Business of rising star Democrat who railed against ‘Epstein Elite’ was bankrolled by a family foundation of the pedophile’s associate
Victoria Churchill
Daily Mail
March 30, 2026
Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner has raged against the so-called ‘Epstein class’ but records reveal that he has accepted thousands from a family foundation of the pedophile’s associate.
Platner is running in the primary election against Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, for a chance to square off with incumbent Republican Susan Collins in November.
He has targeted GOP incumbent Collins for not voting to release the Epstein files.
And he’s accused her of ‘protecting pedophiles and abusers,’ while questioning ‘whose bidding is she doing?’
Now, Platner’s own ties to Epstein’s larger empire are coming back to bite him.
Platner, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, moved back to Maine in 2018 to work on an oyster farm started by one of his friends and eventually took over the business.
Per an article from the Maine Small Business Development Centers, Platner received a $20,000 grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in 2021 to fund the oyster farm’s growth.
The foundation, based in Athens, Greece, was established after the death of Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos I in 1996, and currently lists his son, Spyros Niarchos, as a board member.
Spyros Niarchos has been described by Greek newspaper Documento as a member of the ‘inner circle of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.’
He appeared in several of the files relating to Epstein that have been released by the Department of Justice in recent months.
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In a January 2018 conversation between Epstein and a redacted person, Epstein asks the other person ‘Is there a new boy?,’ to which the other person responds ‘Yes, there is an older man, you will be proud of me.’
Epstein asks who the older man is, and the other person reveals that the older man is Spyros Niarchos, then tells Epstein not to tell anyone.
In subsequent emails in the same thread, Epstein calls Spyros Niarchos ‘very interesting’ and says they ‘shared a mutual friend in the 80s,’ who was a ‘beautiful Venezuelan girl.’
In April 2018, Epstein emailed a redacted person, saying ‘I need a girls with great task to help decorators. Help dinners, and flowers design etc the island. HELP,’ to which the redacted person replied, ‘What nationality and age do you want? I am in saint moritz with Spyros now!’ Epstein replied, ‘up to 30yrs.’
Other members of the Niarchos family are also named in the files, including Stavros Niarchos III, the shipping mogul’s grandson, who co-hosted a 2013 Halloween party Epstein was invited to attend.
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The Daily Mail has reached out to both the Platner campaign and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for comment.
The Democratic Senate hopeful has also come under fire for his Nazi tattoo after it was revealed he had an SS skull and bones inked on his chest while serving in the Marines.
Last year, he was plunged into scandal when a video showed him drunk and shirtless, sporting a ‘Totenkopf’ on the left side of his chest, a symbol of the Nazi’s paramilitary wing.
Platner released a statement last fall sharing that he had covered the tattoo, adding that he wasn’t aware it was an SS symbol when he drunkenly visited a tattoo parlor with his Marine Corps. buddies in Split, Croatia, in 2007.
‘I absolutely would not have gone through life having this on my chest if I knew that – and to insinuate that I did is disgusting. I already had the tattoo covered with a new design,’ the Democratic candidate said.
In a video posted on X, Platner showed off the new tattoo.
‘It’s a Celtic knot with some imagery around dogs, because my wife Amy and I, love dogs,’ he said.
He went on to claim that the stories about his Nazi tattoo represent an establishment plot to torpedo his candidacy.
‘[My donors] know that this is all nonsense. It is no surprise that these stories dropped within days of DC’s chosen candidate getting into this race,’ Platner told local station WGME in an interview.
Democratic [Minority] Leader Chuck Schumer favors Maine Governor Janet Mills to take on the Republican Collins, but had avoided a public endorsement until Tuesday after the Nazi tattoo story broke.
Schumer declared Mills ‘the best candidate to retire Susan Collins.’
Platner has also come under fire over his Reddit history, in which he asked why ‘black people don’t tip’ and suggested that women who get raped in the Army should be careful about how much they have to drink.
‘I made that comment in 2013. I had just come out of the infantry, which was, at the time, all male. I rarely interacted professionally with women in the service,’ he told WGME last year.
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