I am not normally a conspiracy theorist.. but I have come to suspect the same.

One example, despite all that has come up in the this case, and the number of times Ghislaine Maxwell's name has been brought up, there is no word of her whereabouts. Unless we think she is some Jason Bourne level expert that can just make herself disappear, I can think of only three explanations -

1) The law enforcement agencies are choosing not to find her and track her down for some reason. 2) She is being kept hidden (willingly or unwillingly) by someone else who has the means and ability to do so. 3) She is already dead and her body will turn up at some point.

The thought there could be such types of 'cover ups' in the western democratic world is very scary. I was always certain this stuff only happened in the movies, now I am not as sure about that.

You might have missed this: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Ghislaine-Maxwell-accused-...

Where there's a will, there's a way. Start squeezing her assets. Socialites cannot live without spending hundreds of thousands dollars a year which is difficult to do when one's accounts are frozen.

And risk upsetting Israel?

You have a point.

If she's sitting in a cafe in some random country, let's say Morocco or Bermuda, what is their law enforcements motivation for finding her? As far as I understand, there is no arrest warrant out for her, nor any Interpol involvement. They've got better things to do, so I wouldn't be so quick to assume law enforcement around the world is in on this.

>what is their law enforcements motivation for finding her?

If even a fraction of what is alleged about Epstein's schemes is true then whoever has her can obtain the kind of dirt that multi-billion dollar intelligence agencies can only dream of.

As another commenters said she is probably in Israel. By virtue of connections and it having a very big stake in not pissing off the US too much she is unlikely to get the $5 wrench treatment there.

Who's not to say that they weren't already intelligence assets and this whole kompromat operation was actually ran by a nation-state or collection of nation-states?

The one time there’s potentially a real global Israeli/Mossad conspiracy and the tinfoil hat crowd are convinced it’s somehow all the Clinton’s fault.

That may itself be an intelligence agency psy op. The origins of the Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracy theories are very opaque, but the leading promoters were Jack Posobiec (former naval intelligence) and Mike Cernovich (who featured Alan Dershowitz in one of his documentaries).

The Clintons are 100% involved though.

Oh Pizzagate and QAnon were most defiantly PsyOps ran by some nation state. You just need to surround a little bit of truth, around a whole lot of lies, to hide that little bit of truth.

If I had to guess, Pizzagate was somehow linked to Epstein's associates. I'm a little more certain of QAnon. I think that one is the GRU (what Russia calls the KGB now).

QAnon in particular has been extraordinarily effective at diverting people with a manic focus on the Epstein case and elite pedophilia into a never-ending maze of dead ends and spurious connections. And I think both were intended to quash Epstein speculation by associating it with the Alex Jones set.

I enjoy a good conspiracy theory as entertainment, but I'm kind of having a mind blown moment with this Epstein stuff...

Same here. It's incredibly striking to sort of see the pieces laid out in front of you, really _feel_ that they put together facts, but not have the glue you need to objectively/factually put them all together.

To me it feels like the "Israeli operative" scenario seems pretty legit.

Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of an alleged Mossad (Israeli Intelligence) operative. Coming from someone who hates conspiracy theories, I think this one isn't too far fetched.

And her father died by apparently "falling overboard off his yacht" (which was named "The Lady Ghislaine" after her!). Not at all suspicious.

Even more fun? You know who owns that yacht now? DJT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell#Death

Want even more fun? You know who sold Maxwell that yacht? Emad Khashoggi... Jamal Khashoggi's cousin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emad_Khashoggi

Another of his cousins died with Princess Diana

This thread is nuts. I can't believe the connections.

>Even more fun? You know who owns that yacht now? DJT.

Any reference on that?

He's confused on the yachts (easy to do, I suppose). DJT bought Adnan Khashoggi's yacht. Emad is his cousin. Emad's yacht was bought by Maxwell. Adnan's yacht was bought by Trump, which was foreclosed upon a few years after he purchased it.

    Coming from someone who hates conspiracy 
    theories, I think this one isn't too far fetched.

Yeah, I agree.

Typically I don't believe conspiracy theories, on the simple grounds that large numbers of people can't keep secrets very well.

The Epstein thing kind of has that answer built in.

A rich guy became "untouchable" by throwing sex parties and gathering blackmail material on important people. That's pretty much the easiest thing in the world to believe. At some point it becomes a self-perpetuating thing. Nobody wants to investigate him because it's a potential career-ruiner.

