Money talks

Yes, money does talk; in many ways and not always using the right language. One example, that is especially prominent at the present time, is the way in which the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein drove his life around money; firstly making it, then, later in his life, using it to build power over people through clever social interaction.

In his early years, Epstein had been a teacher, but his indulgence in libidinous behaviour led to an early exit from that decent profession.  He then proceeded to create his wealth from zones of the money world, off the grid for normal professionals; Epstein was not normal

He had embarked on a full immersion into the esoteric world of options trading, followed by tax mitigation advice for the rich and famous, then proceeding into the dark and dubious world of ‘bounty hunting,’ recovering money stolen by professionals operating fraudulently. He even bought big debts owed to banks – presumably at a discount – to later turn into money. Whoever did that? He built up a reputation as someone who was streetwise and knew the red-light district of the financial world like the back of his hand.

He then injected those resources into a social life dominated by the sexual exploitation of underage girls for himself and friends, deviously self-protected with a myriad of photos and other records of adult misbehaviour or close connection to Epstein. His abuse of minors earned him a criminal record in 2008 when found guilty of procuring a female child for prostitution. That was just the tip of the iceberg and his punishment did not remotely fit the crime. The public have a right to know how, in a democracy like the USA, a convicted sex predator could be allowed, while incarcerated, to depart frequently and systematically to attend to his business. Unfortunately, nobody appears to be suggesting a retrospective analysis and judgement on how the biggest democracy in the world and proud of its support for the rule of law, could have allowed that? Perhaps, people of influence went soft on Epstein to protect their own reputations.

What has proved even more shocking to global society is how that incarceration contributed virtually nothing in terms of punishment and rehabilitation. On release after a few months in jail Epstein was free to create an underage sex empire, inviting the rich and powerful to his island and the wild parties.

Adopting or strengthening a friendship after the main protagonist has been released, having served his sentence, does not equate to either accepting or participating in Epstein’s activities with underage girls. But at the very least it shows a significant lack of integrity and discretion. I’m not going into names because this issue is still alive and many investigations are ongoing. But so many present and former public figures – mainly politicians – are proved to have been friends of Epstein from at least the beginning of this century, thus creating a deeply worrying moral discrepancy among the people who ran the world. Numerous top politicians were still enjoying friendship with Epstein in recent times. It is extremely unlikely that they did so for intense political discussions. At this stage the impression given is that the Epstein scandal is not going away anywhere soon.

Jeffrey Epstein very conveniently committed suicide in jail in 2019, after arrest for many reported cases of continuing sexual abuse of minors.  There is much speculation about the circumstances of his death, varying across the spectrum of two possible extremes – suicide by a man who could not face the life imprisonment and public disgrace and, at the other extreme, a prisoner murdered in his cell to make sure he never “squealed” on his fellow paedophiles. Some very important people had a great deal to lose by Epstein pouring out the sordid details as part of a plea deal that could have lightened his sentence. Three minutes of jail cell video footage was found to be missing which is highly suspicious in itself. Personally, I doubt he was murdered in his prison cell, but it would not be inconceivable that he was subjected to a considerable amount of psychological pressure. Warning him about the serious abuse he would risk while jailed for life, and leaving him to commit suicide during a highly convenient ‘blind eye’ period by the jail staff.  We may never know the truth. All that is certain is that it put away for ever one highly indecent individual.

It is important at this stage to spare a thought for the young female victims. Many were from abusive family backgrounds. That’s not much of a start in life.  Then handed round by Epstein as a commodity to be shared ruthlessly and without any empathy from him, or indeed, the willing collaborators. Those girls needed love and support. Epstein could have provided that instead of abusing them. That is one of the darkest aspects of the whole story.