Will other powerful people — presumably men — get taken down as a result of the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein?
That’s the hope of many closer followers of the story, but it’s far from clear what, if any, fallout there will be. Epstein’s connections to Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have raised suspicions about potential evidence of their wrongdoing, such suspicions remain unproven. Alan Dershowitz has already faced accusations of being involved in Epstein’s crimes, though he denies the charge vigorously.
But a new report from Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman says that “DC is on edge” over the Epstein case, and any elites who have run in his circles could be involved. Dozens of girls, if not more, are believed to be involved in his alleged sex trafficking, and lawyers for some of the women who have accused Epstein are strongly suggesting that other high-profile figures will be implicated.
“There were other business associates of Mr. Epstein’s who engaged in improper sexual misconduct at one or more of his homes. We do know that,” said lawyer Brad Edwards told Sherman. “In due time the names are going to start coming out.”
Edwards represents Courtney Wild, an Epstein accuser who already testified publicly against him.David Boies, who represents Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre (who worked at Mar-a-Lago), agreed.
“Nobody who was around Epstein a lot is going to have an easy time now. It’s all going to come out,” said Boies. Another person told Sherman: “It’s going to be staggering, the amount of names. It’s going to be contagion numbers.”
Again, we should be skeptical of these claims — predicting the outcome of a federal investigation is always dicey. Epstein’s lawyers have legal arguments to make that the charges currently being brought against him by the Southern District of New York are illegitimate. And while these arguments seem likely to fail, federal courts sometimes bring surprises. If the case against Epstein were to fizzle out, anyone else involved in his activities may breathe a sigh of relief.
It’s also important to note that, while Epstein ran in elite circles, if evidence in his case does implicate others, they might not be household names.
And one of the reasons, after all, that Epstein himself was able to avoid prosecution for so long is that powerful people have ways of manipulating the legal system to their own advantage. If there are others who were involved in his allegedly criminal scheme, we shouldn’t assume they’ll go down without a fight.
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