The inside scoop on Jeffrey Epstein
I was Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer. I know the facts, some of which I can’t disclose because it is privileged or subject to court-imposed sealing orders. But what I can disclose makes several important things clear.
Epstein never created a “client list”. The FBI interviewed alleged victims who named several “clients”. These names have been redacted. They should be disclosed, but the courts have ordered them sealed. I know who they are. They don’t include any current officeholders.
We don’t know whether the accusations are true. The courts also have sealed negative information about some of the accusers to protect them.
Neither the Justice Department nor private defence lawyers are free to disregard court sealing orders. The media can and should petition the courts for the release of all names and information so the public can draw its own conclusions.
There also has been speculation about incriminating videos taken by hidden cameras in Epstein’s guest bedrooms. There are videotapes, but they are of public areas of his Palm Beach, Florida, home. Epstein reported the theft of money and a licensed firearm from a drawer in his living room, so the police installed a video camera. I am not aware of video cameras in guest bedrooms.
Open records show an acquaintance between Epstein and Donald Trump many years ago. That relationship ended when Trump reportedly banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, long before becoming President.
I have seen nothing that would suggest anything improper or even questionable by Trump.
It is clear from the evidence that Epstein committed suicide. What isn’t clear is whether he was assisted by jail personnel. That seems likely to me, based on the evidence of allegedly broken cameras, transfer of his cellmate and the absence of guards during relevant time periods.
I have absolutely no doubt that Epstein never worked for any intelligence agency. If he had he would surely have told me and his other lawyers, who would have used that information to get him a better deal. (He wasn’t satisfied with the so-called sweetheart deal he got, which required him to spend one-and-a-half years in a local jail and register as a sex offender.)
My sources in Israel have confirmed to me that he had no connection to Israeli intelligence. That false story – recently peddled by Tucker Carlson – probably emanated from credible allegations that Robert Maxwell (1923-91), father of Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, worked with the Mossad.
Conspiracy stories attract readers, viewers and listeners. They are also fodder for political attacks.
The Epstein case has generated more than its share of such theories, and there is nothing more annoying to gossipmongers than when stubborn facts (or the absence of facts) get in the way of a juicy theory.
Sorry to disappoint you, but there is really nothing much to see here, beyond what has already been disclosed.
Alan Dershowitz is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of The Preventive State: The Challenge of Preventing Serious Harms While Preserving Essential Liberties. This article was first published in The Wall Street Journal.
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