Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was chairman of the International Peace Institute (IPI) which received over $650,000, between 2011 and 2019, in donations from Jeffery Epstein who ran a global paedophile ring.

When the $650,000 in donations to the IPI from Jeffery Epstein was exposed in 2019, Kevin Rudd made no public statement for a year, until the IPI CEO Terje Rød-Larsen was exposed owing Jeffrey Epstein $130,000 for some unknown reason.

Kevin Rudd’s reputation was trashed when he did finally front the media, as he ducked and weaved in media interviews. As you will see below Rudd’s big mistake was to blame Rupert Murdoch and News Corp when Murdoch had nothing to do with the story.

Kevin Rudd, with nowhere to turn to in Australia’s old media, paid YouTuber Jordan Shanks, aka Friendlyjordies, to run several interviews with Rudd to try to rehabilitate Rudd’s reputation, and at least in part, to also cover-up the Epstein connection.

How the story broke

Make no mistake, the story about Kevin Rudd and his connection to Jeffery Epstein via the International Peace Institute (IPI) had nothing to do with Rupert Murdoch, News Corp, Fairfax or any other Australian media which Kevin Rudd and his sugar baby Jordan Shanks, aka YouTuber Friendlyjordies, have tried to blame to deflect from the truth.

So, how the story broke is important to show how Kevin Rudd and Jordan Shanks are lying and the fact that they are lying raises more questions

As per below, the story of Epstein’s donations broke in 2019 but Rudd didn’t say anything publicly until a year later in October 2020 when a suspect Epstein loan to Rød-Larsen was exposed.

On the 19th of November 2019 the story was broken by Dagens Næringsliv (The Norwegian Business Daily (DN)), Norway’s largest and most influential business newspaper, in an article titled “Terje Rød-Larsen’s think tank received millions from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s foundation”.

The Dagens Næringsliv was investigating Terje Rød-Larsen, who is a Norwegian diplomat and politician, who at the time was the President and CEO of the International Peace Institute (IPI) and Kevin Rudd was caught up in newspaper’s investigation because he was the Chairman.

On the 14^th of October 2020 Dagens Næringsliv published another article titled, “Norwegian newspaper DN reveals: Diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen owed Jeffrey Epstein $130,000” which starts off:

The renowned Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen and the think tank he heads have for more than a year failed to answer questions about their connections to the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Norwegian business newspaper DN can now reveal close ties between Rød-Larsen, the think tank The International Peace Institute (IPI) and Epstein.

At one point, Epstein provided Rød-Larsen with a considerable personal loan. Later, Rød-Larsen wanted the UN-affiliated think tank IPI to distribute funds to the financier.

And:

Since last year, DN has published stories detailing Rød-Larsen and IPI’s links to Epstein. In a press release in November 2019, hours after DN reported that IPI had received $375,000 from an Epstein foundation, the think tank admitted that it received the money.

The short and unsigned press release did not mention that Epstein was involved in IPI’s Mongolia project.

Kevin Rudd was Australian Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, and is currently IPI’s chairman. His office has not responded to DN’s inquiries. (Click here to read more)

Why was the press release unsigned? Why was Kevin’s Rudd’s office refusing to answer questions? 

On the 29th of October 2020 the Dagens Næringsliv published a third story titled “Think tank board chair Kevin Rudd breaks silence on Jeffrey Epstein-connections: “I am deeply disappointed”” whish starts off:

For almost a year, The Norwegian Business Daily (DN) has documented a number of connections between the UN-affiliated think tank International Peace Institute, president Terje Rød-Larsen and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Despite a number of questions to his office, the think tank’s chair of the board, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, has never spoken until now. Earlier, a spokesperson denied that he knew of any connection between IPI and Epstein.

“Neither the loan, nor its repayment, had been previously disclosed to the Board or to me as Chair. Mr Rød-Larsen has apologised to the Board for what he has described as his grave error of judgment. I am deeply disappointed that the Board has had to learn about so much of this through the media,” Rudd says. (Click here to read more)

The key part above is, “Despite a number of questions to his office, the think tank’s chair of the board, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, has never spoken until now.”

Kevin Rudd and his office refusing to answer questions about taking money from a convicted paedophile isn’t a good look.

Why didn’t Rudd put out a statement and answer the Norwegian media questions in November 2019 when Epstein’s donations were first reported? The short unsigned statement from the IPI doesn’t cut it.

Why did Rudd wait until October 2020, after the Epstein loan to Rød-Larsen was reported, to make a public statement and answer media questions?

Looks like the cover-up by Rudd and the International Peace Institute was in full swing, from November 2019 to October 2020, until Rød-Larsen’s loan from Epstein was reported.

It also seems it is only after the above 29th of October 2020 article by the Dagens Næringsliv that Australian media became aware of the story and started reporting it.

Kevin Rudd’s Jeffery Epstein connection and attempted cover-up

The ABC published an article titled “Kevin Rudd says he took ‘immediate’ action when he learned about Jeffrey Epstein’s links to International Peace Institute” on the 29th of October 2020 which starts off:

Norwegian media reported earlier this month that Terje Rød-Larsen, president of the International Peace Institute (IPI), secured a personal loan from Epstein in 2013.

A report last year noted the organisation also received a total of $US650,000 ($922,000) in donations from Epstein’s foundations between 2011 and 2019.

Addressing both reports in a statement on Wednesday, Mr Rudd said he acted swiftly on two separate occasions when he learned in November 2019 of the donations and, on October 14 this year, of the personal loan to Mr Rød-Larsen.

In the statement, Mr Rudd said he convened a board meeting on December 4, 2019, to recommend an amount comparable to Epstein’s donations to the IPI be forwarded to charity.

