Experts assessed the impact of new documents on the Epstein case on financial markets

The publication by the US Department of Justice of new documents on Jeffrey Epstein's arrest, which mention the world's leading billionaires, is unlikely to provoke a large-scale correction in financial markets. This was stated by Russian experts in an interview with RBC.

The new batch of documents, numbering more than 3 million pages, includes the names of Tesla founder Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson and other well-known entrepreneurs and politicians. According to the published correspondence, some of them maintained contacts with the financier convicted of prostitution even after his guilty plea.

Despite the outcry, analysts agree that the fundamental factors for the markets remain unchanged.

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"The key point for investors is that we are talking specifically about mentions in the materials, and not about charges brought or proven illegal activities. Financial markets tend to react not to reputational noise per se, but to events that can affect businesses: lawsuits, criminal investigations, fines, executive resignations, threats to revenue or access to capital. So far, nothing like this has happened with respect to these figures and related companies, the likelihood of a serious market reaction remains low," said Yaroslav Kabakov, Director of Strategy at Finam IC.

He noted that large corporations have diversified businesses and institutional protection.

Evgeny Khoroshilov, head of the Economic Research Department at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, added that the personal reputation of individuals is at risk, not the corporate reputation of companies.

"The names of many of these representatives of the US business establishment have been repeatedly mentioned in connection with the Epstein case, but in general, this did not have much effect on the capitalization of the American stock market," the expert emphasized.

At the same time, some stocks are already showing negative dynamics. Microsoft's quotes fell by 15% from January 28 to February 3, Virgin Galactic's shares fell by almost 10%, and Tesla declined by 3%. However, according to analysts, this is a short-term reaction. According to Khoroshilov, the attention of financiers is focused on other events: the appointment of a new head of the Federal Reserve, the financial results of corporations, the situation on the metal and oil markets.

Dmitry Tselishchev, Managing Director of the Rikom-Trust investment company, believes that the publication is an "episodic leak of information" and does not affect fundamental economic aspects. According to him, even in the case of direct accusations, only targeted resignations in management are possible, which will cause a short-term correction, but will not change the rules of the game in the global financial system, which is a "closed club with its own rules."

Prior to that, on February 3, it became known that the name of Alla Pugacheva was mentioned in Epstein's files. It was noted that the letter mentioning her was sent on January 13, 2014 and was called "Mission accomplished for some." It was a complete reprint of an article from The Times called Revealed: the world's most admired people, in which Pugacheva was mentioned as one of the most respected women in Russia.

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