Invariably some CIA, Mossad or other deep cover employees and assets would have been caught up in such a scheme, attended a party etc. I still think Epstein himself was at one time such an asset.

Posted by: KC | Jul 13 2019 17:44 utc | 1

If CIA/Mossad/MI6 got wind of a whole bag full of influential people being extorted by Epstein how long until they wanted in on the game?

Posted by: librul | Jul 13 2019 17:45 utc | 2

Very plausible theory. Makes a lot of sense.

When there are other avenues of revenue generation available, these will be exploited by a con man like Epstein.

A clever, high dollar blackmail scheme as described could very easily draw the attention of the CIA/Mossad. Very useful to them. Important government officials involved - along with those that fund them.

No reason why Epstein would not find himself suddenly involved and much appreciated.

Posted by: fastfreddy | Jul 13 2019 18:05 utc | 3

There is much more credible evidence that Epstein was/is simply a scammer.
Note this lawsuit from a convicted felon, accusing Epstein of enjoying the spoils of a pyramid scheme run by said felon.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 13 2019 18:06 utc | 4

@b
That sounds like the officil version, nobody at fault, nobody hurt.
I think the blackmail part is a little bit illegal and the person on giving end would not be too happy about it.
Also I am thinking one has to be a little careful about blackmailing billionaires - I hear the price to have someone eliminated is not very high but I really have no knowledge in that area.
People would have to fear the guy. Likely he would have to be pretty well connected with people who are taken seriously.
You would think the fine people in the intelligence service would have sucked-down all that info would probably lead to some interesting people and endeavors, but that does not appear to be what happened. Did Acosta just make that up about he is an asset of IC? Is Trump (or others) worried about the guy being in custody?
The time line is worth considering, he is let go ten years ago and no fuss is made, now a reporter investigates and suddenly all breaks loss and lindsy is horrified. So they pry into his home and can you believe they find pictures of criminal activity on his coffee table (like passport of terrorists - leave them at home guys).And suddenly they dont care where it will lead.

Seperately if anybody isnt aware, kidnapping of children and slavery of all kinds is widespread - it appeared they were on track to legalize it - think Oxfam, sexual tourism, not to mention I dont think guys check ID when using prostitutes and that is now legitamate (taxable) proffesion - they advertise in my local paper.

Weird story has me thinking:
When I was getting married many years ago, my "friends" throw bachelor party for me involving gambling hookers and hotel room. I was not interested in the hookers (scared of that) be girls starts dancing around the room to get everyone excited (Im not sure her age) and while this is happening one of the instigators (a "friend" who also happens to be federal employee) pulls out an SLR and starts snapping away. Through drunken fog I am thinking this is too weird and left. I feel like most people in government are seriously screwed-up.

Posted by: jared | Jul 13 2019 18:13 utc | 5

An intel connection is far and away the best explanation of the kid-gloves treatment Epstein got.

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 18:26 utc | 6

Sharks in the water
Swim at your own risk

It seems clear that there's an effort to paint Epstein as simple blackmailer accompanied by wringing of hands over the rich vs. poor dynamic.

Epstein's connections to wealthy Jewish Zionists and possible connections to intelligence agency(s) (as per Acosta) is being played down. A good example of this is provided by a link from the last thread: The case of Jeffrey Epstein and the depravity of America’s financial elite where:

> no mention is made of Acosta's "belonged to intelligence" claim;

> no mention is made of the billionaire Jewish Zionists that were Epsein's pals/clients; and

> no mention is made of his compatriot Ghislane Maxwell.

Here's another example:

Commenter 'somebody' has taken the misdirection to new heights with his concern-trolling about child poverty. 'somebody' would probably give Epstein a medal for his humanitarian efforts.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 13 2019 18:30 utc | 7

Harvey Swinestein and Jeffry Epstein: just two more lecherous rich jews caught with their pants down.

Posted by: Young American | Jul 13 2019 18:35 utc | 8

Another explanation is that this operation was the product of a consortium of rich and powerful pedos. In exchange for parking your money with Epstein you gained access to his girls in NY and the pedo fantasy island. The blackmail material as such was collected in order to insure that no one could snitch out others without implicating themselves.

Posted by: Foxbat | Jul 13 2019 18:40 utc | 9

“Revealed: Jeffrey Epstein Entered Partnership Worth Millions With Ehud Barak in 2015”

“In 2015 Barak set up a limited partnership, in which he is the sole shareholder. That company invested in Reporty Homeland Security, established in 2014, becoming a major shareholder. Last year Reporty changed its name to Carbyne. The company develops call-handling and identification capabilities for emergency response services.”

“One of Epstein’s prominent clients was Leslie Wexner, founder and chairman of the parent company of Victoria’s Secret’s and other companies. Epstein financed and managed the Wexner Foundation, a philanthropic organization that operates training programs to advance leadership and excellence in Israel and among North American Jews.”

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-revealed-jeffrey-epstein-entered-million-dollar-partnership-with-ehud-barak-in-2015-1.7493648

Posted by: Stever | Jul 13 2019 18:40 utc | 10

Please dont forget that many of the so called blackmailed subjects certainly had access to INSIDE INFORMATION that they could have shared and thus much higher profits.....

Posted by: pierrep | Jul 13 2019 18:41 utc | 11

The idea that the CIA/Mossad/FBI etc. might be involved in the Epstein affair isn't new. In fact such tactics are as old as the hills. Such tactics are known in the trade as "honey traps." What may separate the Epstein affair is its extensive reach. The US Secretary of Labor has already resigned and it may be likely that many more will be implicated in one way or another. There are already rumors that former US President Bill Clinton and current President Donald Trump may be involved. In any case, we may learn that this scandal is like a proverbial iceberg: 10 percent in view, 90 percent below the water. This may be a Titanic-like scandal and like that ill-fated ship, many will be dragged down and there won't be enough life boats.

Posted by: GeorgeV | Jul 13 2019 18:43 utc | 12

I doubt the simple explanation.

Epstein seems to have been involved in a lot of "charities", "foundations", whatever.

So I guess he did a lot of moneylaundering via charity.

The gist of the money laundering allegation is that parents made fake "charitable contributions" to the foundation, ostensibly to help "underprivileged children" but actually as payment in exchange for somebody helping them cheat on the ACT or SAT, or to bribe athletic coaches and officials at the "highly selective" universities to which the parents (and/or their children) aspired. The charity substantiated the "contribution" by issuing letters attesting that "no property or services" were given in exchange for the "contribution."

Epstein started out as a teacher for rich kids, so he would know what parents would do to get their kids to universities, jobs, art projects whatever, especially if tax deductable.
The guests at his island seem to have come from science, universities, the arts, politics - they were groomed to be corrupt, to receive money, not blackmailed to give money.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 13 2019 18:44 utc | 13

Sounds plausible. The IC connection may be a good guess if the harvesting of young flesh is a recruiting tool, both for future assets of enticement as well as dark-channel ops support.

Given the reach of both the Epstein case and the Mueller investigation, the delay in Mueller's appearance on Capitol Hill might be to clear the public palate of one scandal in order to not steal thunder from another, or some re-orchestration of who owes whom given the threat of pending revelations. Just a thought.

