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The story of Peter Attia — a longevity doctor who graduated from medical school but never completed residency — is a good illustration of the flimsiness of what these alternative health influencers are selling. His name appears in more than 1,700 documents in the most recent dump of the Epstein files. My newsroom colleague Maggie Astor summarized one of the more appalling exchanges between Attia and Jeffrey Epstein this way:

In one email on Feb. 19, 2016, titled “confirmed,” Dr. Attia wrote to Mr. Epstein: “Pussy is, indeed, low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.” A couple of days earlier, he had offered his medical services to Mr. Epstein and asked, “Have you decided if you’re interested in living longer (solely for the ladies, of course)?”

In an exchange from June 24, 2015, Attia wrote to Epstein, “The biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.” All the communication between the two in the latest set of files happened years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from girls in 2008 and had to register as a sex offender.

On Monday, Attia posted a statement on X, apologizing and explaining his relationship to Epstein. Attia stated emphatically that he “was not involved in any criminal activity” and “never visited his island or ranch, and I never flew on any of his planes.” (Though Attia booked a trip to Epstein’s ranch for sometime in August 2015, per the files, the two could not find a date that worked for both of them, so the trip appears to have been canceled.) Attia also said that soon after he met Epstein in 2014, he asked Epstein about the conviction from 2008, and Epstein told him it was just a prostitution charge. Attia, who was in his 40s at the time, chalked up his credulousness to inexperience: “I was incredibly naïve to believe him.”