The “orgy island” case: an indictment of American justice
It looks like justice has finally caught up with Jeffrey Epstein, said Ken White in The Atlantic. Back in 2007, the wellconnected billionaire financier was facing life in prison over allegations that he had paid dozens of underage girls for sexual contact and for their services in procuring other minors. But with the help of a crack legal team, he secured “the deal of the millennium”. Epstein agreed to plead guilty to lesser state charges and to spend 13 months in a county jail, during which time he was allowed to spend 12 hours a day, six days a week, on “work release” in his office. In return, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of Florida – at the time led by Alexander Acosta, who last week stepped down as Donald Trump’s labour secretary – dropped all charges and agreed not to prosecute anyone else in relation to the case. The victims were not notified of the deal or allowed to object. It was an “astounding” travesty of justice. But prosecutors in New York have now charged Epstein with a raft of fresh crimes involving girls as young as 14. Given the anger over his earlier cushy deal, he’s unlikely to escape with a slapped wrist again.
The prosecution was triggered by some unsparing investigative reports in the Miami Herald last year, said Alyssa Rosenberg in The Washington Post. And it promises to be sensational. Epstein’s network of powerful cronies is “the stuff of which global scandal and conspiracy-theory diagrams are made”. Over the years, he has counted Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and Prince Andrew among his friends. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Donald Trump told the press in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is said he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
That’s the crazy thing about Epstein, said Charles Lipson in Spectator USA. It was common knowledge among the rich and famous that he had a penchant for adolescents. People called his Caribbean estate “orgy island”, and his private jet “the Lolita Express”. Yet he got away with it because, as a wealthy member of the Manhattan and Palm Beach set, he could afford high-level lawyers and had powerful friends. Now at last he may be brought properly to account. Rather than proceeding quietly through the courts away from inquiring eyes, the latest case will be “front-page news”. As indeed it should be. “America’s justice system was never meant to have seats in first class and coach. That, alas, is not just a question about Epstein and ‘orgy island’. Its jagged shadow looms over all American politics.”