A previously recorded interview of disgraced financier and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has surfaced in which he is heard claiming that he had donated funds for anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan and India.

In the interview, Epstein, who was implicated in the sexual abuse of minors and human trafficking, said he had given money for efforts aimed at eradicating the crippling disease in the two countries. The interview was conducted by an unidentified individual at an undisclosed location and time.

During the conversation, Epstein is heard acknowledging he is a “Tier 1 predator”.

The interviewer asked him whether he was “the devil”, to which Epstein responded that he did not have an answer but questioned why such a question was being asked. The interviewer replied that Epstein possessed all the flaws associated with a devil. 

Epstein responded that he did not think of himself as the devil and said that he was afraid of the devil.

British media have speculated that the interview may have been conducted by Steve Bannon, who served as chief strategist during Donald Trump’s first term as US president.

Epstein was also asked whether his wealth was “dirty money”. He denied this, prompting the interviewer to say that Epstein had earned money by advising some of the world’s “worst people” who had committed serious wrongdoing. In response, Epstein said that morality had always been a complex subject.

Repeating his claim, Epstein said he had donated money for polio eradication efforts in Pakistan and India. He argued that instead of questioning whether the money should have been given for children’s vaccinations, people should ask the mothers whose children received the vaccines and would not suffer from polio whether Epstein should have made such donations.

At one point, the interviewer remarked that Epstein was a mathematician and posed a hypothetical question, asking what proportion of poor and sick people would object if they were told at a clinic that the money being given to them came from a criminal. Epstein replied that everyone would say they needed the money for their children.

Despite Epstein’s claims, it remains unclear whether he ever donated funds for anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan. It is also not known during which government such a donation may have been made, to whom the funds were sent, or through which channel.