# Jeffery Epstein has been arrested for sex trafficking a minor **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 7, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658 "2019-07-07T05:03:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/161 "2019-07-12T14:13:57Z")
at the current rate all or almost all of Trump’s cabinet will be fired or forced out in his first (hopefully only) term. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/162 "2019-07-12T14:28:59Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > at the current rate all or almost all of Trump’s cabinet will be fired or forced out in his first (hopefully only) term. I was surprised to see, when I looked after reading your post, that he still has seven out of fifteen of his original cabinet members: Perdue, Perry, Carson, DeVos, Ross, Mnuchin and Chao. Your post is true, I just thought the attrition had been worse than it has. I guess all of the churn in other positions gives that impression. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/163 "2019-07-12T15:25:42Z")
the 7 left are mostly in the lower profile cabinet jobs than the guys who quit or were forced out. Mnuchin is the only guy left , at Treasury, who has a high profile. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/164 "2019-07-12T15:26:47Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > the 7 left are mostly in the lower profile cabinet jobs than the guys who quit or were forced out. Mnuchin is the only guy left , at Treasury, who has a high profile. And he has to keep Chao to keep Mitch in line. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/165 "2019-07-12T15:41:38Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I was surprised to see, when I looked after reading your post, that he still has seven out of fifteen of his original cabinet members: Perdue, Perry, Carson, DeVos, Ross, Mnuchin and Chao. > > Your post is true, I just thought the attrition had been worse than it has. I guess all of the churn in other positions gives that impression. I reasonably well expect Eric Prince to get pulled in by the FBI at some point. Pretty good odds that, that will take out DeVoss. Trump is big on keeping plausible deniability. He wants to be able to say at every moment that he got rid of anyone stinky once they got stinky. Realistically, we should be including everyone from Manafort to Acosta not just Flynn to Acosta, when we’re talking about high profile losses. It should include Broidy and Cohen as well, even though that were only given positions at the RNC, not inside the White House. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/166 "2019-07-12T16:01:01Z")
Reasonably plausible: > **[Thread by @quantian1 on Thread Reader App](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1148303671857491968.html)** > > @quantian1: So, apologies in advance, but I want to do a quick little THREAD to explain my theory of what the Epstein story really is. I promise this isn't some crazy Pizzagate conspiracy about space lizards, just...… If Trump is exposed via videos in the hands of Epstein, that will be far preferable to the possibility that Russian videos of the same sort come out. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/167 "2019-07-12T16:16:16Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I was surprised to see, when I looked after reading your post, that he still has seven out of fifteen of his original cabinet members: Perdue, Perry, Carson, DeVos, Ross, Mnuchin and Chao. > > Your post is true, I just thought the attrition had been worse than it has. I guess all of the churn in other positions gives that impression. It’s a bad group when it makes Rick Perry look good. > **[Somehow, Rick Perry (?!) Is Trump’s Most Stable Cabinet Member](https://www.thedailybeast.com/rick-perry-has-somehow-become-trumps-most-stable-cabinet-member)** > > The energy secretary has been so devoid of controversy, compared to his peers, that some lawmakers forgot he was even there. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/168 "2019-07-12T16:33:08Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > It’s a bad group when it makes Rick Perry look good. > > [Rick Perry Has Somehow Become Trump’s Most Stable Cabinet Member](https://www.thedailybeast.com/rick-perry-has-somehow-become-trumps-most-stable-cabinet-member) Those glasses really turned it around for him. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/169 "2019-07-12T17:23:58Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Those glasses really turned it around for him. Glasses or no glasses, everybody recognizes him as Stupidman. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/170 "2019-07-12T19:18:32Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Reasonably plausible: > > [Thread by @quantian1 on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1148303671857491968.html) > > If Trump is exposed via videos in the hands of Epstein, that will be far preferable to the possibility that Russian videos of the same sort come out. Sounds completely reasonable to me. Mainly because finding out that he has, essentially, no business presence it made me wonder exactly how he got his money – particularly to that extent. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/171 "2019-07-12T23:05:23Z")
