People who inhabit the world of high finance miss Jeffrey Epstein. I don’t mean that they are sorry he is gone. According to the players, in that world, he was never there. An anonymous contributor offered a theory regarding Epstein’s operation.

People who know say that it is a credible theory. If you get right down to it blackmail is nothing more than harnessing market forces. At this point, it is an explanation based on speculation, not proof.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1148303671857491968.html

I don’t know much about high finance. I worked dope for fifteen years, so I learned about money laundering. Based on that experience I can see the merits of this theory.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that dopers aren’t ate up with a work ethic. If they are successful, they discover that having more money than they know what to do with, poses a problem. Staying at Motel Six, buying new underwear, rather than washing what you got, and eating out all the time doesn’t make a dent in the income. A player has only got so many teeth that can take a grill.

Eventually the brighter ones decide to seek or more correctly sham employment. This may satisfy the neighbors as the doper trudges off each morning only to return each evening. Just another wage slave. But it doesn’t work once somebody like me starts to look closer.

This is where the advice of the greatest investigators ever kicks in. Yup, I mean:

The saying goes, “Players gotta play!” Okay, but there is another saying that also applies, “It takes one to know one.” The financial players ought to know a fellow player. They don’t know Jeffery Epstein. The betting line seems to be that the source of Epstein’s funds has nothing to do with Hedge Funds.

While we are throwing around pity sayings here is another one, “Money can’t buy everything.” This leads to another consideration:

Money isn’t the only thing in play with Epstein’s blackmail scheme. The search for political influence, social prominence, a modicum of fame all fit into the pathology of Epstein.

Recall that the FBI found a trove of images of naked women and girls. Each one of those images, of naked minors are evidence and a separate offense of kiddie porn. Couple the images with a hidden camera system and the charge goes from possession to manufacture of kiddie porn. They say that FCI Florence extends seven stories under ground. If this is true, Epstein will be occupying a cell eight stories under ground.

Why would he keep these pictures knowing the potential damage they could do? The simplest reason is that the images were his savings account. They were the basis of his blackmail scheme.

Such stashes represent a double edged sword. They are leverage. The downside is that the photos are leverage for whoever has them in hand. Epstein is the victor with the photos. He becomes the vanquished once they are out of his control.

He is not likely to get out of jail. Any remaining documentary evidence, not in FBI hands, could aid him in making a deal. The downside is that he can’t get his hands on his dirty pictures. Attorney or not, it is probably outside the realm of possibility that he would entrust those pictures to anybody else. Once somebody else gets their hands on the photos they become a weapon against him.

If you ask Epstein, he would say that exploiting people’s trust without regard to scruples is one of his best traits.