Exposure of Epstein elete could cost their tax breaks

Gordon L. Weil

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

And Jeffrey Epstein was somebody you ought to know.  He was well connected.

He liked young girls and exploited them sexually for his own pleasure and for his friends’ enjoyment.  It was no secret, and he used access to the young women to attract business and personal contacts.

His collection of friends and contacts was his biggest asset.  The more he had, the more he seemed to get. Now, many of these people face negative, public scrutiny for their association with a convicted pedophile.

The Epstein affair has now risen to become a major international scandal.  It has implicated men who enjoyed the luxury and sex that Epstein provided.  Some either gave him or received inside economic and political information that could make them money or increase their standing.  He subsidized or stole from others.

He readily joined the elite world populated by the rich and famous.  People associated with others like themselves form social circles, some of which overlap.  Taken together these circles form the elite, with its members enjoying the company of one another, luxury, access to income and, for some, sex.

In recent years, much attention has been focused on the gap between the wealthiest and everybody else.  The rich, benefitting from tax breaks and their network of contacts have grown even more wealthy.  They own so much of the economy that they fuel the growth in the consumer and stock markets.

Claims by Presidents Biden and Trump that the economy is thriving are based on the stunning performance of a relatively few people while the vast majority struggle with affordability.  Billionaires like Trump fail to understand the problems of average wage earners, because the lives of average people are so far from their own experience.

The circles around Epstein might have gone unnoticed, except for his illegal use and trade in young women.   He may have thought himself immunized from punishment because of his elite status.   He was formally charged in 2005 with child prostitution, though he got off lightly.

Even after his arrest and conviction, he was allowed to serve his short sentence mainly in his own business office and that may have convinced his elite that he had achieved a special, elevated status making him worth continuing to cultivate.  People of wealth and intelligence could have chosen to research his case and walk away.  Few did.

Some who took part in Epstein-sponsored sex opened themselves to his blackmail or control.   Others could claim, possibly correctly, that they had done nothing illegal or that they were ignorant of some aspects of his life.  They might gain financially from information or contacts he provided without being aware of how he gained his insights.   The elite fed on its myths.

While he may have been a savvy investor, his great influence probably came from gaining the confidence of people who paid him handsomely for his advice.   He had complete control of one billionaire’s financial affairs, from which he derived hundreds of millions.  He was caught stealing from the man and had to repay a substantial sum.  But he barely lost a step.

By the time he faced new sex trafficking charges in 2019, members of his elite no longer wanted to be closely associated with him and risk of being implicated in his unseemly affairs.  While many probably were not involved in illegal actions, his famous “friends” nonetheless argued that they hardly knew Epstein.

As the Epstein investigation papers were pulled into the public, they showed that the claims of arms-length contact were false.  The problem for some of the most prominent was less their association with Epstein than their lies about it, including falsely suggesting only limited contact with him.   Their coverups became their main problem, not Epstein himself.

There was an historic precedent showing that such lying extracts a high price.  President Richard Nixon’s downfall resulted more from his lies about Watergate than from the actual break-in and related campaign activity.  Much damaging information might never have emerged if he had told the truth promptly; he might even have survived in office.  His lesson was not learned.

For example, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick lied when he said he had not met Epstein after 2005.  While there’s no evidence that Lutnick did anything illegal, he knowingly misinformed investigators about a later visit to Epstein’s private island.

The wealth gap may survive until average people force politicians to reduce favoritism in government tax and other policies.  The character of the economic and social elite has been revealed by the Epstein affair, and this revelation may ultimately contribute more to bringing reform than attacks by progressives, no matter how well-intentioned. 

With increasing popular concern about Epstein’s billionaire friend in the White House, the timing couldn’t be better.