Depravity is hardly the preserve of the very wealthy, but it seems all of Epstein's associates were in that class of people. From royalty to tech bros, and from world leaders to the CEO's of global financial institutions, they flocked to his houses, stayed with him, partied with him and seemed to be in constant contact with him.
At one time, there was a suggestion Epstein was blackmailing people, but the files don't show any of that. They all appeared to be value his friendship without any coercion.
However, I noted one report that appeared in the Moscow Times (not a Russian newspaper by the way) where it's claimed that Epstein was Vladimir Putin's 'wealth manager.'
This came from a 2017 FBI report which states:
"Epstein was President Vladimir Putin's wealth manager and provided the same service for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Epstein had some connection to [redacted] MIT Media Lab but CHS was unsure of the details. Epstein had dirt on other people. The logs from his flights were made public at some point. Epstein had a mansion on the Upper West Side. Epstein made his money from charging his clients fees to hide their money offshore. Epstein knew former President Bill Clinton, and was very close to current President Donald Trump. In the spring of 2015, President Trump had just been to Epstein's property for lunch."
A CHS is a Confidential Human Source by the way. Somebody in Epstein's circle informed the FBI that Epstein was managing at least some of Putin's money. The Russians are well known for trying to accumulate 'kompromat' on people with influence who they might be able to exploit in the future, and it seems almost logical for Putin to help finance that. He is certainly wealthy enough to toss Epstein a few hundred million dollars without missing it.
There was perhaps a purpose to it all.
The Mail reports:
"US security officials also believe Epstein had long-standing ties with Russian organised crime, who could have been blackmailing him. That could explain the ease with which Epstein appeared to be able to fly in 'girls' from Russia.
"A source said: 'You have Andrew, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and all the rest placed in compromising positions on an island bristling with technology. It's the world's largest honey trap operation.
"'The Americans have been on this for years, but our lot have seemed more queasy about it, presumably because of the Royal link.' All the high-profile figures named in the files deny any wrongdoing."
And note that Donald Trump claimed in 2019 that he hadn't spoken to Epstein for "15 years" but the FBI report suggests Trump was at Epstein's for lunch in the spring of 2015.
The New York Times claims to have searched the latest tranche of documents and identified "more than 5,300 files containing more than 38,000 references to Mr. Trump, his wife, his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, and other related words and phrases."
Lord Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor won't be the only casualties from the Epstein affair. Let us hope that Trump is one of them.