And keep in mind that he didn't need direct evidence on you. You just need to attend one of his parties where bad things went down. Let's say he's got video evidence of Famous Persons A, B, and C doing something at the party that happened on a specific night. You were at the party too, but like 47 out of the 50 guests you did nothing wrong and had no idea wrongdoing was happening. Well, now you're scared too. Maybe Epstein directly threatens you. Puts you in the little black book or whatever. Or maybe not. Some underage teenager was being victimized, and you were there, and now you have a strong incentive to hope the whole thing blows over because you're terrified of being painted as an abuser even though you were just there for the free shrimp and cocktails.

To me, it seems like the kind of thing anybody with sufficient money could pull off. It's not exactly news that donating fat sums of money to various institutions gets you prestige and access to lots of influential people.

I don't have an opinion on the Mossad stuff one way or another. Seems plausible but as for a guess on the likelihood it's way over my pay grade.

IMO you've captured all the important aspects, and yeah whether it's Mossad or CIA or organized crime or Satan worshippers, or some combination of them, a.) Isn't really that important, because the effects of the network exerting its power are the same regardless, and b.) Is probably just meant to be an unproductive side question for people to waste time examining.

So what, could this be a key aspect of Israeli influence in the US? I mean, through entrapment of politicians.

I don't know anything about Mossad. But I do know that sexual blackmail was a key tool of the KGB. Along with simple greed, of course.

The mossad is one of the most active and effective intelligence agencies in the world. Their stories both successes and failures (that we’ve heard about) are legendary.

Morocco and Bermuda are pretty naive guesses. Her mother was a "holocaust expert" and her father was not merely an agent for the Mossad but some sort of hero in the organization. She's practically Israeli royalty

> They've got better things to do

This is incredible.

Haha, who in the world is downvoting this comment? It's an entirely apt way to point out the absurdity of the parent.

Threads like these are why HN will never have a public voting log.

I'm not either but I believe what you've stated to be true and am skeptical that he actually hung himself.

> am skeptical that he actually hung himself

The simplest explanation here, if you’re trying to include outside interference, is that a patient on suicide watch was intentionally allowed conditions in which he could finish the job.

Why hang him when you can intentionally botch the surveillance and he’ll hang himself for you? Much cleaner.

In the words of the TrueAnon hosts "10% chance that they just MKUltra'd him into killing himself."

She is under investigation. That's step 1 to extradition.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/jeffrey-epstein-friend-ghisl...

Is it actually hard to disappear if you have money?

If you want to keep the money, presumably yes. If you don't mind becoming an anonymous but financially insecure expat in the jungles of South America or Asia, then sure.

whats the going rate for a plastic face change surgery and a new US passport/identity? Will $500,000 do?

Next step is setup private offshore trust/fund with new identity being the beneficiary. money problem solved.

Ideally have all of the "new identity" paper work done well before it is needed: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeffrey-...

1) If you're throwing lots of money around, there's a trail of evidence--electronic, paper, gossip. 2) If people know you're trying to hide--because you're getting face change surgery, because you're trying to launder gobs of cash--you're vulnerable to extortion, theft, and murder, in the moment and in perpetuity. (Again, the world is an ugly place filled with untold numbers of nasty people and billions of desperate people.)

You need either the law or a credible threat of retaliation to protect large assets. The former requires identity and a trail of evidence of ownership, not to mention reliable law enforcement; the latter requires reputation, which requires identity and a trail of evidence of retaliation. And except for industrial countries with a strong rule of law (i.e. the places you're probably trying to flee), both the law and the jungle require regular payments in cash, favors, or blood, commensurate with the assets you're trying to protect, to maintain the state of things. Not only can that quickly diminish your wealth, you're creating an ever larger footprint.

Is it possible? Theoretically, just like in the movies. But it's not easy. And it's not easy to pivot from an ultra rich, jet setting, flamboyant con-man to an anonymous nobody. It's worth noting that your link proves my point--his fake identity was readily discovered with a routine search warrant and home inspection. Epstein wasn't willing to give up the comforts of his public persona and the convenience of switching between his identities. And he clearly wasn't willing to flee before he got caught, which is something of a prerequisite.

