The Epstein Affair: Intro
A deep dive into the story of Jeffrey Epstein
The Epstein story will not go away. When news of the billionaire’s pedophilia broke in 2019, thanks to investigative Julie K. Brown of the Miami Herald, the shock and horror of the affair spun the public into a frenzy. Six years later, the narrative continues to command front page headlines as new developments add twists and turns to this sordid tale. Within the last month or so, President Trump has appeared to turn a 180 on the subject, asking his supporters to essentially forget about Epstein, accusing Democrats and the Deep State of fabricating evidence that implicates him in some way. Rumors of a presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell have been floating about, as suggestions surrounding a potential Congressional testimony swirl. Maxwell has formally asked the Supreme Court to overturn her 2021 conviction where she was found guilty of trafficking minors for sex. She has even now been moved to a minimum security prison. “New” videos of Epstein’s alleged suicide were released to heavy criticism that the footage has been edited. The “missing minute” has apparently been found and features a shadowy orange figure approaching Epstein’s cell. Amid this turmoil, Donald Trump’s approval rating dropped to its lowest point of his second term, and his inability to adequately address the Epstein crisis has started to show cracks in what has been regarded as an impenetrable base of support over the last decade. With all of the aforementioned swirling about, it’s easy to get lost, forgetting what this story is really about and where it comes from. Because of this, I feel it is important to take a step back and revisit the history and context of the Jeffrey Epstein story in order to find some perspective on the current barrage of headlines flooding the news cycle.
In this series, we’ll look at Epstein’s origins, examining how exactly he rose to prominence and came to rub shoulders with Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. We will explore his formative years at the Dalton School and Bear Stearns before investigating how he came to mysteriously control billions of dollars. We will scrutinize his strange involvement with some of the most influential scientists in the world and ask why exactly he was so interested in their work. Finally, we’ll get into Epstein’s court cases, how he negotiated the “deal of the century” in 2007, and the bizarre circumstances surrounding his arrest and alleged suicide in 2019.
In this series, I’m not attempting to reveal anything “groundbreaking” or novel. Rather, I am trying to meticulously and methodically document what has already been written about Epstein in the public record and compile that research into a structured series. That being said, unless you’ve hounded this story from the beginning, it’s likely you’ll learn something new about the Epstein story, so I think you’re gonna want to read it. It’s truly fucking nuts.
This series is done in conjunction with Trevor and I’s new podcast, Bad Press. Check it out on this Substack without ads or find it for free anywhere you listen to podcasts. A huge shout-out goes to the Martyr Made podcast, Whitney Webb, Johnny Vedmore, Tim Dillon, and (my personal favorite) Steven Snider. Each of these creators and researchers have contributed essential and valuable information to the general understanding of Epstein, and I draw on their work extensively to give the bones of this story flesh. I hope you find great value in checking out their work as well as in visiting the links embedded in the series.
And with a sober sort of sickness, we commence a disgusting yet morbidly fascinating series.