California governor candidates mentioned in Epstein files

by: Brett Stover

Posted: Feb 3, 2026 / 05:30 AM PST

Updated: Feb 3, 2026 / 03:15 PM PST

(FOX40.COM) — Governor hopeful Steve Hilton is named in an email sent to Jeffrey Epstein, though his campaign said the Republican candidate has never met nor communicated with the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker.

According to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice, a former colleague of Hilton’s sent an email in 2011 to a third man, attempting to set up a meeting with Woody Allen, who has also been accused of sexual abuse.

“Steve and I are really keen to meet up with Woody Allen,” Rohan Silva, who worked with Hilton for former British Prime Minister David Cameron, said in the email. “I [don’t] suppose you know someone who knows someone who knows him, do you?”

Silva sent that email to a person named Ian Osborne, whose email address is redacted in the document. Osborne forwarded the message to Epstein “just in case your friend Woody Allen is interested.”

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“If he is [in] London any time soon, they would love to welcome him to No. 10,” Osborne wrote, referring to the prime minister’s residence.

“If it’s important to you, I will strongly encourage [it],” Epstein replied. “He normally only goes places that propose to help him fund his movies, hence Barcelona, Paris, Rome. Otherwise he hates to travel.”

Silva did not immediately respond to FOX40’s request for comment.

A spokesperson told FOX40 that Hilton has never met or communicated personally with Epstein. Hilton’s campaign also said he never attended the meeting with Allen that Silva proposed. 

“So the story is what, exactly? Someone I worked with previously asked his contact to help with a meeting about movie production in the UK,” Hilton said in an emailed statement. “That contact, without anyone on our side even knowing, apparently reached out to Epstein for a contact. Is this a joke?”

In 2018, while working as a commentator for Fox News, Hilton called for the removal of former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta because of his handling of the Epstein case.

Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice released about 3 million more pages in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Two of Hilton’s Democratic rivals in the governor’s race, Antonio Villaraigosa and Xavier Becerra, brought attention to Hilton’s inclusion in the files on social media Monday. In an email, Hilton noted that both candidates, as well as others, are technically mentioned in the files — and called the criticism “a desperate attempt to smear the leading candidate.”

Several California gubernatorial candidates appear in the files, according to preliminary searches of the documents by FOX40. But most of those mentions are in news articles.

Villaraigosa is also mentioned in an email to Epstein from Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal. She told Epstein she was planning her schedule for the 2010 Oscars, including attending the Hollywood Reporter Nominees’ Night Cocktail Party hosted by then-Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa.

Update 2/4: In a statement, a spokesperson for the Villaraigosa campaign said he has “had no contact whatsoever with Epstein.”