Having some money is a good start. You can buy a bar or a hostel in some far flung part of the world where nobody asks questions, and hopefully you can coast for several decades. Maybe you can hide just enough gold and currency to maintain a comfortable life without drawing attention; enough to match the flow of retirement benefits (Social Security, etc), which can often be drawn down regardless of residency and are a common source of income for older expats. Otherwise, it's just mo' money, mo' problems.

On the other hand, it's rare for authorities to care enough to hunt someone down to the ends of the earth. But I assume the context here is a motivated intelligence agency or similarly resourceful and persistent organization (e.g. DoJ no longer able to turn a blind eye). Either way, though, the easiest way to hunt someone down is to follow the money.

Sources: Movies. Education. Traveling and meeting "interesting" expats from various countries fleeing everything you'd expect (wives, taxes, poverty, etc) except prosecution for heinous crimes, if their stories are to be believed.

I think the common suspicion is that Epstein had an Eli Cohen style role and Maxwell was his handler.

Your surprise that this happens under democracy- does that change your political views?

It doesn't change mine. The government is notorious for being corrupt and inefficient.

I hear this and it makes me horrified of the thought of government takeover of a sector.

I'm not sure the government failing, for whatever reason, to hold private organizations and individuals to account for their wrongdoing is quite a clear, blanket argument against government power, in favor of the power of private organizations and individuals.

Oh come on you mean to tell me that private industries aren't full of nepotism, bribery, corruption, and incompetence?

Thalidomide, 737 max, Enron...

Meanwhile tons of public sectors run silently but smoothly and are taken for granted.

Your argument to demonize the public sector is ill considered, cliched, simple minded, and one sided.

>The government is notorious for being corrupt and inefficient

So is the private sector. Excellence is rare. Such is life, welcome to earth.

The private sector goes out of business. The government lives until it collapses.

> lives until it collapses.

Usually due to government intervention.

Corrupt and bloated businesses also "live until they collapse". I trust in democracy more than markets.

> I trust in democracy more than markets.

I don't. People vote against their best interests all the time. The SF housing market is self-inflicted from people voting against new housing, because many of them don't understand the concept of supply and demand.

Neither markets nor democracy are perfect, but at least free markets are efficient.

> many of them don't understand the concept of supply and demand.

Or they understand supply and demand perfectly well, and figured out that if they legislatively block new development, fixed supply + growing demand = rising home prices = better investment.

>Neither markets nor democracy are perfect, but at least free markets are efficient.

Markets (free and otherwise) work against people's best interests all the time as well, in which case their efficiency is not a virtue.

>but at least free markets are efficient.

Big ol' citation needed there

Maybe they understand that there's very little empty land to build housing on.

> I trust in democracy more than markets.

It seems strongly that former requires the latter. Without markets you have a totalitarian state. And black markets. Everyone everywhere wants and needs to trade, for themselves and their families.

The idea of genuine democracy is the loyal opposition. You dochange the government, regularly, without collapsing everything into anarchy.

Endemic corruption will lead to systemic collapse. This makes it worthwhile to vote the best corruption reform candidates regardless of ideology or party.

Democrats have voted Trump, Republicans support Bernie on that basis. It's not completely silly.

Nah, it really doesn't. Or at least that's much too weak a signal to actually provide a constraint on bad corporate actors.

When corporations implode these days, shareholders get the shaft while the executives responsible parachute out with 10s of millions of dollars.

I don't think it's as black-and-white as government bad private sector good.

People do bad things and we've been trying to fix our selves for a long time now.

We need to take personal responsibility for our own actions, and be honest and transparent, ready to accept the repercussions for what we have done. I'm speaking directly to individuals involved here, but I'm also speaking for and to all of us.

It's scary to come out about how fucked up we are, but it's how to heal.

We need to stand up and openly repent when we have done wrong. We need to stop defending and hiding our own evil.

Would love to hear your thoughts on privatizing the Department of Energy.

> The fact that even after his life there aren't gobs of collaborators being arrested also leads me to think that he wasn't even in charge of the whole thing.

There are enough reasons to believe that Jeffrey Epstein might have operated a honeypot for Mossad, and Ghislaine Maxwell was his handler:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21410931

That would explain why Jeffrey Epstein’s injuries look more like murder than suicide, according to a pathologist:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article236809...

And why the surveillance footage from the night of his first suicide attempt went missing:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/19/surveillance-foo...

Personally, I believe that he was a kind of person who would have never killed himself. And that's not the only thing he had in common with Donald J. Trump:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-rape-case_n_581a...