They will one day ask you to kill your closest friends. Who said that?

Posted by: Stumpy | Jul 13 2019 18:45 utc | 14

The most important question has to be What role played the intelligence agencies, the FBI, the legislative and the executive in this 'poor/abducted-children-sex-slave-market'?

Posted by: nottheonly1 | Jul 13 2019 18:49 utc | 15

Woah! My apologies with the formatting error. You may delete this and I re-do it? It's hefty. Talking about self-dynamics...

Posted by: nottheonly1 | Jul 13 2019 18:52 utc | 16

The scientists and academics were there to provide superrespectability. Same reason the Sacklers fund art galleries.

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 18:53 utc | 17

Did Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein Work for Mossad?

Epstein’s contact with the Israeli intelligence service may have plausibly come through his associations with Ghislaine Maxwell, who allegedly served as his key procurer of young girls. Ghislaine is the daughter of Robert Maxwell, who died or possibly was assassinated in mysterious circumstances in 1991. Maxwell was an Anglo-Jewish businessman, very cosmopolitan in profile, like Epstein, a multi-millionaire who was very controversial with what were regarded as ongoing ties to Mossad. After his death, he was given a state funeral by Israel in which six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence listened while Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir eulogized: “He has done more for Israel than can today be said”.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 13 2019 18:55 utc | 18

A question I've had on my mind:

Why Did Jeffrey Epstein Fly Back To The US?

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 13 2019 18:58 utc | 19

Any connection between this Mega Group and the Mega superspy that Israeli/Jewish messages said they only contacted on supremely important matters?

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 19:00 utc | 20

It does not require any additional conspiracy theory about Mossad/Mafia/CIA involvement.

It does get a bit tiresome to inform b that his use of the term "conspiracy theory" is not only counter-productive but false. A theory is a theory and not a conspiracy, unless proven otherwise.

Moreover, he is falling once again into that old trap laid by the CIA in the 60s

Posted by: mh505 | Jul 13 2019 19:04 utc | 21

Posted by: nottheonly1 | Jul 13 2019 18:49 utc | 16

Marketing tools.

"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

– The Duchess, Alice in Wonderland

Posted by: Stumpy | Jul 13 2019 19:05 utc | 22

I concur with most that the hypothesis cited by b isn't complete as it doesn't account for how Epstein was "seeded." Furthermore, there's a big problem with people thinking this just suddenly happened now when the lawsuit to unseal Epstein's trial and plea agreement was filed on 27 JAN 2017 just after Trump became POTUS. Additionally, Epstein was one of Mueller's Russiagate sources, and Mueller was part of the BushCo DoJ team involved with the plea bargain. So, people in the know knew the Epstein case was going to be reopened on some level; however, the Miami Herald didn't start its reinvestigation until recently, although Mike Cernovich--the co-plaintiff along with Alan Dershowitz--doesn't try to say its efforts were worthless.

No, something bigger is at work here as it's already cost one former BushCo DoJ member his high position within TrumpCo, which makes the seemly simple, Occam's Razor-like, explanation an attempt to sweep it all back under the rug.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 13 2019 19:10 utc | 23

sorry b, but i agree with lysias and a few others.. this has intel agencies written all over it..

Posted by: james | Jul 13 2019 19:11 utc | 24

I suspect Epstein used blackmail to gain his millions rather similar to the MO of Jerad Kushners father.....
Jerad Kushners father Charles was jailed for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering, the witness-tampering charge arose from Kushner's act of retaliation against William Schulder, his sister Esther's husband, who was cooperating with federal investigators; Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, arranged to record an encounter between the two, and had the tape sent to his sister. He was sentenced to two years in prison,[ and served 14 months at Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery in Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kushner

Posted by: Harry Law | Jul 13 2019 19:16 utc | 25

The Iran pieces, winning prizes for journalism, and now this. I seriously fear MoA is now compromised.

Posted by: veto | Jul 13 2019 19:24 utc | 26

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 13 2019 19:10 utc | 25

Epstein was one of Mueller's Russiagate sources, and Mueller was part of the BushCo DoJ team involved with the plea bargain.

I need a link for this. Muller was FBI director during Epstein's sweet deal and ...?

Posted by: somebody | Jul 13 2019 19:29 utc | 27

@ b with the theory that Epstein was acting alone

I find it totally unbelievable that Epstein was not a front for a bigger organization or he would be dead by now.

The timing of this kabuki in the middle of all the other geo-political stuff going on says tons about how deep Epstein is in the "management of the puppets"

Do MoA barflies know about the movie Wag the Dog? This has Wag the Dog written all over it.

I continue to posit that the crime at the bottom of all this is global private finance that has been running the show for centuries. They are pulling the Epstein situation out of the bag now for one or more reasons, deflection being a big one.....deflection from what?

Maybe it relates to Trump and his immigration stomp in America tomorrow?

Epstein is a symptom of a structural problem in the social contract of the West having private finance instead of public. Global private finance is the cancer and all the rest are symptoms of this cancer

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 13 2019 19:37 utc | 28

Bemildred @21: Why Did Jeffrey Epstein Fly Back To The US?

karlof1 @25: something bigger is at work here

There's nothing 'bigger' than war with Syria or Iran. Trump said he called off an attack on Iran. Maybe Israel didn't like that and feels the need to exert additional pressure?

@karlof1: Bemildred's link @21 provides a good review of the unsealing of records. The unsealing was first rejected, then an appellate court order the unsealing of only a small portion: apparently only "summary judgement" material. But releasing redacted versions of the summary judgement material could take a long time.

AFAIK, the unsealing had nothing to do with Epstein's recent arrested. Instead, it appears that the arrest was based on a new allegation that resulted in a search of his NY home which turned up evidence of child sex.

<> <> <> <> <> <>

Many (mostly trolls) are saying that this could be bad for the Democratic Party because Bill Clinton was close to Epstein. But AFAICT, Bill Clinton is no long active in the Democratic Party (except indirectly as Hillary's husband and private political consultant). It's unlikely that Israel cares much about Bill Clinton's already-tarnished reputation.

As the current President, Trump has much more to lose from ANY association with Epstein. Epstein's arrest sets up a new blackmail: do what we say (war!) or Epstein will spill the beans via a plea bargain. IT DOESN'T MATTER if Trump partook in the sexual abuse - if Epstein names him then Trump loses the 2020 election and the 'Trump' reputation at the core of his lucrative licensing business. A loss of value that could easily be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

This is perfect leverage against a man that we all know to be very ego-centric and money-motivated.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 13 2019 19:43 utc | 29

I recently learned that China only has government banks, not privately held banks. This is enough to explain why they are beating us so badly economically. Unless we learn lessons from their success, they will continue to beat us.

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 19:44 utc | 30

Was the Monica scandal the way the Powers That Be forced Bill Clinton to attack Serbia in the Kosovo War?

