Jeffrey Epstein, the pedophile who effectively beat the rap in Florida, has been indicted in New York. The news article doesn’t say but I’m guessing he is in custody until his arraignment, scheduled for today. The question is, will he make bond?
Epstein is a flight risk. It is much easier to kill a guy on the outside than while he is incarcerated, but it can be done. A Federal indictment is almost a guarantee of conviction. The guidelines mandate a prison sentence.
The only way for Epstein to get his time down to something he can do is to provide substantial cooperation to the government. Epstein has the ability to do that. I suspect he can provide video evidence to back up any allegations. The first time around Epstein had options. This time some of those options are no longer available.
The game is different and that makes Epstein dangerous to his friends. The democratic faithful are already predicting widespread fallout. There is one obvious solution, dead men can’t be tried, nor can they testify.
It never made sense to me that Acosta, then United States Attorney in Florida went to the trouble to indict Epstein and then walk away from the prosecution. There was speculation that Epstein provided information related to the Bear-Sterns prosecution. However, the prosecutor in that case says that speculation is false.
I find it more plausible that Epstein possesses video proof that a former President and a potential future King were implicated in his activities. The FBI search warrant return indicates DVDs and photos were found and seized. It is one thing to deny in a he said, she said situation. “Film at Eleven” is a different story.
Epstein is reputed to be a financial wiz-kid who made millions on Wall Street. However, he is not noted for habituating the trading venues where all the other wiz-kids hang out. He may be a commodities trader but the commodity he trades in is human and female and underage.
My cronies and I held to the school of thought of: “Do the right thing, right now.”
Like many ideas that thought has been modified in a reflection of the times. It is now, “Do the right thing, when it is convenient or provides one with an advantage.”
A threat to go to trial and pursue a scorched earth defense was enough incentive to arrive at a sweetheart deal.
This time around, such a threat won’t work. It is the nature of the beast, paying off a blackmailer is a temporary fix at best. They always come back for more. Recall Benjamin Franklin’s observation:
There is an old line from the “Rockford Files” that seems appropriate here. Mafioso: “Didn’t you hear? He died.”
Rockford, “No, when?”
Mafioso: “Next Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest….”
