The Epstein Files and the Hidden World of an Unaccountable Elite

WASHINGTON — Journalists and researchers will spend the next few months combing Epstein’s files in search of new criminal conduct or a new conspiratorial twist. But a truth has already emerged.

In grim detail, the documents expose the once-furtive activities of an irresponsible elite, largely made up of wealthy and powerful men from business, politics, academia, and show business. The pages tell the story of a heinous criminal who was given carte blanche by the ruling class in which he lived, all because he had something to offer: money, connections, sumptuous dinners, a private plane, an isolated island and, in some cases, sex.

This story of impunity is even more revolting now, amid growing populist anger and widening income inequality. The caligulesque actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his friends occurred over two decades that saw the decline of the American manufacturing sector and the subprime mortgage crisis, which left millions of Americans without their homes.

If Epstein’s goal was to build a wall of protection from his abuse by surrounding himself with the powerful, he ultimately failed. But both before and after he was first prosecuted for abusing young girls, his correspondence described a network of people whose luxurious lives contrasted with the hardships of ordinary Americans. And at the center of this network was a sexual predator seemingly at the top of his game.

“We’ve heard a lot about the Epstein scandal in recent years,” said Nicole Hemmer, a history professor at Vanderbilt University who writes frequently about political culture. “And yet people seem shocked by the extent of elite complicity in their world. It’s a level of corruption that the public is now seeing in full view.”

Also read: Epstein has an active CPF in Brazil and considered applying for Brazilian citizenship, says file

In 2002, Epstein hosted former President Bill Clinton and actor Kevin Spacey for a tour of African countries aboard his private jet.

His talent for entertaining attracted the interest of one of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk, who emailed Epstein in 2012 asking: “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” (Musk said on social media that he “had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to his island.”)

Of course there was also his friendship with Donald Trump.

He also granted favors and spent time with Woody Allen; Noam Chomsky, linguist and intellectual; Kenneth W. Starr, independent counsel in the Clinton investigation; Kathryn Ruemmler, a former Obama White House aide who resigned Thursday night as general counsel at Goldman Sachs amid investigations into her ties to Epstein; Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s main political allies; Deepak Chopra, New Age guru; film producer Barry Josephson; Larry Summers, former president of Harvard and former Secretary of the Treasury; Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew; Sarah Ferguson, former Duchess of York; Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway; and a host of financial titans.

James E. Staley, who recently stepped down as CEO of Barclays following allegations involving his ties to Epstein, sent an email to Epstein in 2014 suggesting that elite Americans like them were unlikely to face a populist uprising like the protests taking place in Brazil at the time.

Pointing to Super Bowl ads from that year, Staley wrote: “It’s all about cool black men in cool cars with white women. The group that should be on the streets has been bought. By Jay-Z.”

The shocking nature of some revelations, combined with the prominence and status of those in Epstein’s circle, did nothing to silence the conspiracy theories that his behavior generated and that both the right and the left tried to use for political advantage. On the contrary, the flood of new details has generated feverish speculation, with little or no factual basis.

In 2014, Epstein received an email from an associate whose name was censored that said: “Thanks for a fun night… your youngest little girl was a little naughty.” In another email, Epstein instructed a recipient, also anonymous, to purchase several sex toys, adding: “I want you to talk as dirty, vulgar and imaginative as you can… This will free your mind. It’s like a mental sneeze.”

Epstein wrote to another unnamed recipient in 2009, who was identified Wednesday at a House hearing as Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a powerful UAE businessman: “Where are you? Are you OK? I loved the torture video.”

Without context, such messages are the subject of speculation about their meaning and offer new opportunities for those seeking to draw attention to themselves and their opinions.

Also read: Goldman Sachs lawyer resigns after messages reveal connection to Epstein

An assistant to Epstein wrote to him in 2011: “I ordered young, sweet coconuts from Thailand for you and they just arrived… just so you don’t have to drink juices from old, hairy things.”

Highlighting how even the seemingly mundane can be twisted into something potentially conspiratorial, frequent references to pizza gave new life to the discredited 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, in which prominent Democrats were said to be torturing and raping children in the basement of a Washington restaurant. The fact that the locations and characters in Pizzagate are almost entirely different from those that appear in Epstein’s files has not stopped some from insisting that there is a connection.

In a 2018 email exchange, Epstein’s urologist, Dr. Harry Fisch, informed him that “You have refills available” and that “after you use them, wash your hands and let’s go eat pizza and grape soda” — a peculiar combination used in several emails between the two men that, according to Fisch, “no one else can understand.” (Fisch did not respond to an email request for comment.)

“It was that exchange,” right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson said on his show Friday, “that made us think, ‘Wow, wait a second. Maybe the long-discredited Pizzagate conspiracy hasn’t really been discredited, and maybe someone should take a closer look at it.'”

Hemmer, the Vanderbilt professor, said the murky nature of Epstein’s life, combined with the Trump administration’s sloppy production of documents, “has certainly fueled a ton of conspiracy theories.”

Newly released videos of the prison wing where Epstein was found dead, for example, suggest that a human figure not previously recorded in the records was moving in the general direction of Epstein’s cell that night.

This has led some internet sleuths to conclude that Epstein, whose death in federal custody in 2019 was ruled a suicide, may have been murdered. Others have speculated that he may not even be dead, given that Epstein testified in a 2017 statement that he had a barbed wire tattoo on his left bicep, but no such tattoo is visible in the recently released photo of his body.

Also read: Convicted of sex crimes and more: where did Epstein’s fortune come from?

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who worked with former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, to pass legislation mandating release of the documents, dismissed the conspiracy theories.

But, he said in an interview, “we must ask ourselves how we produced such an immature, reckless and arrogant elite.”

Greene, who fell out of favor with Trump for repeatedly demanding the release of Epstein’s files, said she felt some vindication about the behavior of a male ruling class they exposed. “The archives give us an inside look at a world we all thought existed,” she said. “And we were all called conspiracy theorists for saying that.”

While Epstein’s remarkable network of connections suggests to some that he was a master manipulator controlling a cabal of elites, that same network offers at least some evidence to the contrary. Epstein counted presidents and cabinet members as friends, but their influence on American policymaking was negligible.

His friends in the media were not newspaper editors or TV network executives, but people further down the food chain, including author Michael Wolff and New York Times financial reporter Landon Thomas Jr., who left the paper after admitting that he had solicited money from Epstein for a personal charity.

Notably absent from his circle were federal prosecutors, judges or law enforcement officials who could have prevented him from escaping justice.

Ultimately, Epstein was arrested, charged with serious sexual crimes, and died in prison while awaiting trial. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell also remains incarcerated.

Still, this is far from a complete hit, Greene said. She noted that none of Epstein’s male friends or associates were arrested for their behavior. “And now the administration is saying it’s time to move on?” she said. “I don’t hear any of the victims saying that.”