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 19:48 utc | 31

Jack Rabbit @31: Well that is the question, who is trying to get whom here? Are there perhaps more than one effort to get someone going on here? Epstein seems to have precipitated his own arrest, did he risk one more quick trip and get caught, or did he walk into it knowingly? What is all that incriminating evidence doing still there in his mansion? He doesn't look that sentimental about his victims. Maybe that is what he came back for?

Trump seems unworried to me, Luongo seems to think Trump is behind it, and Barr runs DOJ these days, Trump's own private St. Bernard dog AG.

I'm not taking any position on it, I'm just not happy with what I'm being told. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 13 2019 20:00 utc | 32

33

Yes. The Monica honey trap pushed Bill Clinton into attacking Yugoslavia by way of creating a distraction from the Monica honey trap.

Of note is that Hillary boasts (in a Clinton biography) about her persuasive efforts in getting Bill to bomb civilians in Belgrade.

Posted by: Kristan hinton | Jul 13 2019 20:03 utc | 33

Epstein is a man who has the means to live anywhere in the world he choices. Why would he risk a return to the US at this time, shortly after a court rules that his court record be unsealed? Why would he keep highly incriminating evidence in his home? He is either breathtakingly arrogant and stupid or something else is going on.

Posted by: David | Jul 13 2019 20:14 utc | 34

as for quantians theory on epsteins money - it is a viable hypothesis...but to me the money focus is a complete distraction.. all of these freaks are insane kleptomaniacs + more to begin with.. almost no one with vast amounts of money has gotten it legally, or they've written the laws to make what they do legal..

why now? it is like throwing a bomb into the usa political theatre a little over a year before the next usa election circus.. acosta is now gone and the question is, who is next?? the fact epstein came back suggests he is a puppet on a string.. whose string?? i am leaning towards jrs view this is aimed at trump, but don't have the same conviction as jr.. we'll see how it unfolds..

Posted by: james | Jul 13 2019 20:15 utc | 35

@31 Epstein's arrest sets up a new blackmail: do what we say (war!)

That line nails it. More disturbingly what Epstein reveals could all be bullshit and the Trump campaign would still be seriously wounded.
Netanyahu wants a war. The western financial elite needs a war/scapegoat to distract public attention in their desperation to hold onto global financial power

Posted by: Ike | Jul 13 2019 20:16 utc | 36

I do not believe Epstein was simply a con man with an elegant scheme. A simple con man does not get away with blackmailing extremely powerful people on his own. Something big was behind him - exactly what is open to debate and speculation.

Posted by: Activist Potato | Jul 13 2019 20:20 utc | 37

The popularised version of Epstein's source of wealth, which fits in nicely with b's offering, seems to be along the following lines:

Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/index1.html

"In 1982, according to those who know Epstein, he set up his own shop, J. Epstein and Co., which remains his core business today. The premise behind it was simple: Epstein would manage the individual and family fortunes of clients with $1 billion or more. Which is where the mystery deepens. Because according to the lore, Epstein, in 1982, immediately began collecting clients. There were no road shows, no whiz-bang marketing demos -- just this: Jeff Epstein was open for business for those with $1 billion–plus."

and

"From the get-go, his business was successful. But the conditions for investing with Epstein were steep: He would take total control of the billion dollars, charge a flat fee, and assume power of attorney to do whatever he thought was necessary to advance his client's financial cause. And he remained true to the $1 billion entry fee. According to people who know him, if you were worth $700 million and felt the need for the services of Epstein and Co., you would receive a not-so-polite no-thank-you from Epstein.

Yet according to Forbes:

In 1982 there were 13 billionaires; in 1983 … 15; in 1984 … 12; in 1985 … 13;

So in the first 4 years of Epstein and Co. there were only a dozen or so American billionaires qualifying for his services. The notion that a significant percentage were pedophiles and also came in to contact with Epstein is, well, ludicrous.

Even if one lowers the bar to extremely wealthy individuals who have a couple of hundred million in liquid assets kicking around, the number who were both pedos and acquaintances of Epstein would be exceedingly small and unlikely to account for Epstein's wealth.

Posted by: pantaraxia | Jul 13 2019 20:21 utc | 38

The United States is the only country in the world not to have ratifed (and implemented) the United Nations' International Covenant on the Rights of the Child.

The long-standing explanation was that its definition of a child as anybody under eighteen years of age would prevent the United States from carrying out the death penalty given to persons who were under eighteen when they committed the crime for which they received the death penalty. Another explanation was that such a definition would prevent taking into the armed forces persons under eighteen.

The Supreme Court has ruled that persons who were under eighteen when they committed a crime punishable by death cannot be put to death. As for the armed forces, as far as I know, that still stands as long as one of the minor's parents sign off on it.

The real reason is that without a uniform definition of a child there can be no reliable statistics on the number of children who disappear. The FBI does not even try to gather such statistics but does accept those that are submitted to it.

Jurisdictions are thus free to define a child as they please: e.g. anybody under fifteen, or under fourteen, or under thirteen etc. Also, most jurisdictions do not record teenage disappearances, preferring to list them as "runaways".

The civil society organizations working in this area reckon that in any year, between 800,000 and 900,000 children disappear in the United States.

As for moving them around, there are all sorts of ways. Private planes are the preferred means for bringing kidnapped children into the country, for they can evade customs and passport controls with surprising ease. Epstein was known to be flying around in Yugoslavia during the 1999 bombing, when huge numbers of children disapparead.

As a journalist based at the United Nations, I heard frequent and credible stories about kidnapped children brought illegally into the United States and sold at auction. A sex slave can bring in between $150,000 and $250,000 before "wearing out", at which point, in the right places (New York, for example) there are "trash collection" services availble that will remove and eliminate the worn out merchandise.

Posted by: RJPJR | Jul 13 2019 20:26 utc | 39

If the stories about the CIA's participation in the drug trade are correct, they have essentially unlimited sums of money to throw around.

Then there's their association with Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, which prints all the dollars.

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 20:27 utc | 40

This makes me wonder if this isn't part of the reason Trump refuses to release his tax returns. Having investments with Epstein would be hard to explain away for the non-cult members.

To me, this seems like the 2 sides who are fighting for control of DC have both invoked their nuclear options and now both sides are fighting to control the narrative so that it smears their opponents more than them. I say that because this happened from 2 different directions. You had the Cernovich lawsuit about unsealing and the sudden rush to do something in NY.

Posted by: Sorghum | Jul 13 2019 20:31 utc | 41

Part off the bigger question around this is the timing... why now?

IMO Distraction.

With Barr in motion the intelligence apparatus appears to be uniting and willing to sacrifice one of it's own- epstein- with implicit ties to trump & co, in order to send the message that if Barr is unleashed (threatening FBI, CIA etc) the intelligence guys will unleash Epstein and take out the politicians on both sides of the aisle.

The political scandal of intelligence documented pedophilia will utterly bury and trivialize their russiagate misdemeanors, will rebuild trust in them to hold politicians accountable and functionally be a coup against US political leadership

Posted by: les7 | Jul 13 2019 20:33 utc | 42

I heard the daughter of James Comey is the DA there in the SDNY.

