group was an informal group of influential Jewish entrepreneurs. It was founded in 1991 by Les Wexner and Charles Bronfman as the Study Group. The group met twice yearly for philanthropy and Judaism seminars. It is said to have had up to 50 members, including Hollywood director Steven Spielberg. Wexner led the group with Bronfman, and it inspired several philanthropic initiatives such as the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, Birthright Israel, and support for the renewal of Hillel International. The group became known to a wider public through a Wall Street Journal report in May 1998. [1]
As a pro-Israel lobby group, the organization is also said to have tried to influence US foreign policy in the Middle East. In 2003, it employed Republican political consultant Frank Luntz to help the group mobilize support for Israel. [2] Under the name MEGA, the group is also said to have had contacts with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad and to have served as a "vehicle for influence operations in the United States". [3]
The group is said to have used Jeffrey Epstein as an asset to influence US foreign policy. Les Wexner hired Epstein as a financial manager after knowing him for only a short time and gave him power of attorney over his financial affairs in July 1991, granting Epstein broad authority to manage his money, sign checks, buy and sell property, and make investments on his behalf, yet later claimed to have known nothing of his criminal activities. [4] [5]
The following is a partial list of people named as members of the group: [1] [3]
Former National Security Agency counterspy John Schindler... said in a long report on his Top Secret Umbra blog this week that Epstein appears to have been part of a shadowy Israeli influence operation known as MEGA.