Jeffrey Epstein’s circle included lots of scientists and lots of businessmen. And royalty. Some of whom, like Prince Andrew at the third link, are paying a price. As Paul Krugman says, this doesn’t mean they all committed statutory rape. They probably included people seeking money, people who wanted to hang out at a cool party, people who saw networking or business opportunities, people who found Epstein charming and flattering. And some how wanted to have sex with underage teenage girls.
As Anand Giridharadas puts it, “He was not only grooming teenage girls, he was grooming all of these people. This was all grooming, and it was a continuum of grooming from light consensual grooming of bankers all the way to the most depraved and criminal grooming of teenage girls.”
Some of them may not have known how bad Epstein was; some of them actively gave him advice on fixing his reputation. Some of them joked about how much he liked them young. Larry Summers asked for advice on picking up a younger (adult) woman; one correspondent recommended Epstein read Lolita. Others grumbled that young women were honeypots destroying the lives of older men. I find some of that stuff incredibly disgusting. I’m pretty sure that’s not criminal but it’s creepy enough some sortr of sanctions seems appropriate.
Some of the network, as Girirdharadas says, didn’t care: “These people are actually not that serious about character. In fact, character may be a liability for some of them, may be an unnecessary source of friction.” If you know the right people, well, soliciting a minor may seem trivial by comparison. Peter Attia (in the Girirdharadas piece): “At that point in my career, I had little exposure to prominent people, and that level of access was novel to me. Everything about him seemed excessive and exclusive, including the fact that he lived in the largest home in all of Manhattan, owned a Boeing 727 and hosted parties with the most powerful and prominent leaders in business and politics.”
Not everyone’s facing consequences — and to be fair, some of the people in the outer circles probably shouldn’t. Going to a glamorous party hosted by a notorious creep is bad judgment but not necessarily immoral. The further in you get, the worse it looks. The CNN article says lying about your ties to Epstein is currently a big Danger sign. Hanging around Epstein after his statutory rape conviction is another. In some cases it’s simply the fear that having damaged goods as the head of your firm will be very bad for business. In Andrew’s case, he did some insider trading with Epstein (Paul Campos: “Child rape is one thing, but manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate is going a bit too far, apparently.”). And some people knew Epstein but didn’t hang out, or went to one party and decided they’d had enough.
The Toddler of the United States has no interest in facing consequences. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, his solution is to start claiming he’s been completely exonerated. He hasn’t. And the Department of Justice is still hiding files that may say otherwise.
For bonus thoughts, Celeste Davis makes a good case the problem isn’t networking or glamorous parties, it’s patriarchy. Which includes a lot of contempt for women in STEM (” Epstein responded: “It’s the tail of distribution , no really smart women – none.” )
