In August 2019, financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison while serving time on charges of sexually exploiting minors, left a net worth of about $560,000,000 (about 81.33 billion KRW), including luxury mansions and islands in the Caribbean. Although he is said to have managed the assets of the wealthy, he never ran a giant fund nor disclosed performance records. So how did he amass such an enormous fortune?

He was less a financier who moved money than someone who leveraged ‘relationships’ to obtain information and money, and used that money to buy power. Within his web-like global network, women were treated like spoils granted to those incorporated into the ‘Epstein Empire’. As its contours emerge piece by piece like a puzzle, the Epstein case serves as a lens revealing how global power operates and the moral bankruptcy of elites.

Sharing the secrets of sexual exploitation was the fastest way for Epstein to build tight bonds with the global elite. Regardless of politics, business, academia, or culture, he invited anyone with money, power, or fame to his island. On that island, underage girls were treated as ‘services’ provided to them.

At first, he lured underage girls he learned of by word of mouth, deceiving them that all they had to do was give ‘massages’. But as authorities ignored victims’ reports and handed down slap-on-the-wrist decisions, his conduct grew bolder. Epstein operated an extensive network recruiting girls around the world. Several model scouts, including Daniel Siaud and Jean-Luc Brunel, became his hands and feet. Siaud, who scouted women across Europe, including France and Spain, wrote in an e-mail to Epstein in 2014 that he “felt like a fisherman going around to catch fish (women).” He regularly sent Epstein information about the girls he had found; one e-mail said, “I have identified at least five potential targets. They are 16- to 17-year-old girls, and a 15-year-old is also included.”

[Flat] ‘Trump’ mentioned 1,000 times in the Epstein files… victims say they “won’t stop”

Scouts handed the women they had recruited over to Epstein, and Epstein in turn passed them on to wealthy elites. The number of victims is estimated at least in the thousands, yet no one has admitted to committing sexual exploitation. The only grounds from which to infer their sex crimes are the numerous e-mails and photographs contained in the Epstein files.

Prince Andrew, the former British royal who had been sued by Virginia Giuffre, a key witness in Epstein’s sexual exploitation, was newly revealed in a photo lying atop a woman after the recent additional release of documents by the U.S. Ministry of Justice. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton appeared in numerous photos showing intimate scenes with women, including sitting in a bathtub with a woman. An e-mail about Microsoft founder Bill Gates stated that he contracted a sexually transmitted disease due to sexual relations with Russian women.

Whenever he approached someone, Epstein never failed to add an invitation to drop by his island. It is highly likely that the fact one could receive such ‘services’ on his island was an open secret within the exclusive world of elites. In 2012, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, sent Epstein an inquiry e-mail asking, “When is the next wild party on your island?” In a 2013 e-mail inviting Epstein, Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group, said, “Bring your harem, too.”

Epstein did not approach the powerful solely through his vast sexual exploitation network. He curried favor with lavish gifts and hefty donations, and expanded his influence by circulating high-level confidential information. Through Peggy Siegal, who runs a media marketing company, he received detailed information about parties and events attended by politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities, grasping who wanted to meet whom, who wanted what, and which institutions needed money, then gifted them what they desired.

Epstein gifted high-end cashmere sweaters to Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and lingerie and shirts worth 10,000 euros (about 17 million KRW) to film director Woody Allen. He donated millions of dollars to Harvard University and hundreds of thousands of dollars to MIT. He contributed political funds to both Democrats and Republicans, giving thousands of dollars to figures including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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Elites and the powerful repaid Epstein, who spared no pleasure and money for them, with even larger sums and confidential information. This is well illustrated by Epstein’s relationship with Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel. Barak, along with the former Prince Andrew, was among those Giuffre identified as perpetrators of sexual exploitation.

In statements written in 20142015, Giuffre testified that Epstein forced her to have sex with a “famous prime minister.” She also claimed in a memoir published after his death that she was raped while being beaten to the point of losing consciousness by the “famous prime minister.” Although the memoir did not name the prime minister, she alleged in a 2020 legal filing that she had been sexually assaulted by former Prime Minister Barak. Barak denied Giuffre’s allegations as untrue.

Epstein provided Barak with an apartment in New York and supported Jewish organizations. In return, Barak introduced Epstein to various investment opportunities. According to a Forbes analysis of Ministry of Justice documents, Epstein’s $1,000,000 (about 1.44 billion KRW) investment in the startup ‘Reporty’ in 2015 came via Barak’s introduction. Developed by former elite Israeli intelligence operatives, the company, which provides real-time video and data transmission technology, saw its value grow 138-fold in a decade. Epstein also advised Barak to join the board of Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel. Epstein exchanged more than 2,000 messages with Thiel and maintained a deep relationship over many years.

The network that thus extended into Silicon Valley entrepreneurs became another shield for Epstein. When Epstein was jailed on sexual exploitation charges in 8, 2008, investment bank JP Morgan sought to halt the large cash withdrawal privileges it had provided him. At the time, senior JP Morgan executive Jes Staley reportedly worked frantically to stop this, the New Yorker reported, because Epstein had introduced him to numerous billionaires as clients, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Gates.

Peter Mandelson, former British ambassador to the United States, also secretly passed sensitive financial policy information under consideration by the British government to Epstein in 2009 while serving as a cabinet minister. Calling Epstein “my best friend,” Mandelson not only visited Epstein’s island but is also suspected of having received $75,000 (about 100 million KRW) in funding from him.

Even Steve Bannon, a standard-bearer of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, which professes disdain for elites, sought to use Epstein’s global network to spread his ideology to other countries, CNN reported based on the Epstein documents. Bannon asked Epstein to introduce European politicians and discussed the Trump administration’s trade policy with him.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick also appears to have remained in contact through 2018, including co-investing in a private company, contrary to explanations that he cut ties with Epstein out of disgust.

To date, the only people indicted in the Epstein case are Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Investigators did not indict even Siaud, who lured minors and provided them to Epstein, citing insufficient evidence.

However, an equally important question in the Epstein case as “what happened” is “who benefited.” Most of Epstein’s victims were young, poor, and desperate for opportunity. By contrast, so many elites entangled in the Epstein network benefited that the case has become not Epstein’s personal problem but that of the entire elite interest group.

[Flat] “Trump spent hours with a victim”… ripple effects of the Epstein ‘e-mail’ release

U.S. President Donald Trump, who tried to block the Epstein files from being released to the very end, likely knew at least about Epstein’s sexual exploitation. A recently released Ministry of Justice document records that in 2006 Trump called the Palm Beach police chief who had opened an investigation into Epstein and said, “Everyone knows Epstein is doing that (sexual exploitation of minors). You stopped him.”

There is still a long way to go before the full picture of the Epstein case is grasped. The 3.5 million Epstein files released by the Ministry of Justice so far amount to only 60% of the total 6 million. Moreover, the files released to date have been criticized for the Ministry’s arbitrary deletion of much information. Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ro Khanna (D-California), who have led the push to disclose the Epstein documents, are demanding the Ministry reveal the names of power brokers it has redacted.

Even so, what has been revealed so far is enough to understand the moral hypocrisy of global elites and the world they have led. The ‘monster’ named Epstein is a product of our era, in which money can buy everything, power promises unlimited privilege and impunity, and pangs of conscience are reserved only for the poor and vulnerable.