John Phelan

John C. Phelan is a businessman and investor who served as the 79th United States Secretary of the Navy. He was nominated by President Trump in November 2024, confirmed by the Senate in March 2025, and served from March 25, 2025, to April 22, 2026. Earlier in his career he worked in finance, including as a co-founding partner and chief investment officer of MSD Capital, the private investment firm that managed Michael Dell’s capital, before founding Rugger Management LLC in 2022.

Passenger manifests released as part of the Epstein files indicate that Phelan flew twice on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane in 2006, several months before Epstein’s first arrest on sex charges — a flight from New York to London on February 27, 2006, and a return flight from London to New York on March 3, 2006. CNN, in reporting republished by ABC17NEWS, and Navy Times both reported that the March 3, 2006 London-to-New York flight manifest was part of a document release from the House Oversight Committee.

Phelan declined to comment through a Navy spokesperson, according to the CNN report republished by ABC17NEWS and Navy Times. A close friend told CNN that this was the only time Phelan interacted with Epstein, that he had been invited to fly by Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne (who died in 2021), and that Phelan did not know they would be riding on Epstein’s plane until they arrived. According to that account, Epstein pitched a tax concept during the flight that Phelan “had no interest in,” and the two never interacted again. CNN reported there is no evidence Phelan knew of any wrongdoing by Epstein or his associates when he took the flight.

Is John Phelan in the Epstein files?

Yes. John Phelan, who served as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, is named on a passenger manifest released as part of the Epstein files, reflecting that he flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane in 2006. Being named in the files is not evidence of any crime or wrongdoing. As reported by CNN (via ABC17NEWS) and Navy Times, a friend of Phelan’s said it was his only interaction with Epstein, that he was invited aboard by another financier and did not know whose plane it was, and that there is no evidence he knew of any wrongdoing; Phelan himself declined to comment through a Navy spokesperson. See the sources below for the documented context.

Documents

Primary-source records that reference John Phelan. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing; a friend said this was Phelan’s only interaction with Epstein and that he did not know whose plane he was boarding.

• Epstein flight logs — A pilot manifest for Epstein’s aircraft records Phelan as a passenger on a March 3, 2006 London-to-New York flight, several months before Epstein’s first arrest on sex charges; reporting indicates he also flew New York to London on February 27, 2006. As reported by CNN and Navy Times, the manifest was part of a House Oversight Committee document release in 2025. A friend told CNN that Phelan had been invited to fly by Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne, did not know it was Epstein’s plane until arrival, and never interacted with Epstein again.