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What does Jeffrey Epstein have to do with the missing billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub?
blue News
The mysterious death of ex-Tengelmann boss Karl-Erivan Haub, a call from New York to Valais, and previously unknown documents from the Epstein files: New documents show that Swiss investigators were already looking into possible links between the two cases in 2020.
In 2018, Tengelmann billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub disappears without a trace during a ski tour in Zermatt. In 2020, a man named Mark Epstein from New York reports to the Valais cantonal police. And in 2025, Fedpol and Valais investigators suddenly appear in Jeffrey Epstein's files. There are three stories with explosive connections.
First, the missing billionaire: Karl-Erivan Haub, a German-American dual citizen, was co-head of the Tengelmann Group, one of Germany's largest family businesses based in Mülheim an der Ruhr, until his disappearance.
On April 7, 2018, the passionate alpinist set off alone on a training tour on the Klein Matterhorn. A surveillance camera shows Haub for the last time on his way to the glacier area. After that, every trace disappears.
Karl-Erivan Haub was co-head of the Tengelmann Group.
Roland Weihrauch/dpa
Despite one of the largest search operations ever in the region - involving helicopters, avalanche specialists and international rescue teams - Haub remains missing. Neither his body nor his equipment or other clues have been found.
His disappearance triggered great speculation. While the family officially assumes it was a mountain accident, there are still some who do not rule out a voluntary disappearance.
This image from a surveillance camera possibly shows the missing Tengelmann heir Karl-Erivan Haub on his way to the Little Matterhorn on April 7, 2018.
Screenshot/X.com
According to media reports, there were numerous indications that Haub had had business contacts with Russia since at least 2010. Haub is also said to have been spotted in Moscow after his disappearance, but there is no independent confirmation of this.
Haub was legally declared dead in 2021. In 2023, investigative journalist Liv von Boetticher published the book "Die Akte Tengelmann und das mysteriöse Verschwinden des Milliardärs Karl-Erivan Haub".
In it, she concludes: "There is much to suggest that the former head of the Tengelmann empire had been involved in extremely dubious business dealings in Russia for years and was probably on the radar of the American Federal Police (FBI) and the CIA as a result."
The second part of the story begins with a recent event: on December 23, 2025, new files from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein are published. Among the approximately 300,000 pages are three dealing with the Valais cantonal police, the Swiss Federal Police (Fedpol), Mark Epstein - Jeffrey Epstein's brother - and the disappearance of Karl-Erivan Haub.
These pages show that Fedpol contacted the US authorities by email on June 15, 2020 on behalf of the Valais cantonal police. When asked by blue News, Fedpol emphasized that it had merely acted as an intermediary.
The reason: Mark Epstein contacted the cantonal police in Sion by telephone from New York on June 2, 2020 and sent two emails on the same day. In them, he offered information that, in his view, indicated that the disappearance of German billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub and the death of his brother Jeffrey Epstein could be linked.
The Valais investigators state in the files that Mark Epstein allegedly came across a conversation between a person unknown to him with the alias "Mim Mim" and a "Mr. Haub" during his own investigations into his brother's death. The latter was Christian Haub, the missing man's brother.
An excerpt from the original file shows the intervals at which Mark Epstein contacted the Valais cantonal police.
justice.gov
Mark Epstein provided the cantonal police with a screenshot of the LinkedIn profile of "Mim Mim" as well as screenshots of two messages from this person. In these messages, he is threatened with the death of his children.
It is unclear why these threats were made.
The threat from "Mim Mim" to Mark Epstein can be found in the published Epstein files. He sent this screenshot to the FBI in May 2020.
justice.gov
On June 4, 2020, the cantonal police contacted Mark Epstein again by telephone. According to the files, he stated that both his brother Jeffrey Epstein and Karl-Erivan Haub could have been murdered.
He derived this assumption from the content of an e-mail from "Mim Mim". Whether this e-mail was available to the Valais authorities is not documented. It also remains unclear where Mark Epstein got this information from.
The Valais cantonal police sent three specific questions to the US authorities: For example, the officials wanted to know whether there are any reports there of Mark Epstein in connection with Karl-Erivan Haub. They also want to be informed about possible findings about a connection between Epstein and Haub that could be relevant to the Swiss investigation. The third question is: "How would you assess the information provided by Mark Epstein?"
It is currently not known whether the Valais cantonal police or Fedpol ever received a response from the USA. Fedpol refers to the Valais cantonal police - a corresponding request from blue News has so far remained unanswered.
In addition to the unresolved question of whether and how the US authorities reacted, the three pages of the Epstein files leave other points unanswered: for example, whether Mark Epstein's contact triggered new investigations into the disappearance of Karl-Erivan Haub. Or why Mark Epstein came across the name Haub during his research into his brother's death.
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the German billionaire in Zermatt remains unsolved for the time being - but the Epstein files shed new light on the case.