“I recommended to the board, and the board accepted my recommendation, that a donation of comparable amount be made to a charity, so that we would not in any way be a beneficiary of the cumulative donations from Epstein over a long period of time,” he told ABC radio on Thursday, adding that he regarded Epstein as an “odious character in the extreme”. (Click here to read more)

Kevin Rudd joined the International Peace Institute (IPI) Board of Directors as Vice Chair in June 2014 and was elected Chairman on the 1st of June 2018 and remained in that role until March 2021.

Kevin Rudd blames Rupert Murdoch and News Corp

The Jeffrey Epstein donation scandal was reported by Channel 7 on the 29-10-20, as did most Australian media, as per below. Rudd answered questions, then panicked at the end, and tried to blame Rupert Murdoch and News Corp but the journalist didn’t buy it.

As the Channel 7 journalist in the above video says at the 1 minute and 15 second mark, “the story ran prominently” which means it was in most Australian media “But Kevin Rudd singled out News Corp”.

The only thing the Australian media did, as per the above video, including News Corp, was to report the story that was broken by Norway’s Dagens Næringsliv, as I have also done above. 

The fact that Kevin Rudd tried the old political tactic to deflect and blame Rupert Murdoch and News Corp says he has something to hide. I fell for Rudd’s lies back in 2020, but now I am having a closer look, Rudd’s actions don’t pass the pub test.

Labor Party propagandist Jordan Shanks, aka YouTuber Friendlyjordies, tries to rescue his sugar daddy Kevin Rudd

I published an article on the 21st of August 2025 titled “Sugar Daddy Kevin Rudd running a Labor Party smear unit with his sugar baby Friendlyjordies” which starts off:

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unleashed a Tsunami on social media raising money for his sugar baby Jordan Shanks, aka YouTuber Friendlyjordies, on the 18th of June 2021. Cash would have started flowing into Shanks’ bank account in a massive way.

In return Shanks pushes lies and propaganda for Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party and Shanks’s grovelling praise for Kevin Rudd is at a level that makes it obvious he is being paid for it. 

At the time News Corp was attacking Kevin Rudd relentlessly over Rudd’s “Murdoch Royal Commission” campaign and with Rudd’s links to Jeffrey Epstein all over the media, only 8 months earlier in October 2020, Rudd was in bad need to some positive media spin which Rudd knew he would get from Shanks. (Click here to read more)

On the 16th of April 2025, I emailed questions to Jordan Shanks and his lawyers asking if Shanks had questioned Rudd about his relationship with Epstein and Shanks eventually replied to one question, and avoided most questions, as per the below video: (FJ video – Boomer Journalist Exposes Me – 19.30 minute mark – 28-5-25) (Shanks sped the video up at the start)

In the above video Shanks says I am “repackaging a lazy Fairfax / Murdoch hit on Rudd” which is a lie as there is no hit piece by Fairfax / Murdoch. Kevin Rudd only blamed the Murdoch’s and News Corp.

Jordan Shanks, who is a compulsive liar, has now added Fairfax, which owns the SMH and The Age and the parent company is Nine Entertainment, to his and Rudd’s conspiracy theory against Rudd.

Shanks says “This is the original story” and he then reads from an ABC article which is wrong and leaves out key elements of the Norwegian Business Daily’s reporting such as Rudd refusing to answer questions.

It is also worth noting that in all the videos Jordan Shanks never mentions that he is on Kevin Rudd’s donation list.

Jordan Shanks has recently published several videos on Jeffery Epstein and used one video to attack me again while again defending Kevin Rudd in a video titled “Why the Epstein List Matters” at the 6.45-minute mark – August 2025.

In the above video Shanks attacks me with his standard lies and defends Kevin Rudd. Shanks says at the end “This is actually what a real Epstein video looks like”. So, is Shanks saying all Epstein videos defend Kevin Rudd?

Kevin Rudd sure gets his money’s worth from his sugar baby Jordan Shanks who constantly promotes Rudd and attacks anyone who questions Rudd.

The fact that Rudd uses Jordan Shanks as his personal attack dog says that Rudd has plenty to hide.

Rudd’s wife Therese Rein was on the BRW Rich 200 (at number 199) in 2012 with an estimated fortune of $210 million. They made their money from government contracts, and I published an article on the 5th of June 2025 titled “The GOATs of Labor Party corruption – Kevin Rudd, his wife Therese Rein and their $400 million fortune”. (Click here to read more)

Kevin Rudd and his wife Therese Rein both know who I am, and this website, because I am the only journalist who has ever done a detailed investigation, in 2013, into how they made their fortune, and I have published it in books, on this website and YouTube channel, and they wouldn’t be happy about it. 

Kevin Rudd and his wife Therese Rein are the type of grifters who are more than happy to pay Jordan Shanks to attack anyone they don’t like which obviously includes me.

The 3 key elements to the above are:

1. Kevin Rudd refused to answer media questions for 12 months.
2. Kevin Rudd lied about it being a Rupert Murdoch / News Corp hit on him to deflect and avoid answering more media questions.
3. Kevin Rudd had his sugar baby Jordan Shanks promote the same conspiracy theory lie, add Fairfax to the lie, and also attack me with lies which is the old “attack the messenger” routine to deflect.

I’ll have more to say on this story soon.

Update 25/9/25: Kevin Rudd made a complaint about a video version of the above article that I posted on YouTube and YouTube blocked the video for Australian viewers. I have published an article with more details – Click here: “Kevin Rudd files defamation complaint over YouTube video linking him to Jeffrey Epstein“.

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