Posted by: bjd | Jul 13 2019 20:34 utc | 43

Here is my speculation about what's behind the arrest of Epstein:

Epstein's arrest : Rothschild vs Trump
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2019/0711-TrumpRothschild.html

Please read the final version, linked to beneath the body of the article. The link says UPDATED PDF

Bernhard's views on the position of Iran with respect to US aggression are a critical part of my argument.

Posted by: sarz | Jul 13 2019 20:39 utc | 44

This case is such a dog's breakfast of unconfirmed rumours and innuendo that I'd like to see some actual evidence that Epstein is a pedophile. Quantian's theory is quaint but implausible. Imo, a career based on blackmailing one billionaire would be hazardous but a career based on blackmailing many billionaires would be virtual suicide.

There are lurid rumours about Epstein's perversions such as kidnapping and rape. But logic suggests that if Epstein's Honey Pot Kingdom was based on kidnap victims then it would have been necessary to kill some of them to shut them up.
I think I'll just wait for the result of his trial, if any.
...
It's incidentally funny that Michael Wolff wrote an Epstein white-wash article which wasn't published due to fact-checking flaws. I'd say his Fire And Fury smear-campaign book on Trump should have been spiked because of all the rumours and asinine drivel in it.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 13 2019 20:42 utc | 45

Posted by: pantaraxia | Jul 13 2019 20:21 utc | 42

You are correct. He was operating a money laundering scheme to facilitate corruption.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 13 2019 20:43 utc | 46

It does get a bit tiresome to inform mh505 that you can not remove a word by refusing to use it yourself. No more than you can remove a school nickname everyone use by keeping silence.

However one can try to retake a word and extend and redefine it. Like did queers and niggas bros for example. Albeit it took years for them to do, but result are there.

Posted by: Arioch | Jul 13 2019 20:46 utc | 47

Plenty of details about Epstein's pedophilic misdeeds in "Filthy Rich" by James Patterson, which appears largely to be based on testimony by the victims.

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 20:53 utc | 48

somebody @29--

I've been reading Techno_Fog's Twitter for almost 2 years now as he's a dogged follower of many criminal cases beyond the Russiagate Hoax involving US DoJ. I just spent quite awhile scrolling through his tweets and retweets (searching twitter is very difficult beyond the first page) to get to your request. As you see, it's a tweet from May 2018, and note who its paired with: Mike Cernovich!

I currently don't have the time to continue scrolling through tweets to provide further evidence of linkage between Mueller and Epstein, sorry. I do suggest taking more than a cursory look at the material Techno_Fog posts as it unveils numerous cases of DoJ illegality going back to Enron. His current focus is on the Flynn case, although he clearly follows others, including Epstein. I recall providing some basic info about Techno_Fog back when I first happened upon his Twitter but few seem to have added him to their reading list. IMO, he's an Old-school Conservative fighting for Justice and against Injustice--particularly that perpetrated by the Federal Government. Here's the last one I'll post; what's interesting is the thread as it implies that Cernovich jumped in well after the initial suit was filed by Dershowitz along with various assessments of Cernovich's character.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 13 2019 21:09 utc | 49

Vicky Ward, who wrote the 2003 Vanity Fair piece on Epstein (with his sex proclivities edited out of the story) had an interview with Chris Hayes (MSNBC) a couple of nights ago. From the transcript:

... he (epstein) gave a deposition and in a different suit in the - I think late 1980s saying that really what he was doing – and he lived by the way, in a quite a humble apartment back then, was running a round recovering stolen money for the government and for private clients.

And the interesting thing about that is if you know how to recover stolen money, you also know how to hide money. And the reason I mentioned that is that what I did discover is that before Les Wexner his mentor who I went to meet within jail at the time, the man called Steve Hoffenberg was serving a 20-year jail sentence for what was then the biggest Ponzi scheme in American history.

The Ponzi scheme ran from 1988 to 1993. The money, some $475 million, was never recovered.

So a number of years after Epstein launched his vaunted 'golden goose' company, he was living in 'a quite humble apartment' and if his deposition is to be believed 'recovering stolen money for the government and for private clients'. Not quite the success story we were led to believe. It also seems to indicate his wealth was acquired after the 'late 80s deposition' as 'humble apartment' and 'Epstein' seems like a contradiction in terms.

Posted by: pantaraxia | Jul 13 2019 21:13 utc | 50

> blackmailing many billionaires would be virtual suicide.

> Why would he risk a return to the US at this time, shortly after a court rules that his court record be unsealed? Why would he keep highly incriminating evidence in his home?

Hmmm... WHAT IF....

Mere speculation, but what if there came a threat to Epstein so real, that he now considers American jail to be his safe haven? Especially if that would be the same kind of "jail" that he enjoyed under his "sweet deal" sentence?

Blackmailing billionaires is not the only job that can lead you to grave. Sometimes being witness in the know is enough to it

Just speculatinf.

Posted by: Arioch | Jul 13 2019 21:13 utc | 51

@55 So if he likes jail so much why is he trying to get bail? Keep the theories coming guys. Personally I'll wait for the photographs and videos.

Posted by: dh | Jul 13 2019 21:22 utc | 52

Here's what I was referring to in (46): Daughter of ex-FBI director Comey is prosecutor in Epstein case.

Posted by: bjd | Jul 13 2019 21:23 utc | 53

I'm reposting the following in bold so maybe most will read it and understand what it means:

There's a big problem with people thinking this just suddenly happened now when the lawsuit to unseal Epstein's trial and plea agreement was filed on 27 JAN 2017 just after Trump became POTUS.

Cernovich filed his appeal to unseal @ 6 MAR 2019. There was no need to gather any further evidence as plenty was on hand at DoJ to arrest Epstein although an additional complaint was filed.

Why Epstein chose to return to USA is an outstanding question. Also, his sudden wealth occurred at a time when CIA was fueling the Crack Epidemic, was awash in drug money and needed as many ways to launder it as possible. Some may have seen the film Less Than Zero; Epstein strikes me as being able to figure out a way to avoid becoming the victim in that film by turning the outcome on its head.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 13 2019 21:27 utc | 54

@56 under this speculation, because mansion in USA is better than jail in USA, but both are better than grave outside USA.

Remember, there were speculations that both Skrypal and Berezovski negotiated their return to Russia short before they were delt with. So, in such a thought line, Epstein got the lesson and decided to return first, negotiate later

Posted by: Arioch | Jul 13 2019 21:39 utc | 55

Posted by: lysias | Jul 13 2019 19:00 utc | 22

"Any connection between this Mega Group and the Mega superspy that Israeli/Jewish messages said they only contacted on supremely important matters?"

Israel Shamir and others believe it to be one and the same. In other words there was no superspy. It was an erroneous assumption based the conversation.

Shamir: The megabucks call themselves ‘Mega group’. This name appeared in the media a couple of years ago, as a name for the secret Israeli mole in the upper reaches of the US establishment. It came up in an overheard phone conversation, later denied by the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. The newshounds and spook watchers got it wrong. ‘Mega’ was not an agent, Mega was the boss."