> The accuser says Trump raped her repeatedly at parties thrown by since-convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who was widely known to throw wild parties with young women and girls.

Needless to say, the current US policy in Middle East has given Israel almost everything it has ever asked for, and what no other Western nation has agreed with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_recognition_of_J...

> Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital was rejected by a majority of world leaders. The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on December 7 where 14 out of 15 members condemned Trump's decision, but the motion was vetoed by the United States.

I'd like more evidence pointing specifically to Mossad.

It's easy to say "this is bad" but put yourself in the position of the Israeli leadership. They are a tiny country surrounded by enemies and a people who have experienced horrible atrocities in the recent past. Even though it is wrong I accept that the logical actions for them is to set up exteme measures of blackmail and espionage to further the security of their people and homeland. It's literally a survival issue for them and possibly morally equivalent to a starving person stealing bread.

If Israel had wanted security, they would have accepted the worldwide consensus on the two-state solution 30 years ago, and would have moved on to further diplomatic ties with their closest neighbors.

Instead, Israel wants territory and power, so they build illegal colonies on stolen land, they brutalize Palestine and make a show of brutally repressing them,and they antagonize and threaten their neighbors in defiance of international law. There will be no peace in Israel as long as this doesn't change, but they may well flourish economically from this.

On the other hand, to believe that the US is an unwilling, blackmailed participant in all of this is absurd. The US is not Israel's dim-witted reluctant ally, it is actively spurring on Israel in all of their actions, both in order to extend its influence and defeat its enemies in the area (Iran's independence and rejection of the Cia-installed Shah will not be forgiven or forgotten), and to keep a steady demand for US armaments going in the area.

I fully agree with you until the part about the USA. Yes, it's true that the US aren't a reluctant ally but an enthusiastic one; but this is because the US have been led to believe through relentless lobbying and propaganda that their interests always coincide with those of Israel. Which is of course not true, and cannot be true by definition. But the level of confusion is such that Kushner, who as a government official was given a top secret security clearance (besides being in charge of delivering a "peace plan" between Israel and Palestine) was also on the board of a "charity" collecting money for Israel's army. Let that sink in: someone who was collecting money to fund the army of a foreign country was given an official government role and a top secret security clearance!

Perhaps I misspoke, I didn't mean to imply that the population of the USA has its interests aligned with Israel.

I meant that the US ruling class is very much happy with Israel's actions, because the turmoil in the region often lines their own pockets, and at least attacks a lot of their own enemies.

> and at least attacks a lot of their own enemies.

But how much of the enmity is simply due to the US's support of Israel? Am I the most loyal friend of a bully because his victims are my enemies, or his victims hate me because I am his most loyal friend?

In the case of Iran at least, the enmity began after Iran nationalized some BP oil in the gulf, prompting the UK to ask for CIA help in getting rid of the democratic Iranian government at the time, and reinstating the military dictatorship of the Shah. That plan succeeded for a while, but later backfired with the Iranian Revolution which led to the current Israel-hating, fundamentalist Islamic regime [1].

So in thisccase at least, the US - Iran enmity would still be there even if Israel was completely neutral. Of course, a lot of other sources of enmity have accumulated over the years, but this is most likely the 'original' reason.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...

You're assuming that the enmity caused by an event of almost seventy years ago would still be intact in the absence of other factors. It is possible, but it's a stretch. Justifying the reciprocal hatred with the formulas "they overthrew our democratic president"/ "they kept our people hostages" is convenient, but these are just formulas. A lot of stuff has happened since and there was plenty of time for normalization of relationships. The fate of the nuclear accord is telling: a move towards peace and normalization was sunk by the most unapologetically pro-Israel president in US history.

All intelligence agencies are staffed by the morally bankrupt. To get bin Laden the CIA set back the effort to end polio decades. There are no good people in intelligence, only bad ones working for one country and bad ones working for another.

Sorry if this should have been more obvious, but are you referring to something that I seem to remember hearing about where the groups vaccinating were supposedly taking blood samples from people being vaccinated for DNA analysis, which when the story broke would have tarnished the willingness of patients to get vaccinated?

I do apologize. It has been a long while since I even recalled seeing that in passing, and I never really thought about it at the time; but it has stuck with me as a case illustrating the criticality of trust in medicine.

Then an over the top, punitive reaction from victim nations is appropriate. Enjoy!

Sounds like they just need some Lebensraum.

