Russian President Vladimir Putin once said he "would be very glad" to meet Jeffrey Epstein to discuss financial markets and digital currency, according to files released recently by the Justice Department.

The recently disclosed documents show that in October 2014 Epstein received an email from an intermediary claiming to have spoken directly with Putin.

"I spoke t= Putin," the redacted correspondent wrote, Bloomberg reported. "He would be very glad if you were to visit and explain=financial markets in the 21 st century. Digital currency. derivative= structured finance."

The message suggested a meeting could be arranged during Epstein's next trip to Europe and added, "I am sure you two will like each other."

Epstein promptly forwarded the email to Kathy Ruemmler, then a senior attorney who later became general counsel at Goldman Sachs, seeking guidance.

Anticipating she might advise caution, Epstein wrote that he assumed her answer would be not to go "for the moment."

Ruemmler's response was blunt: "Yes my answer is still the same," she wrote. "Your fun i= denied."

At the time, Russia had just annexed Crimea, triggering sweeping U.S. and European sanctions.

Any high-profile meeting with Putin would have been politically explosive.

Despite the setback, Bloomberg reports the documents show Epstein remained fixated on securing face time with the Russian leader.

Putin's name appears about 1,000 times in a database of more than 3.5 million files released by the Justice Department.

The files reveal Epstein's years-long effort to leverage prominent political figures to broker a meeting.

In 2013, he pressed former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, then secretary-general of the Council of Europe, to arrange an introduction during a planned meeting with Putin in Sochi.

Epstein pitched what he described as a "sopshiticated russian version of bitcoin," arguing Russia could securitize investments and take the first loss to attract Western capital.

In one exchange, Jagland told Epstein, "You have to do it. My job is to get a meeting with him."

Ultimately, there is no evidence the meeting ever took place.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin never met Epstein "as far as he's aware," and no documentation has surfaced to prove otherwise, Bloomberg reported.

The files also show Epstein boasting of contacts in Russia, including references to friends in the FSB security service and repeated attempts to renew long-term Russian visas.

He also claimed to have offered advice to Russian officials on how to engage then-President Donald Trump during his first term.

The revelations underscore Epstein's long-running attempts to cultivate influence at the highest levels of global power, including in Moscow, even as his criminal history and legal troubles shadowed his activities.

While Putin's office denies any meeting occurred, the newly released correspondence adds another layer to the political and international intrigue surrounding Epstein’s network.

• Putin, Women, Favors: Epstein's Russia Connections
• Epstein Files Reveal Russian Contacts, Putin Links