Flavio Briatore

Flavio Briatore (born 12 April 1950) is an Italian businessman best known as a former Formula One team principal. He ran the Benetton Formula team in the 1990s — taking full control as team principal in 1991 — and later returned to the sport as managing director and team principal of the Renault F1 Team from 2000 to 2009. His business ventures include the Billionaire nightclub and fashion brand, the Cipriani restaurant in London, and a period as chairman and part-owner of the Queens Park Rangers football club. He received a lifetime ban from Formula One in 2009 for his role in the “Crashgate” scandal, and in more recent years returned to the paddock with the Alpine F1 Team.

Front Office Sports reported (Colin Salao, 11 February 2026) that Briatore “is first mentioned in the files in April 2005, when he was the head of Renault,” and that “in 2010, a year after Briatore received a lifetime ban from F1 for his involvement in the ‘Crashgate’ cheating scandal, he appeared in multiple emails.” That outlet reported that one message said “Briatore wanted to meet” with Epstein and that Epstein referred to Briatore using the phrase rendered in the email as his “itialin frined” (Italian friend). A Yahoo Sports article syndicated from NJ.com (Advance Local, 11 February 2026) similarly reported that Briatore “exchanged multiple emails with Epstein between 2005 and 2010” and that “in one message, Epstein referred to Briatore as his ‘Italian friend.’”

The reporting reviewed for this profile does not describe any allegation of wrongdoing against Briatore in connection with Epstein’s crimes. Front Office Sports reported that, asked about the correspondence, an Alpine spokesperson said “this is not a matter for the team” and otherwise declined to comment; no direct statement from Briatore himself was reported. None of the sources reviewed here state that Briatore was accused of any crime.

Is Flavio Briatore in the Epstein files?

Yes. Front Office Sports and a Yahoo Sports article syndicated from NJ.com reported that Flavio Briatore exchanged emails with Epstein between 2005 and 2010 and that Epstein referred to him as his “Italian friend.” Being named in the files is not evidence of any crime or wrongdoing. People appear in these documents in many contexts — correspondence, contact books, scheduling, or passing references. The sources reviewed for this profile report no allegation against Briatore in connection with Epstein’s offenses, and an Alpine spokesperson declined to comment on the correspondence.

Evidence

These passages come from the released Epstein email correspondence, with our annotations connecting each to what this profile states.

Read the originals: DOJ Epstein Files ↗

Documents

Primary-source records that name or reference Flavio Briatore. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; the reporting reviewed here describes no allegation against Briatore in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

• Giuffre v. Maxwell — unsealed court records (Jan. 2024) — In a declaration unsealed in this civil case (U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:15-cv-07433), Alan Dershowitz states that Epstein’s address book “contained the circled names of many celebrities and other individuals, including Donald Trump, Flavio Briatore, and Courtney Love, among others” — citing the listing in an argument that being named in the book “is probative of nothing.”
• DOJ Epstein Files (full release) — The records released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and searchable on the Justice Department’s website include the 2005–2010 email correspondence in which, per Front Office Sports and a Yahoo Sports article syndicated from NJ.com, Epstein referred to Briatore as his “Italian friend.”