The first paragraph of Jeffrey Epstein's wikipedia page is awkward: "Jeffrey Edward Epstein (born January 20, 1953) is an American financier and sex offender. He worked at Bear Stearns early in his career and subsequently formed his own firm. But he's pals with Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew and his 50,000-square-foot 9-story mansion just off Fifth Avenue is supposedy the largest private residence in Manhattan. So who cares if he was convicted of soliciting an underage girl (14 years old) for prostitution in 2008? Besides, among the lawyers defending him were Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr. He got a very sweet deal and served just over a year.A report in yesterday's Guardian focused mostly on Epstein's friendship with Prince Andrew, who he was helping acquire slave children to have sex with. A plaintiff in a suit against Epstein says Epstein had sex with her while she was a minor for 4 years and loaned her out to rich and influential men around the world.
The accusation against the Duke of York is contained in a motion filed in a Florida court this week in connection with a long-running lawsuit brought by women who say they were exploited by Jeffrey Epstein, a multi-millionaire convicted of soliciting sex with an underage girl after a plea deal....Another close associate of Epstein who is also accused in the lawsuit, Alan Dershowitz, told the Guardian that the woman’s accusations against himself were “totally false and made up."...Andrew’s close relationship with Epstein-- he visited him in New York two years after the American’s release from prison in 2009-- has long been a source of controversy. The Daily Mail reported in 2011 that the prince had broken off contact with the banker.The duke had previously been accused of meeting Epstein’s young victims and possibly being aware of their sexual exploitation. However, this is the first time he has been named in a court document as a participant in any sexual activity with one of the young women allegedly trafficked by Epstein.As the claim has only just been lodged, and as the duke is not a named party to it, he has not had the opportunity to formally file a defence or denial to the claims.In 2006, the FBI opened an investigation into allegations that Epstein had been paying for sex with underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion for years. By the following year federal prosecutors said they had identified 40 young women who may have been illegally procured by Epstein.In 2008, however, the federal inquiry was dropped after Epstein negotiated a deal with prosecutors in which he agreed to plead guilty to a relatively minor state charge relating to soliciting paid sex with a minor-- a 14-year-old girl. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence and is now a registered sex offender.Many of his alleged victims have since reached out-of-court settlements with Epstein, who was once considered among the wealthiest investment bankers in the world.However, two of Epstein’s alleged victims, referred to in court documents as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, have brought a lawsuit arguing that federal prosecutors violated a victims’ rights statute by failing to consult them over Epstein’s secret deal.The pair won a significant legal victory in July last year entitling them to see previously confidential documents from the plea bargain discussions between Epstein’s lawyers and federal prosecutors.The court document filed this week containing allegations against Andrew is a motion to allow two more alleged Epstein victims, referred to as Jane Doe 3 and Jane Doe 4, to join the action.Jane Doe 3-- the woman who made the accusations against Andrew-- claims her contact with Epstein began when she was approached at the age of 15 by Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell and a close friend of Epstein.The motion alleges that Maxwell “was one of the main women whom Epstein used to procure under-aged girls for sexual activities.” With Maxwell’s assistance, the document alleges, Epstein converted the girl into a “sex slave,” repeatedly abusing her in his private jet or his lavish residences in New York, New Mexico, Florida and the US Virgin Islands.“Epstein also sexually trafficked the then-minor Jane Doe, making her available for sex to politically connected and financially powerful people,” the court document alleges. “Epstein’s purposes in ‘lending’ Jane Doe (along with other young girls) to such powerful people were to ingratiate himself with them for business, personal, political, and financial gain, as well as to obtain potential blackmail information.”The motion alleges that Maxwell was “a primary co-conspirator in his sexual abuse and sex trafficking scheme” and that she also participated in the abuse.The document goes on to allege: “Perhaps even more important to her role in Epstein’s sexual abuse ring, Maxwell had direct connections to other powerful individuals with whom she could connect Epstein. For instance, one such powerful individual Epstein forced Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with was a member of the British royal family, Prince Andrew (aka Duke of York).”The document lists three locations where the woman alleges she was forced to have sexual relations with Andrew: Maxwell’s London apartment, Epstein’s private Caribbean island in what was allegedly “an orgy with numerous other under-aged girls”, and an undisclosed location in New York....The woman’s lawyers allege in their motion that, in addition to facilitating her alleged encounters with the prince and Dershowitz, Epstein trafficked her to “many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders."
Epstein now lives in the Virgin Islands, where he used to hold A-list sex orgies, and supposedly an investigative journalist is writing a book/movie about the glamorous sex predator/bankster. So, aside from Dershowitz, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, who were the other world leaders Epstein was procuring children for? Bill Richardson's name gets bandied about; Donald Trump and Eliot Spitzer as well. Republicans will certainly make use of the Clinton connection as the 2016 presidential campaign heats up. Cleaning up the one percent? Not a chance.