UNITED STATES
Forbes
July 12, 2019
By Lisette Voytko
It’s only been a week since Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest on two federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy burst onto cable news chyrons and across social media, a decade-long wrong, in many observers’ minds, finally righted. The mysterious Manhattan financier, who maintains his innocence, had become a pariah from the wealth and power enclaves he inhabited before his arrest and eventual plea bargain in 2008 on two reduced, state-level felony charges of prostitution.
In recent years, even as his profile dimmed, a certain outrage stirred. Long gone were the wealthy and famous figures in his life, such as Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Prince Andrew, Woody Allen and, perhaps most importantly, longtime friend and early patron Leslie Wexner, the billionaire retail magnate. In 2003, Wexner spoke highly of Epstein. “[He’s] very smart with a combination of excellent judgment and unusually high standards. Also, he is always a most loyal friend.” This week, a spokesperson told Forbes, “Mr. Wexner severed ties with Mr. Epstein more than a decade ago.”
Post-#MeToo, the Miami Herald’s Julie K. Brown revisited the Epstein case in a five-part series to examine what might have protected him after prosecutors had built what seemed to be a powerful, 53-page indictment, with lurid allegations of Epstein’s abuses—that he would receive massages from 36 identified underage girls, with the knowledge that some were as young as 14, and in some instances rape them.
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