Posted by: pantaraxia | Jul 13 2019 21:40 utc | 56

@ 31 Jackrabbit

Yes, it is the biggest issue for Israel; it is an obsession. If only the ISIS Caliphate had worked as planned and the Jihadists had moved on to Lebanon to smash Hezbollah after gaining control of Iraq and Syria. Maybe the plan was for the Jihadists to take on Iran after that.

It hadn’t occurred to me to link Iran and Epstein in a move to get at Trump. I have seen photos of the two looking like good buddies. Epstein’s climb up the greasy pole was too easy for a lazy pervert. But he was of high value as a honey trap maestro.

In that other sex scandal case, namely the Harvey Weinstein one, he had produced a film called “Miral” which was considered, according the American Jewish Committee, to have “portrayed Israel in a very negative light.” It was back in 2011 but these things take time!

Except when they don’t. After the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found Israel guilty of war crimes in Nov, 2013, the Malaysian MH370 just happened to disappear without trace in March, 2014. Then a few months later we had the Malaysian MH17 shot down over Ukraine.

Posted by: Lochearn | Jul 13 2019 21:40 utc | 57

Powerful people who have blackmail problems do one of two things: 1) they hire a hit man to make the problem go away by forcing the guy to give up the blackmail material before wasting him, or 2) they go to other powerful people who are not under the thumb of the blackmailer and get them to get the guy to stop (which may or may not involve wasting him as well.)

So I don't see this as a simple case of blackmail for profit. It's a nice scam, and perhaps that was also involved. But sooner or later - especially with Maxwell's involvement - Israel's Mossad and other intelligence agencies would see this as the perfect way to get dirt on tons of people in the US elites.

So my guess is it's all one and the same.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Jul 13 2019 21:47 utc | 58

@59 Well he'll need a new door on his New York mansion. The cops smashed the old one.

Posted by: dh | Jul 13 2019 21:50 utc | 59

Quantian's theory looks neat and elegant, as would be expected of someone who studies mathematics, but it does lead MoA barflies (a few of whom have done so) to ask how Epstein could have got his scheme started in the first place, even given that he'd worked for Bear Stevens in the past and already had a tiny financial pile from which to launch his blackmailing scheme. Epstein would not have been the only person spruiking a very exclusive boutique hedge fund in the early 1980s, when he first started it and when there were few billionaires in the US and beyond.

Plus such a scheme would need a personality with considerable, er, balls to carry it off - unless Epstein had support from other people. Intelligence and security agencies could have given him that support indirectly through front organisations or representatives.

There is also the issue of what Epstein was doing with all the pictures collected over the decades - he surely wasn't stashing them away in digital photo albums just to look over once in a while or to share with, er, friends. They had to have more active, ongoing value than merely an archival purpose for a future one-off blackmailing proposition, especially for someone whose main motivation in life is to continuously make money.

Posted by: Jen | Jul 13 2019 21:51 utc | 60

karlof1 @58

Again, I would urge you to read the link @21 ("Why did Jeffrey Epstein fly back to US?").

AFAICT the lawsuit to unseal and the ruling for unsealing is irrelevant to what is happening now. In fact, the ruling was not necessarily very damaging to Epstein (he's already a known sex offender) - the vast majority of the material remains under seal.

The conviction in 2008 settled the matter up to then. AFAICT that can not be re-opened.

A new case was started (in 2013, I think) but was SETTLED. The unsealing motions are only related to this 2013 case. Unsealing was denied by a lower court but a LIMITED unsealing was approved on appeal (recently) which ONLY unseals "summary judgments" in the case. Apparently that's a small amount of material compared to the whole. Such judgments are essentially fact-based and probably not very controversial. Nevertheless, there will still be some redaction and that process could take weeks or months.

What appears to have happened here, is that there was an entirely NEW complaint that prompted a searching of Epstein's NYC home, which turned up child sex material.

Instead of focusing on the long-standing request to unseal or the (apparent) failure to avoid arrest by returning; we should be questioning why Epstein would put himself in jeopardy by fooling around with young girls in USA and keeping evidence at a home in USA.

It seems very convenient that a new allegation is made and Epstein had evidence in his NYC home. If not for that, he would be free to roam the world with his millions, doing whatever he pleases. Is Epstein that dumb/sick that he would put himself at such risk? Or, could it be that someone wants this song bird in jail, ready willing and able to sing?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 13 2019 21:57 utc | 61

@ 58 karlof1

Thanks for a very informative comment. The CNN narrative caught my attention for some reason:

The Miami Herald reported in 2018 that it had identified about 80 women who say they were molested or sexually abused by Epstein between 2001 and 2006. The newspaper's continued reporting on the case, including articles about Epstein's 2008 plea deal that kept him from being prosecuted for federal crimes, caught the attention of federal prosecutors in New York who brought the new charges against him.

Posted by: Lochearn | Jul 13 2019 21:58 utc | 62

@Posted by: Stumpy | Jul 13 2019 18:45 utc | 15

Given the reach of both the Epstein case and the Mueller investigation, the delay in Mueller's appearance on Capitol Hill might be to clear the public palate of one scandal in order to not steal thunder from another, or some re-orchestration of who owes whom given the threat of pending revelations. Just a thought.

A decent theory but pretty sure there is a clearer explanation for the Mueller delay.
Mueller will show contempt for the court if during his testimony he claims once again that the Russian Government
was behind the Facebook ads "used to influence our 2016 election".

Mueller and the Democrats are gobfkd. Half of Russiagate was sunk by a judge just last week. Only the supposed hacking
of servers by the Russians remains usable in Russiagate.

So what kind of testimony can Mueller give to the salivating Democrats now that the Facebook ad claims are an embarrassment to Mueller (AND the MSM)(AND the Democrats)?

A US District court judge has dealt a major blow to special counsel Robert Mueller's theory that the Kremlin engaged in "sweeping and systematic" meddling in the 2016 US election.

Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled this week that the Special Counsel's indictment of a Russian troll farm "does not link the defendants to the Russian government," and "alleges only private conduct by private actors."
...
Judge Friedrich writes "It is significant and prejudicial that the government itself drew a link between these defendants and the Russian government," adding "In short, the Court concludes that the government violated Rule 57.7 by making or authorizing the release of public statements that linked the defendants' alleged activities to the Russian government..."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-11/judge-shreds-mueller-evidence-kremlin-meddling

Do not be surprised if the Mueller testimony is postponed indefinitely. The only other option is for Mueller to withdraw the law suit
against the Russians, and **that** would be amazing to even think about!

Posted by: librul | Jul 13 2019 22:11 utc | 63

Various mentions of "Wag the Dog" up there.

The real one to me was using the Iraq war to cover up Tony Blair's affair with Wendi Deng.

We need a paternity test on Chloe, and maybe Grace also.

Ooo, boy! That will topple Big Ben!

