Molly Jong-Fast, The New York Times ; Now We Know What All Those People Got From Epstein
"Many of the people revealed as knowing him well had previously claimed they hardly knew him, and all of them are now claiming they certainly didn’t know him well enough to witness the pedophilia. Now they are disgraced by their connection, and often, out of a job.
Many people stuck with him even after he had gone to jail in 2008 in Florida for sex crimes, and in some cases even after he landed in jail again in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges. Back then, the plight of the victims often seemed to be an afterthought. That’s most likely because whatever they received from him in the past — access to career-enhancing people, access to young girls and an endless supply of freebies — might still be on offer. This is the nature of the Epstein files: It’s the record of what a global class of very privileged, accomplished and self-important people want to get gifted.
Sometimes it was a Prada bag. Other times it was a flight on Mr. Epstein’s jet, or a weekend at his island. Sometimes it was a donation to a charity or school. Or a job for their kid working on a Woody Allen film, or a shortcut for Mr. Allen’s own kid to get intoBard. Sometimes it was a “tall, Swedish blonde.” Other times it was a young woman who might be a “a little freaked by the age difference.”...
There are many terrible secrets buried in the Epstein files, which mix the mundane and the horrific, the thirsty and the criminal, and perhaps that’s the most upsetting part of all of this. Casually wrapped up together with a bow are canceled men and sex trafficking and media advice from Michael Wolff. Being a convicted sex offender did not make Mr. Epstein an outcast, not when he seemed to have something to offer. His transactional amorality actually seemed to add to his appeal to people who were convinced that the rules didn’t apply to them."
