Newly unearthed emails last week shone light on Epstein’s role as freelance client development officer, acting as a channel between political figures and business titans, greasing up the former with lifestyles they could not afford and the latter with avenues of political influence.
Exposure of that channel ended the career of Peter Mandelson, the UK ambassador to the US, provoking a crisis in Britain’s Labour government, after emails showed that Lord Mandelson had steered a $1bn banking deal Epstein’s way and expressed sympathy for Epstein’s 2008 conviction for child sexual procurement.
Emails obtained by Bloomberg and others went further, showing that figures in Epstein’s network of billionaires, politicians, celebrities, royalty and intellectuals were assembled into schemes of influence.
“Jeffrey was a starfucker,” an acquaintance told the Guardian last week. “Anyone he thought had influence he would try to add to his collection. Mandelson is slippery, and impressed by money, so Jeffrey liked that.”
The spheres of influence Epstein created, emails showed, relied simultaneously on access and gifts. Bloomberg obtained a spreadsheet of expenses that in some cases appeared to sync with emails between Epstein and his former girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, the financier’s convicted sex-trafficking co-conspirator.
One expense, dated 21 December 2005, showed a $35,000 watch for “DB” – the same day that Maxwell and Epstein discussed in emails giving Bill Clinton aide Doug Band an Audemars Piguet with the same value. Band has denied receiving any watch.
In all, the emails include a spreadsheet itemizing nearly 2,000 gifts, luxury items and payments totaling $1.8m.
But the questions about the source of Epstein’s wealth have never been fully resolved. He was worth nearly $600m at his death, thanks mostly to two wealthy billionaire clients – Victoria’s Secret founder Les Wexner and, later, Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black – as well as Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth “Libet” Johnson, sister of former US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson.
Between his collection of lavish homes in New York, Palm Beach and Paris, two private Caribbean islands, two jets and helicopter, Epstein held nearly $380m in cash and investments, according to his estate.
That wealth arrived suddenly. According to associates, until the end of the 90s, Epstein was living in a two-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side close to the river. It was only when Maxwell arrived from London that his lifestyle was dramatically elevated.
My guess is selling children for sex
But how did he get the seed money to make everything happen in the first place?
How did he go from a 2 bedroom apartment to a penthouse?
That wealth arrived suddenly. According to associates, until the end of the 90s, Epstein was living in a two-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side close to the river. It was only when Maxwell arrived from London that his lifestyle was dramatically elevated.
Epstein moved to a townhouse on 68th Street and later to a 28,000-sq-ft mansion on 71st Street, later transferred to him by Wexner in 2011.
What’s in those files about Epstein and banks like JP Morgan that Republicans and Scott Bessent don’t want to hand over?
JPMorgan Chase has described its ties to Epstein as “a mistake”. Epstein introduced bank executives to some figures who would become clients, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and to global leaders, such as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Emirati billionaire Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
It is blatantly obvious. It is mosad. Maxwell has the ties to mosad. The mosad connection is why everything in Gaza has played out as it has. It makes no sense. No sane person supports this genocide. The fascism is convenient for Mosad and extermination of the Palestinians. The Jewish cause has always been capable of leveraging enormous capital and has long been known for a lack of ethics throughout history. 47 acts just like someone that has extortion leverage over their head. Stuff like bombing Iran was done at Israeli command in opposition to party and everything he campaigned for breaking a support base that now demands the Epstein files as a response. People don’t do stuff that is that stupid and self deprecating on a whim. The issue is pushed around and lied about in the exact fashion as a con artist that is about to get caught. Epstein collected leverage around the world and that leverage is being cashed in for 2 million lives in Gaza.
While that sounds plausible I’m hesitant to ascribe too much thought to Trump’s actions. He has always been a moron who is easily manipulated. It could be blackmail, but it could also just as easily be someone with intimate access to him playing him like a fiddle. He’s too fucking stupid to realize the actual consequences his actions have.
This is such a ridiculous take, the “easily manipulated moron” holds the presidency of the united states, for the second time. I’d suggest he’s not the moron in this equation, but go ahead and keep believing he’s to “stupid to realise”, while he takes everything
There’s several morons that turned out to be capable of failing upwards. A few of those managed to become president of the united states’.
The seed money and whatever definitely came from Wexner. That townhouse would be worth like 80 million + today, and Wexner just gave it to him
And selling children fox sex
Yep to powerful global leaders like Netenyahu apparently with money from JP Morgan.
This was never a one man operation. For all we know it’s still ongoing
Oh I’m sure. He was just a middle man. He… arranged things.
At this stage asking rhetorical questions like these is just rage baiting and wasting time by the media.
I disagree. It’s a good question, and one that Republicans are blocking the answer to.
Literally they voted to block releasing these files the same day Charlie Kirk was murdered.
