Why the rich and powerful can’t say no to Jeffrey Epstein

She told the BBC: “I am disgusted by Epstein’s deviant behaviour. I strongly support his victims and admire their courage. I have long called for all Epstein files to be released.”

Plaskett claimed the exchange occurred before Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. But the truth is that this happened long after the financier was convicted of prostitution in 2008.

His private island in the Virgin Islands was also mentioned in a bloody FBI investigation Miami Heraldjust one year ago, was identified as one of the places where Epstein sexually abused underage girls.

Just six months after his exchange with Epstein, the disgraced financier died in his prison cell as a result of suicide, according to the coroner.

His death, and the conspiracy theories that resulted from it, would lead to a reckoning that unleashed a storm in Washington and Wall Street, and brought down many of his former friends.

This exchange is just one of many that appear in more than 20,000 pages of Epstein’s recently released personal documents, which once again demonstrated his ability to remain in the highest circles of power even after his conviction and the revelation of the corruption scandal. Miami Herald.

How and why these relationships continued while other friendships ended tells us as much about the dynamics of the upper echelons of American society as it does about the influence that Epstein exercised.

“He was a vicious monster, but at the same time he was brilliant, in the sense that he was able to maintain this incredible network with some of the most powerful individuals in the world,” explained Barry Levin, author of the book. Spider: Inside the Criminal Network of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell (Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell).

“He had a kind of charisma that put him in a position where people would look for him.”

Levin notes that Epstein viewed himself as a “collector of people” who established connections for transactional purposes.

“He used the information he gathered… with the goal, ultimately, of back-up services he could demand of them, investments he could extract from them, or in a darker sense, I think, the blackmail to which some of these individuals could be subjected.”

Epstein’s relationship with Peter Mandelson (a British politician and former parliamentarian who held important positions in several Labor governments) has been under particular scrutiny in the United Kingdom. He was removed as Britain’s ambassador to the United States in September.

Documents released by Congress indicate that Mandelson maintained contact with the pedophile until 2016, after he had already been convicted.

In a November 2015 email, Epstein wrote to her after her birthday: “63 years old. I did it.”

“Hardly,” Mandelson answers after less than 90 minutes. “I have decided to prolong my life by spending more time in the United States.”

The former diplomat denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, but expressed regret for remaining in contact with him.

Documents released by Epstein’s representatives reveal an eclectic circle of friends that included prominent academics, business titans and politicians.

Levin said it is not a stretch to think that some of Epstein’s friends may not have known anything about his abuse, or were impressed enough by his influential connections to overlook them.

“People forget things,” he said. “His credentials among powerful and influential people were so high, I think many individuals simply refused to condemn him.”

Others may have been dazzled by his wealth, as some journalists and others who knew him suggest.

“Prison punishment no longer matters,” said David Patrick Columbia, the organization’s founder. New York Social Diaryto the site the Daily Beast In 2011, after Epstein was convicted for the first time. “The only thing that marginalizes you in New York society is being poor.”

Former US Treasury Secretary and then Harvard University President Larry Summers asked Epstein for love advice, including once in November 2018 — the same month the investigation was published. Miami Herald- The woman sent an email to the financier asking how he should respond.

“She’s already starting to look needy 🙂 Excellent,” Epstein replied.

Summer’s interactions with his best friend turned against him last week, forcing him to announce that he would abandon his public engagements and stop teaching at Harvard.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and realize the pain I have caused,” he said.

It also emerged that Epstein used his talent for money to help the famous linguist Noam Chomsky, with whom he exchanged several letters over the years, inviting him to stay at his house.

The flattery was mutual. In an undated letter of support, Chomsky praised Epstein, saying the two had “many long and often profound discussions.”

The 96-year-old academic previously told… Wall Street Journal That the financier helped him transfer money between accounts without “a dime from Epstein.”

“I knew him and we met from time to time,” Chomsky said. “What was known about Jeffrey Epstein was that he had committed a crime and that he had served his sentence. Under American laws and regulations, that is a clean slate.”

Chomsky did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

The linguist was one of Epstein’s famous clients, who helped them save billions of dollars, Levin said.

Levin explained that he was able to do this because he “understood tax law and finance at a level perhaps greater than the highest-paid people on Wall Street.”

In Epstein’s 23,000 pages of documents, one man’s name appears more than anyone else’s.

Trump did not send or receive any of the letters, after he cut ties with Epstein.

In 2002, Trump described Epstein as a “wonderful man.” “I was Donald’s closest friend for 10 years,” Epstein later said.

But the relationship was damaged. Trump said they broke up in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested.

In 2008, Trump said he wasn’t “one of his fans.”

Trump denied having any knowledge of the sex trafficking for which Epstein was accused. The White House also said that Trump fired Epstein from his club “decades ago because he disgusted his female employees.”

Levin noted that there are many people whose letters to Epstein after his conviction will leave them embarrassed, even if they do not suggest that they participated in any of his crimes.

“It is natural for everyone to regret the day they came into contact with Jeffrey Epstein or spent time with him,” he said. “It is one of the most astonishing stories of our time: power, privilege and predation.”

But there was at least one person who said he immediately understood that Epstein was “disgusting.”

Howard Lutnick, the president’s Commerce Secretary, was a neighbor of Epstein for 10 years. He narrated on the podcast New York Post His first meeting with Epstein was his last.

Shortly after Lutnick moved into Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side residence in 2005, Epstein and his wife gave him a tour of his grand residence.

In Epstein’s dining room, there was a massage table surrounded by candles, and Lutnick asked him how often he used it.

“Every day,” he says. And then he uncomfortably walks over to me and says, “And the good kind of massage.”

Lutnick said he and his wife exchanged looks, apologized and left.

“I have decided that I will never be in a room with that disgusting person again.”

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