Posted by: Just Me | Jul 13 2019 22:20 utc | 64

@Posted by: librul | Jul 13 2019 22:11 utc | 67

For further reading see this link:

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/07/12/concord-management-and-the-end-of-russiagate/

Posted by: librul | Jul 13 2019 22:20 utc | 65

Quantian's theory has some rather large holes:

1) Where did Epstein get money to set this up?
2) Where are the videos of the perps?
3) You really think you can blackmail such powerful people without blow back or death?
4) Epstein is connected to some vile zionists with Mossad ties (Wexner, bronfman, Maxwell, etc.)
5) The weird temple?
6) Too many levels of gov stepped in to help Epstein. That suggests high level protection. Mueller, Acosta and Ken Star did not step in to protect Bill Clinton's good name.
7) This was an entrapment scheme of some of the most powerful and influential politicians around. The legacy media is completely ignoring this facet of the case.

Epstein was (is) likely working for Jewish billionaires who happen to be rabid zionists. There was likely support from Mossad.

Posted by: alaric | Jul 13 2019 22:22 utc | 66

Acosta's breezy dismisal of his handling of the Epstein case, with the excuse that he was advised to back off, during his background check suggests that he believed that there wouldn't be any repercussions because higher authority was at work which would protect him as well. At least that is how I see it. This is not compatible with an explanation of 'simple blackmail'. The people involved weren't just rich, but politically powerful.

So is his island in the British or US VI? There are rumored to be secrets stored there in a room with a special safe. Wonder if a search warrant has been served there...

Posted by: the pessimist | Jul 13 2019 22:22 utc | 67

Jackrabbit @ 31

It is not that I love Trump but we must look at the plausible turns of events whether he be friend or foe.

It is interesting that Trump was one of the first one's invited into the Manhattan apartment given to Epstein in 2002. Trump was always floating in those party circles and I suspect they were using each other for inside information as the Quantian thesis speculates. As word got out in those largely democrat NY social circles I am sure it was like drawing flies to shit. The background of the giver was posted by others and that speaks for itself.

Trumps tightness with him ended after that. Trump is Israels boy so Epstein is not going to out him and I do not think there is anything to out anyway. In the 80's and 90's Trump was a straight arrow party follower and chaser of women not little girls. He did not drink. Bunches of that crowd were snorting coke but he was high on business. He loved sex, money, and business. That was his drug.

The attorney of one of the lead girls that has been suing Epstein for a long time says Trump was the only one that helped him. Trump helped him contact all the people that he wanted to subpoena and he dropped Trump's subpoena as he provided all the information he needed voluntarily.

Another aspect is that the reason why Acosta took the case. The District Attorney for that county in Florida refused to take the case. He was eager until the police chief turned it over to him and he found out it was Epstein. The police chief begged the FBI to get involved as the DA refused an open and shut case. The District Attorney is purported to be in articles a big time Democrat and an ADL awardee.

Trump's DOJ is retaking the case. Where are the heavily democrat NY DA's in this? Trying to get Trump and ignoring Epstein. They just quietly dropped another canard case against him. Again the State DA does nothing and heavily supports one side. This shit went on for decades in NY high echelon party circuits and NYPD intelligence units never got a whiff of it? Really? Does anyone really believe this shit could happen and go down quietly for decades?

Clinton could be the sacrificial fall guy to close up this case and put it to bed. I do not expect much out of a Republican DOJ other than to cover its friends asses. Either way I expect the Democrats to take the bigger hit.

There is way to much smoke for it not to he an intelligence operation supported by the big ones. There are way to may power players involved for a deal not to be made. That deal could be for the next four years after 2020.

Posted by: dltravers | Jul 13 2019 22:27 utc | 68

The Jeffrey Epstein case opens up a huge can of worms that is only just beginning to unravel. It has the potential to set Wall Street against Israel, if anyone thought that was possible. He was involved with jailed junk bond king Michael Milken in the 1980s where he met Leon Black of Apollo Management, a private equity mafia scam boss, who may be about to fall due to close association with Epstein.

Posted by: Lochearn | Jul 13 2019 22:32 utc | 69

Epstein got his money from a Ponzi scheme

While the financial world has been puzzling over the question for years, it is really not that complicated, according to Steven Jude Hoffenberg, Epstein’s former mentor. Epstein used fraudulently gotten funds as seed money, he told Quartz.... In 1997, Hoffenberg—the head of bill-collection firm Towers Financial—was sentenced to 20 years in jail for running one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in US history. Thousands of investors were bilked of more than $450 million.

Hoffenberg now tells Quartz that Epstein was deeply involved in the fraud. Epstein was never charged in the case, but he was “totally in the mix,” Hoffenberg said. He added that Epstein helped him set up the Ponzi scheme.

“He was my colleague daily, seven days a week,” Hoffenberg added.

Hoffenberg said Epstein’s connection to the crime didn’t come up at the time because he pled guilty. “When you plead guilty you don’t go in for elaborate discovery.”

Posted by: somebody | Jul 13 2019 22:49 utc | 70

I wrote a comment in response to another at the end of the last Epstein thread that I am going to share here as well. I will also provide a link to the song at the end

"
@ Richard (S)teven Hack who wrote
"
What happens to Israel if it's proven that Epstein was running a honey pot operation involving pedophiles for the benefit of Mossad blackmail of the most powerful people - including Presidents - in the US and elsewhere?
"
If you replace Israel with the unknown those that own global private finance I would agree 100% and it is why
this is happening now.......Go listen to the jaunty blues song by James Taylor titled "Steamroller Blues" and think of China singing that song to the West.......I do

To Grieved and karlof1
I am a butterfly flapping its wings madly in tune to the song mentioned above.

"
James Taylor on YouTube with Steamroller Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfzMLRzH2yw

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 13 2019 22:57 utc | 71

Epstein Flourished as He Forged Bond With Retail Billionaire

Mr. Morosky, the executive who worked for Mr. Wexner, says he was perplexed by his boss’s relationship with Mr. Epstein. Mr. Wexner told him that Mr. Epstein could “introduce him to important people,” Mr. Morosky recalls.

Posted by: somebody | Jul 13 2019 23:00 utc | 72

@ psychohistorian

Really enjoyed that, specially the pianist. Send us more!

Posted by: Lochearn | Jul 13 2019 23:05 utc | 73

@47 sarz. One question that comes to mind reading your essay is why the crypto game?
NY (and the US by extension) is shock full of the chosen ones & dual-citizenship Israelis so why pretend?

Posted by: Lozion | Jul 13 2019 23:05 utc | 74

People don’t generally continue to hang out with someone who is blackmailing them. Epstein maintained relationships for almost two decades with his clients. They only distanced themselves after the bust and probably not even then.

Those VIP people run in the same circles. If epstein was really black mailing them then the entire social circle would have known, making his scam impossible.

Epstein provided VIPs with a service and they trusted and protect him to this day. They even rehabilitated him after his jail time. That’s not how people treat blackmailers. If anything investment in his fund paid for access to said service. The VIPs probably found out about the videos and some the age of the girls after his indictment. The videos were an insurance policy for epstein’s backers (mossad?).

Busting Epstein now is a crude way of letting sitting politicians know Epstein (Mossad, AIPAC) have them by the balls. And said organizations want war with iran.