[Jeffrey Epstein tampered with witnesses, sent $350K to 2 people: prosecutors … said the payments were made last November just days after the publication of a bombshell Miami Herald story.](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeffrey-epstein-tampered-witnesses-sent-350k-2-people-prosecutors-n1029381) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/172 "2019-07-13T03:32:02Z")
All this speculation about Epstein makes me wonder if he wasn’t basically the pimp/hookup for the wealthy and elite set. As in, that is the source of whatever money he has. The rest of it all is just smoke and mirrors to launder the payoffs from his rich clients. Financial services always sounds like bullshit to me anyway. ETA: And So now I read the link already posted, which lays out this theory in better details ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/173 "2019-07-13T05:06:46Z")
I read that link- it makes the Epstein case seem like something out of Qanon. Will be interesting to watch that train crash if they refuse him bail. And, looks like Perry isn’t Stupidman when it really counts. Arranging for the long term export of natural gas is not my first choice of DOE priorities, but we do have world class gas reserves, and the world will be sending us their dough for them for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/174 "2019-07-13T09:02:51Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I read that link- it makes the Epstein case seem like something out of Qanon. Will be interesting to watch that train crash if they refuse him bail. As I’ve noted before, one of the supremely annoying things about Trump is that it’s basically impossible to talk about the guy without getting into conspiracies. If you side against Trump, on Russia, then he was part of a conspiracy to work with Russia. If you side with Trump, then there’s a conspiracy to show that he did work with Russia. He’s one step away from 1MDB, Cambridge Analytica, the Khrapunov money laundering scandal, an Iranian terror funding scandal in Azerbaijan, money laundering by Deutsche Bank, and Jeffrey Epstein. That’s basically insane. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/175 "2019-07-13T15:10:30Z")
The worst part of the sweet-heart deal Epstein originally got - the charge was soliciting prostitution. Soliciting _prostitution_. That’s right - the charge calls his underage victims _prostitutes_. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/176 "2019-07-13T17:10:17Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > All this speculation about Epstein makes me wonder if he wasn’t basically the pimp/hookup for the wealthy and elite set. As in, that is the source of whatever money he has. The rest of it all is just smoke and mirrors to launder the payoffs from his rich clients. Financial services always sounds like bullshit to me anyway I really don’t think made his money straight up pimping, the numbers don’t add up. It would have to be a conspiracy theory scale operation for him to have as much spending money as he has. And while he and some of his rich friends seemed immune to financial scrutiny, people in public service or politics aren’t. They caught Elliot Spitzer because of suspicious financial transactions, and those were relatively small. Around 10K, IIRC. I mean, that’s a lot to pay for a date but small in the world of suspicious financial transactions. I think blackmail is more likely. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > As I’ve noted before, one of the supremely annoying things about Trump is that it’s basically impossible to talk about the guy without getting into conspiracies. If you side against Trump, on Russia, then he was part of a conspiracy to work with Russia. If you side with Trump, then there’s a conspiracy to show that he did work with Russia. > > He’s one step away from 1MDB, Cambridge Analytica, the Khrapunov money laundering scandal, an Iranian terror funding scandal in Azerbaijan, money laundering by Deutsche Bank, and Jeffrey Epstein. That’s basically insane. Well, remember, in the QAnon universe, Donald Trump is the one man Justice League who is going to save us all from a pedophile ring. The alleged pedophile membership list reads like a list of every politician, reporter and entertainer who has ever said anything bad about Trump. Here’s a good article from the Atlantic about the conspiracy theorist angle. > **[How the Epstein Case Explains the Rise of Conspiracy Theorists](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/epstein-conspiracy-theories/593605/)** > > Nightmarish allegations against the well-connected financier show why so many Americans let their imagination run wild when it comes to elite corruption. I’m having fun checking out the conspiracy sites today. I’d probably have more fun if I was into watching videos, these crazies aren’t particularly into print and I mostly read, I don’t really like videos. But they are really fired up. