More Details Revealed Regarding Epstein Files
By Leyah Jackson
Courtesy Associated Press
More details are being revealed as investigations into the Epstein files continue. The FBI concluded that Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t running a sex trafficking ring for powerful men. After reviewing Epstein’s bank records and emails, searching his homes, and interviewing victims, they found little evidence that the financier led a sex trafficking ring.
The Epstein files are thousands of pages of documents related to criminal investigations into sex trafficking by financier Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the Associated Press, one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he “lent her” to his rich friends; however, agents couldn’t confirm her claims or find other victims telling a similar story.
“The public may doubt the validity of the documents— public opinion is everything, and if people feel like the victims are lying, then the case may end up dying,” said first-year psychology major Kennedi Williams.
The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaire’s home in Palm Beach, Florida. Police later identified over a dozen girls with similar stories.
Instead of facing federal indictments, Epstein struck a deal with then Miami U.S attorney Alexander Acosta, letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and was free by mid-2009.
In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to revisit the accusations. Epstein was arrested in July, 2019. One month later, he killed himself in his jail cell.
A year later, prosecutors charged Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, with child sex trafficking, accusing her of recruiting several of his victims and joining the sexual abuse. No client list connecting Epstein’s powerful associates to his crimes has been found.
“It will definitely be possible for more charges to be brought forward against Epstein’s associates—everyone who was involved will eventually be brought to trial, no matter how long it takes to go through all of the evidence, " said first-year criminal justice major Jayden Johnson.
Prosecutors say photos and videos don’t implicate others. Investigators seized numerous videos and photos from Epstein’s electronic devices and homes in New York, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
No videos or photos showed Epstein victims being sexually abused, and none showed any males with any of the nude females. There was no evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote in an email to FBI officials last year.
“I really don’t think there will be long-term effects of this investigation. I think society is so desensitized that eventually people may forget about…something big will come up and knock it out of the media,” said first-year psychology major Kennedi Williams.