Posted by: Alaric | Jul 13 2019 23:11 utc | 75

This sort of wild speculation based on scant, if any, evidence, is not what I expect to find on MoA. How about everyone (including b) stepping back and waiting for facts to emerge?

Posted by: Rob | Jul 13 2019 23:11 utc | 76

dltravers @72

Yes. It's unclear if Trump was ever involved with under-age women. It doesn't really seem like Trump has such a proclivity.

But that will hardly matter if Epstein chooses to name him in a plea deal. The press will drag Trump through the mud. They will note that Trump was known to have been associated with Epstein and Trump ran the Miss America Contest (featuring young, but not under-age women) for many years.

And that is the point I was making @31. Epstein is a threat to Trump - even if Trump happens to be completely innocent. One must ask: who might benefit? and why now? Those questions naturally lead to Israel's desire for USA to eliminate it's Iran problem.

I imaging that Israeli leaders are fed up with USA cautiousness. Obama didn't bomb Syria in 2013, and Trump didn't attack Iran after Iran downed the drone a few weeks ago.

Maybe CIA will eliminate Epstein in jail so that Trump and others are not blackmailed into starting a war? Or maybe Mossad will eliminate Epstein because Trump demands to be free of blackmail potential before he starts the war they want?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 13 2019 23:11 utc | 77

As some here, I was also wondering about the opportunity of reviving this case, when everybody knows that no rich person in the US ends in jail, and thus, Epstein will go again scot free.

I think that this is a great distractor to keep the US populace busy while other events are in the cooking. But which events those could be....I was thinking that the reviving of this case could well lead to the definitive implosion of the US political system, and after seeing the strong opposition this current administration has managed to build in its first mandate, thye are most probably sure thye would never win the elections again, all the more when Trump bases are getting nothing from electoral promises...

What if the demolition of the US parliamentary system is needed to cop with coming events and the reviving of this case comes to help on this, so as to facilitate, for example, the take over by the military in an escenario of chaos, like the resulting of the mother of all crisis?

Wall Street reaches record highs, the fall is imminent

The markets are euphoric. Wall Street reaches record highs, driven upwards, in particular, by low interest rates. This week, for the first time in its history, the Standard and Poor's index, the reference for investors, has exceeded 3,000 points. The Dow Jones is also at the highest level.

It is the "paradox of tranquility." Everything seems to be going well when investors take more and more risks and, therefore, more speculative securities develop until a disturbance of growth or interest rates causes a change and, immediately, a financial crisis.

The markets seem more and more disconnected from a growth that slides on the bottom of the commercial war. The real economy is stagnant. In the United States, growth is not expected to reach 2.5 percent next year. The slowdown is even more pronounced in Europe. Even China is lagging behind.

But stock exchanges are more interested in interest rates than in real growth. Interest rates will fall further, as the Central Bank of the United States will announce a cut in interest rates during the next week.

If the central banks, both in the United States and in Europe, keep interest rates low, it is because of the pressure of the speculators, because if the rates rise they could cause a collapse.

Low interest rates encourage speculators to borrow. In 10 years the global debt of companies, states and families has increased by 50 percent. If we take the public debt of all the countries of the G20, the figure of 135,000 million dollars is reached, a huge bubble.

The capitalist crisis reduces interest rates to maintain the illusion of growth and that reduction is the fuel of a new crisis, even greater.

Posted by: Sasha | Jul 13 2019 23:19 utc | 78

lysias 51
That's the answer to
Hoarsewhisperer 48.

And there are lots of details in the Miami Herald investigation. Some of it reads like child porn with girls 14+ giving details of the inside of the West Palm Beach mansion as well as his "body parts."
A coworker told me about being on a jury that convicted a couple of abusing their children. The young women had to testify with details which he said made jurors sick.

Posted by: Curtis | Jul 13 2019 23:28 utc | 79

@ Alaric who wrote
"
Busting Epstein now is a crude way of letting sitting politicians know Epstein (Mossad, AIPAC) have them by the balls. And said organizations want war with iran.
"
I am pleased to be reading more and more of this analysis but still assert we really don't know who owns global private finance and so attributing these actions to those that you did is questionable in my understanding.....the elite WANT you to focus your ire on people rather than structure so they can deflect the misdirected passion.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 13 2019 23:35 utc | 80

I agree that there is far too much circumstantial evidence for Epstein to not have had powerful, violent if need-be, backers (ie intelligence agencies). It's trivial to eliminate an individual who tries to blackmail the rich and/or powerful so he had to have some form of state sanctioned protection.

What so many who use Trump volunteering information as his proof of innocence forget, is that he has a pathological inability to STFU. Of course he'd talk to the prosecutor to control the narrative if nothing else. Being willing to talk to anyone is his political schtick, too. It's his "Art of the Deal".

What nobody can explain is why or how Acosta got a plum Cabinet position if there was no Epstein connection. Sure seems like yet another "crazy" coincidence.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is an Israeli attempt to force Trump's hand against Iran.

Posted by: Sorghum | Jul 13 2019 23:36 utc | 81

Yep, just another pimp for the rich and connected. Just another diversion for the uber-wealthy to engage in.

Another triumphant moment for Capitalism untethered by morals or justice.

Anyone who thinks this will lead to anything resembling justice is a bit delusional.

Posted by: ben | Jul 13 2019 23:41 utc | 82

"It does not require any additional conspiracy theory about Mossad/Mafia/CIA involvement. But it also doesn't exclude that there is some." NOT or SOME ya think? So are you seriously suggesting that it's possible that MI6, Mossad and the CIA turned a blind eye and just stood by idle while a Royalty, PM of Israel, POTUS and Secretary of State, dignitaries and famous Academics got themselves entangled in a billionaire pedophiles blackmail web? "Conspiracy theory's" aside, ya think that even after PA Acosta admitted that he was forced to take his hands off and stand down and let Epstein of the hook because he was their "intelligence Asset"?

Posted by: RayB | Jul 13 2019 23:47 utc | 83

Excellent points alaric @79

JR @ 81
There is evidence Trump likes young girls. He even bragged about walking in on contestants in pageants he owned. He owned Miss Teen USA as well as Miss USA and Miss Universe. He bragged about using his position to see contestants naked in the latter 2. That takes a certain tupe of individual.

Posted by: Sorghum | Jul 13 2019 23:48 utc | 84

I should have added that like most of the dirty parts of Trump, there is lots of smoke so it's hard to believe there isn't some fire somewhere.

Posted by: Sorghum | Jul 13 2019 23:51 utc | 85

Why was Dershowitz involved in the 2017 suit to get the Epstein deal partially unsealed? For some sort of selective release of information for what? It would not seem to be in Dershowitz interest to bring all that up again, he appearing to be one of the protected parties. It is noticable that he felt compelled to come out with a statement now.

MSM seems to be making hay with the story too. Not suppressing it. Not all following the same script (yet at least).

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 13 2019 23:51 utc | 86

It seems that I may have been wrong about a new allegation. I might have confused new victims coming forward with "new allegations" if past conduct to mean a recent offence.

SDNY seems to be prosecuting for activity that occurred during the same time period as covered by the non-prosecution agreement.