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/177 "2019-07-13T22:57:31Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I really don’t think made his money straight up pimping, the numbers don’t add up. It would have to be a conspiracy theory scale operation for him to have as much spending money as he has. And while he and some of his rich friends seemed immune to financial scrutiny, people in public service or politics aren’t. They caught Elliot Spitzer because of suspicious financial transactions, and those were relatively small. Around 10K, IIRC. I mean, that’s a lot to pay for a date but small in the world of suspicious financial transactions. I think blackmail is more likely. Supposedly, he’s also a banker to Saudi Arabia, though I don’t know why that would be since they don’t really need to launder money to anywhere. But, certainly, shadow banker to the Saudis would be a decent living. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/178 "2019-07-14T01:43:30Z")
The New York Times has gone into some detail about [Epstein’s brief time at Dalton](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-dalton-teacher.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage); apparently he was known as a bit of a creeper even back then. > [@](#): > > In the mid-1970s, students at one of New York’s most esteemed prep schools were surprised to encounter a new teacher who pushed the limits on the school’s strict dress code, wandering the halls in a fur coat, gold chains and an open shirt that exposed his chest. > > The teacher, Jeffrey Epstein, would decades later face allegations that he coerced and trafficked teenagers for sex. At the Dalton School on the Upper East Side, some students saw Mr. Epstein as an unusual and unsettling figure, willing to violate the norms in his encounters with girls. > [@](#): > > While [Headmaster] Mr. [Donald] Barr was strict on the school culture, he made it a point to hire teachers from unconventional backgrounds, recalled Susan Semel, a social studies teacher at Dalton from the 1960s to 1980s who later wrote a book on the history of the school. > > “Barr didn’t care about credentials as long as you were interesting and knew your stuff,” Ms. Semel said. > [@](#): > > Ms. Kitziger said she became close to Mr. Epstein at a time when she was struggling at home with her parents’ divorce. She confided in him, and remembered him as caring and attentive. > > “He listened,” Ms. Kitziger recalled. “I was a 14-year-old and he helped me through a time when there wasn’t anybody else to talk to. I felt like he really cared that I was having a rough go.” > > She stressed that Mr. Epstein was always professional with her. > > But other students, including Millicent Young, a graduate of the school’s 1976 class, saw things differently. Ms. Young never had Mr. Epstein as a teacher, but the school was small enough that she would spend time around him. She recalled observing Mr. Epstein flirting with the girls at the school, which drew her attention because it was so different than how other teachers behaved. > > “There was a real clarity of the inappropriateness of the behavior — that this isn’t how adult male teachers conduct themselves,” Ms. Young said. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/179 "2019-07-14T09:41:02Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > The New York Times has gone into some detail about [Epstein’s brief time at Dalton](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/12/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-dalton-teacher.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage); apparently he was known as a bit of a creeper even back then. Purportedly, Barr left the school something like 8 months before Epstein started to work there, so it’s probably disingenuous to even mention him - let alone complain that his standards allowed for anyone competent rather than just those who had a certificate. It is plausible that he hired Epstein, through some form of long delay, but it’s not terribly germaine to the story unless there’s a reason to think that there’s something nefarious about it. One doubts that Epstein showed up to the interview, with whoever he interviewed with, topless, with an oiled up chest, and a dildo suction cupped to his forehead. One presumes, at least, that he dressed and acted normal for the interview. Bad hire be as it may, that’s a different thing from a nefarious hire. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2019, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658/180 "2019-07-14T09:49:23Z")
I’m not sure exactly what you mean. I don’t read anything there as saying his hiring was nefarious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeffery-epstein-has-been-arrested-for-sex-trafficking-a-minor/836658.md?page=10)