> to further the security of their people and homeland.

They're not furthering the security of the homeland. They're furthering the homeland, expanding it into territories belonging to people who face a much worse existential threat- Israel itself.

I've come to the conclusion that he was an intelligence asset. The dog that doesn't bark is the fact that, to my knowledge, there are no on the record statements from the intelligence community which deny he was an asset.

What's even more conspicuous is that there is clearly a strong interest by the public. Even if all these "conspiracy theories" are false, you could get a LOT of viewership just going around debunking them. But it's like complete silence from the traditional corporate media.

Intelligence agencies never confirm or deny such things, and how can you debunk something that's not currently possible to prove or disprove?

I think almost no one, including the media, knows what really happened. There are a huge array of different forking possibilities.

If the intelligence community can't publicly deny that perhaps the most prolific child rapist in known history was an asset, we have serious problems. Regardless of standard policy.

Imagine being a regular forces soldier at a base in Afghanistan who discovers that an allied local commander likes to rape little boys. On base. Imagine being told that you can't do anything about it, because if you piss him off Americans will die. The world is a really, really, really shitty place for the powerless and for naive idealists. Epstein was scum, but he's not as bad as some of the people we regularly work with to uphold our system. It's depressing.

If upholding the puppet government in Afghanistan requires allying with pederasts the US should get out. Afghanistan has never had anything worth an occupation. The only reason the US is still there is to try and wash away the stain of Vietnam. As soon as the US leaves the Taliban will take over again within a year, just like al Shahab in Somalia. Afghanistan is already lost because there's no appetite to completely remake the country; colonialism has gone out of style.

There are evil men in Afghanistan raping boys and there are evil men in Washington defending allowing them to do so.

Was Epstein an asset? No!

Was Dahmer an asset? No!

Was Foobar an asset? No comment.

It's not in their best interest to publicly deny any assets I don't think.

Exactly. Denying some things but not others just makes it easier to figure out what might be true. The smartest policy is to not comment on anything, ever, no matter how mundane or how absurd.

This is only a problem if the state has sanctioned mass child rape or necrophilic cannibalism. If the state did sanction those actions, we deserve to know.

This is the same state that killed hundreds of thousands Iraqis on the other side of the planet.

Epstein is very small fry for that organization.

If they did sanction such things, they'd never admit it. If they didn't, it does them no good to comment on this, or anything, one way or the other. There's no benefit to asking them and no benefit to answering.

We know Epstein was a genuine pedophile. It's not impossible that his actions were his (and Ghislaine's) own. Maybe he was trying to blackmail people for his personal profit, or maybe blackmail wasn't part of it. Maybe he saw it as a way of sharing his "hobby" with people he liked and wanted to get to know more, partly to acquire clout and connections and partly because pedophilia was his passion and something he considered worth doing with others, just like some rich people invite other rich people to go golfing.

There are so many possibilities. Maybe the above is true but he was also an intelligence asset. Maybe he was an asset but the agency/agencies involved weren't aware actual underaged people were involved and dropped him after his 2008 arrest and he then just continued for his own pleasure. Maybe he really was working for one the whole time and the people responsible thought the ends justified the means. Maybe he wasn't and essentially was trying to run his own private intelligence agency, perhaps to sell information to other intelligence agencies, and companies and people who would pay a lot for that dirt.

There's no evidence of anything concrete either way. The prosecutor saying he was told to back off and that he belonged to intelligence is what really sparked all of this, but the meaning of this is still unclear. If the person who told him this wasn't lying, it definitely could mean he was an asset all along, or it could mean that intelligence agencies weren't aware of him until his arrest and realized the potential of the information he might have and promised him leniency if he informed them about every important individual involved, then stopped dealing with him after he was sentenced.

If this is true, this sort of thing isn't uncommon with mass murderers - look at Sammy the Bull. The fact that he kept doing it for a decade when he got out, the unknown sources of his money, and other weird factors certainly could be seen as additional evidence of his actions being sanctioned by some sort of intelligence, but it could mean other things, too.

It's all just speculation. We also honestly don't know if he was murdered or killed himself; or if he killed himself, if he was permitted or encouraged to do so or if it really was just an ordinary suicide (he'd certainly have strong motive to kill himself). Maybe the base rate of incompetence is so high in that prison that this could happen; maybe 1/3 of the other cameras weren't working then, either, and maybe a lot of guards were slacking off and faking data for years.