Explained here.

Acosta's nomination by Trump is very suspicious. Will Acosta be disbarred?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 13 2019 23:57 utc | 87

Thank you Jackrabbit #7, I do appreciate your cold water wake up critical analysis and commentary. I accept that the simple analysis of what Epstein was doing was correct, but only in part. Epstein was building capital and potential in many resources through the investment front: he could sell his data to any bidder.

The simplistic front made him wealthy for sure but the combination gave him power and access that $ wealth could not reach.

Many writers seem reluctant to go near any semitic discourse. The piece I linked to by Elizabeth Voss in Consortium news, and the WSWS piece are examples. They desperately avoid writing an multi dimensional storyline that might enrage the ADL.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jul 14 2019 0:01 utc | 88

"...This was an entrapment scheme of some of the most powerful and influential politicians around. The legacy media is completely ignoring this facet of the case.
Epstein was (is) likely working for Jewish billionaires who happen to be rabid zionists. There was likely support from Mossad."
Posted by: alaric | Jul 13 2019 22:22 utc | 70

I agree completely, this answers why he was able to blackmail so many for so long and live.
I think he was brought back now, and a new case started, to put pressure on said politicians to get them behind a war on Iran.
A very nasty war; probably with a bunker buster swarm leveling the country and probably to start soon, my guess is in August.
For if Trump can continue to resist those pressuring him and gets reelected without Adelson and co's support, it is the end of Israel's dreams of middle east conquest for 4 years at least. Can't have that.

Posted by: frances | Jul 14 2019 0:04 utc | 89

The Epstein matter is really quite simple.

The oligarchy has thoroughly defeated the peasants in the grasp for power. The oligarchy is now fighting among themselves to see who will be king.

Epstein is a weapon being used by one faction of the oligarchy to dispossess another faction of an important tool, to wit - Donald Trump, so that the one faction can either co-opt this important tool or insert their own important tool into the White House to gain control over the U.S. military. After all, neither faction of the oligarchy can be successful at naming the king if they do not have control over the world's most destructive military.

Posted by: JasonT | Jul 14 2019 0:07 utc | 90

JR @65--

Ah yes, my old buddies (from The Oil Drum days) at The Automatic Earth still produce good work. The only logical reason IMO for Epstein to return right on the heels of the unsealing is to show he's worthy of being allowed to post bail, and do another plea bargain so he still has some life to live and enjoy the riches he's accumulated. Of course, maybe he was ordered so his case pushes that of George Nader under the rug ("Since the arrest of George Nader on June 3 in New York relating to child porn offences – and his story being unearthed by investigative journalists – we are witnessing a wising up of Trump.) provided Epstein has genuine Intel links.

It would be nice to know this file's contents:

"There's more - what evidence did the FBI/DOJ have on Epstein?

"An FBI file entitled 'Summary of Sexual Activity,' containing an analysis of victim-specific information chart showing phone calls, travel, and grand jury evidence."

On that thread, there's speculation that then DCI Hayes was involved, may have even told everyone what to do.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 14 2019 0:20 utc | 91

frances @93 & JasonT @94: The problem is Trump doesn't look like one of the most likely targets, and he is not blabbering uncontrollably about it now. It seems unlikely to work. Of course these are Neocons and Zionists involved so that doesn't necessarily matter. And he is an actor. But nevertheless, Barr seems totally un-upset by all this noise too. Go for it boys. If it's an attempt to get Trump, he seems very un-Trump-like in his attitude towards it, amused not worried or blathering on twitter. If Epstein is really in the middle of a war among the elites, I expect we will see more evidence of it soon,

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 14 2019 0:24 utc | 92

Bemildred @90--

As I noted when I went to find Dershowitz's explanation for his filing, he ceased using his Twitter after 5 July, the day prior to Epstein's return and arrest. His last Facebook entry is from 26 FEB 2019, and he seems to have mostly disappeared from news stories--certainly nothing within the past 48 hrs. He's 80, so his health is telling him something, perhaps.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 14 2019 0:47 utc | 93

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/13/epst-j13.html

Posted by: Ninel | Jul 14 2019 0:50 utc | 94

Thank you psychohistorian #84

'we really don't know who owns global finance"

Take a read of GIANTS by Peter Phillips. See Michael Hudson too.

The main thing missing is a photograph of each of the board members of each of the corporations listed.

There has been a lot of discussion on various threads as to who the big players are.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jul 14 2019 0:52 utc | 95

Hillary Clinton attempted a soft coup against trump that was aided by the US intellIgence community and the sitting president (obama). But she couldn’t handle a lone blackmailer (epstein). No i don’t think so. Keep in mind that Hillary was also backed by incredibly powerful interests who would also literally burry Epstein if need be.

MI6 was allowing Prince Andrew to be blackmailed by mr nobody, lone blackmailer?

There is more to this story. Epstein was (is) protected by someone or an entity of enormous power.

Posted by: Alaric | Jul 14 2019 1:06 utc | 96

Bemildred #96

Yes. We should see more in the next few weeks/months.

uncle tungsten #100
The big players are not on the boards of the listed corporations. The board members are flunkies - important flunkies but flunkies nevertheless. The big players stay behind the scenes.

Posted by: JasonT | Jul 14 2019 1:11 utc | 97

"Epstein is a weapon being used by one faction of the oligarchy to dispossess another faction of an important tool, to wit - Donald Trump, so that the one faction can either co-opt this important tool or insert their own important tool into the White House to gain control over the U.S. military."
Posted by: JasonT | Jul 14 2019 0:07 utc | 94

I agree with Epstein being a weapon, but whose is the question, Barr is running this remember so my guess is Epstein may be Trump's weapon. If so, who is his target? Well revenge is a dish best served cold so maybe the Clinton cabal is about to finally get those much talked about orange jumpsuits?
This act of revenge wouldn't negate the possibility he is going to be used to get sign-off from congress for an attack on Iran. I hope not, but I have a very, very bad feeling about this.

Posted by: frances | Jul 14 2019 1:15 utc | 98

@ uncle tungsten who wrote about the unknown elite
"
There has been a lot of discussion on various threads as to who the big players are.
"
I have written here multiple times about how misleading it is to have a Fortune 500 of the richest people but knowing what we all do about Trusts, how come there isn't ongoing reportage of the Fortune 500 biggest Trust funds in the world and their owners?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 14 2019 1:16 utc | 99

reply to
frances @93 & JasonT @94: The problem is Trump doesn't look like one of the most likely targets, and he is not blabbering uncontrollably about it now. It seems unlikely to work...If Epstein is really in the middle of a war among the elites, I expect we will see more evidence of it soon,"
Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 14 2019 0:24 utc | 96

I don't think Trump is the target, I think Congress is the target and the one(s) running the play is Israel and its Zionist supporters.
Trump if forced/supported by Congress concurrent with a False Flag or two will probably attack but only if they guarantee him a second term.
The only possible fail safe is the US military who know a meat grinder when they see one and might refuse.

Posted by: frances | Jul 14 2019 1:23 utc | 100