Most people seem to jump to the most extreme version of all of these possibilities, but we have almost nothing to go on. Maybe we'll learn the answers someday, but who knows.

> Maybe he really was working for one the whole time and the people responsible thought the ends justified the means.

Listen to yourself. The end these people seek is to set themselves above the law so they can hollow out the world to line their own pockets, play with the lives of entire nations like pieces on a chessboard, and rape children.

> the most prolific child rapist in known history

I think maybe your cynicism is misplaced. The world is a far uglier place than your comment presumes. And relative to the kinds of people intelligence agencies must deal with sometimes, Epstein's crimes and alleged crimes probably wouldn't raise an eyebrow. (Which isn't a comment on whether they were blackmail worthy.)

It all depends on what really happened.

First off, he may have had no involvement with intelligence whatsoever, or beyond being interrogated after his arrest.

If the intelligence agencies did set all of this up and told him to get real underaged girls (rather than actors pretending to be underaged) to blackmail people, or knew this was happening and allowed it to continue for so long, that'd actually be big. That's state-sponsored child sex trafficking and rape. But there are so many other possibilities in between that and "no involvement".

We've literally toppled free governments, administered LSD to vulnerable people without their consent, and started purposeful rumors about important people being <insert bad thing here>. What makes you think the CIA wouldn't run a child sex trafficking ring for "the greater good"?

Well, for one, it's [current year], and ethical standards within the CIA seem to have shifted a little. But also, I do actually think operating a child sex trafficking ring would probably be a lot more objectionable for most intelligence handlers than toppling governments.

If someone asked you right now "you have two options: topple a government and replace them with a puppet, or run a child sex trafficking ring", and you had to pick one, which would you choose? If I had to choose, I'd definitely choose the former.

> Well, for one, it's [current year], and ethical standards within the CIA seem to have shifted a little.

The current head of the CIA is a torturer who illegally destroyed evidence. “Shifted a little” is awfully generous.

Torture is heinous, of course. But, I have to admit, the torture tactics employed by the CIA in the past two decades against alleged terrorists still seem to be quite an ethical leap compared to what they used to be doing.

Lol, it's extremely naïve to think that this is the worst or even unusually troubling story in the list of Mossad of CIA operations.

You want to FOIA the secret parts of the government? Lol

You...don't know much about intelligence agencies, do you?

Time to watch...let's see..."Scandal", "Snowden", Canadian TV show "Intelligence", Shooter...those are just the "fictional" accounts.

Regarding confirming or denying -- it's not like these people have any problem with or shame about directly lying to your face. What they confirm or deny, or fail to doesn't really mean much.

Even simpler: planes, private islands, and lawyers are expensive. Someone came looking for a lot of money they were owed.

It seems clear that Epstein was involved in Very Corrupt Things with VIPs. I don't know that I would say more than there's a lot of arse covering at this point, but it doesn't look good for those who visited his palaces - they have a vested interest in covering it up.

I wonder if Ronan could working on this story (along with others who had their stories spiked). He’s often gone where other reporters don’t dare but maybe this one is beyond even him.

Bingo. Based on just what's publicly known about him and Ghislaine Maxwell, it's pretty obvious they're both tied with Israeli intelligence and were collecting blackmail material the Mossad could use to "influence" powerful people. Sexual blackmail is intelligence 101.

Yes, because 90% of HNers are ex-CIA. We should have known this, it's intelligence 101.

You don't have to be ex-TLA to read enough.

How many billionaires and high-ranking officials could one guy set up before rumors started circulating and people caught on?

And why wouldn’t they have had him knocked off sooner?

The blackmailed would worry that there would be a "deadmans switch" set up that would automatically release the material if not periodically confirmed. Obviously Epsteins deadmans switch was either someone he couldn't really trust, was flawed, or never really existed. If he was smart it would release in steps and be totally digital and dispersed around to many places. If it was me I would have incriminating videos of someone lower on the totem pole released first so that people knew you were serious if they put you in jail. This is why he was locked up then killed after a period in jail, they wanted to see if he had a real deadmans switch. You would need something automatically released and they would need to be low enough so they couldn't get you killed when you burn them. This way everyone else would have to believe you had more automatic release set up.

If somebody got ensnared in that sort of thing, I don't think they'd be quick to gossip about it.

He’s been a known sex trafficker with close ties to US politicians for decades. You think the CIA would not look into him?