# Will Jeffrey Epstein's "friends" face justice?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [August 4, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242 "2020-08-04T11:49:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/41 "2022-02-22T12:47:20Z")
I for one have always thought randy Andy was a sacrificial pawn/poison pill.
Well known, but not much of politically important player now that his nephews are adults. Plus as has been pointed put here many times, the allegations against him seemed very hard to stick, since evidence actual criminal wrongdoing (as opposed to reprehensible actions) were thin on the ground.
Give the masses a “big” scalp, the Queen’s son, but if it goes to far, use the likely implosion of the case to discredit other more politically important people who might get caught up.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/42 "2022-02-22T12:52:18Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#):
>
> On the one hand, the ~~mi~~ billionaires have money, connections and power. On the other hand, a billionaire may have a score or two to settle with another billionaire. And when people die in jail others start to think and weigh options. Justice is slow, but sometimes, just _some_ times, it gets done.
The _modus oprendi_ seems to have been providing girls to rich and powerful men and then using that fact (and its evidence) for blacjkmail.
From what I have read, lots of men told them to fuck off, so i really depends what kind of dirt is out there. If say, Billionaire X point blank refused to accept the procured girls but never went to the authorities, Billionaire Y took them and later refuse to be blackmailed and Billionaire Z had his fun (🤢) and then got blackmailed for millions, well they are all in some amounts of jeopardy and might well have a vested interest in keeping it on the down low.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2022, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/43 "2022-02-23T03:10:37Z")
> [@AK84](#):
>
> If say, Billionaire X point blank refused to accept the procured girls but never went to the authorities,
It might be embarrassing to have this information released, but I don’t believe there is any criminality in failing to report a crime except for those who have a duty to report.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2022, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/44 "2022-04-30T02:34:42Z")
I think Ghislaine Maxwell is done with her appeals and is stuck with her verdict. (not sure if she has another appeal but it is not looking good for her)
> **[Judge denies Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid to overturn sex trafficking conviction](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/29/ghislaine-maxwell-conviction-judge-denies)**
>
> Socialite was convicted in December of five counts for bringing teenage girls to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein
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### Author:  [@Dolukhanova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dolukhanova)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/45 "2022-05-11T20:32:28Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> I think Ghislaine Maxwell is done with her appeals and is stuck with her verdict. (not sure if she has another appeal but it is not looking good for her)
She hasn’t even started her appeals yet, as far as I know. She hasn’t even been sentenced yet. The article you linked is reporting that the trial judge denied her motion to set aside the jury’s verdict on the grounds of insufficient evidence; she previously denied Maxwell’s motion to set aside the verdict on the grounds of juror misconduct. Both of those issues, presumably, will be part of Maxwell’s likely appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which will occur after she is sentenced.
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/46 "2023-02-17T13:08:13Z")
[Documents listing his “friends” are due to be unsealed.](https://nypost.com/2023/02/10/salacious-allegations-against-epstein-associates-to-be-unsealed-report/) Obviously, that doesn’t mean they were involved in the seedier side of his businesses. It will be interesting to see if there are any surprises.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/47 "2023-12-19T18:38:53Z")
UPDATE
> **[Federal judge orders documents naming Jeffrey Epstein's associates to be...](https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-judge-orders-documents-naming-jeffrey-epsteins-associates/story?id=105779882)**
>
> A federal judge in New York has ordered a vast unsealing of court documents in early 2024 that will make public the names of scores of Jeffrey Epstein's associates.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/48 "2023-12-19T21:30:42Z")
That will be verrrry, verrrry interesting.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/49 "2023-12-19T21:38:29Z")
> [@JohnT](#):
>
> UPDATE
This is kinda scary.
I mean, no doubt some of that assholes “associates” had nothing to do with and no knowledge of his many crimes. But now they will be tarred with a very broad brush.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/50 "2023-12-19T21:41:19Z")
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see who is on the list and what others make of it. Perhaps one of our likely 2024 presidential candidates are on it?
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/51 "2023-12-19T21:44:14Z")
trump certainly is.
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/52 "2023-12-25T18:00:39Z")
Who could show up on that list that you would believe didn’t get involved in Epstein’s other “businesses”? I’m gonna say Bill Gates. I just don’t see it. Talked to him, maybe flew on his jet, but that’s all.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/53 "2023-12-25T18:16:28Z")
I don’t see Hunter Biden being on the list. He was basically a hanger on to fame and not part of the upper level clients that they served. If he shows up on the “list” I would question the source as being politically motivated.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/54 "2023-12-25T18:25:29Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#):
>
> I’m gonna say Bill Gates. I just don’t see it. Talked to him, maybe flew on his jet, but that’s all.
And yet, Gates’s friendship with Epstein was one of the reasons Gates’s wife divorced him.
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2023, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/55 "2023-12-25T19:17:05Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> And yet, Gates’s friendship with Epstein was one of the reasons Gates’s wife divorced him.
Ah. That I did not know.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/56 "2023-12-25T19:22:13Z")
From _Vanity Fair_ article:
> [@](#):
>
> “I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him,” she explained, adding that she met with the convicted sex trafficker “exactly one time” because she “wanted to see who this man was.” She continued, “I regretted it the second I walked in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. My heart breaks for these women.” In a statement to CBS, Bill said that “Meeting with Epstein was a mistake that I regret deeply. It was a substantial error in judgment.”
> **[Melinda Gates Says Bill Gates's Work with “Abhorrent” Jeffrey Epstein Led to...](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/melinda-gates-jeffrey-epstein-led-to-bill-gates-divorce-gayle-king-interview)**
>
> The philanthropist added that she realized their marriage “just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had.”
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### Author:  [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/57 "2023-12-25T22:55:45Z")
That must have been an interesting conversation.
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/58 "2024-01-02T00:02:27Z")
What would be an example of a legitimate reason to be an associate of Epstein?
Seriously asking since the only thing I know about Epstein is that he was a sexual predator of young girls.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/59 "2024-01-02T00:09:16Z")
He had a lot of money and was well-connected. It’s easy to imagine that not-well-informed people would want to talk to him about getting his financial support for some cause or project, charity donations or investment or whatever, or maybe they just want him to make an introduction to other wealthy people for the same purpose. Sometimes you make the request in a single meeting, and then you either win or lose and you go your separate ways. But sometimes you feel like you have to work on the person over time, so you wind up an “associate” simply because you’re trying to establish a semblance of a relationship that will pay off.
I would hope that anyone with more than two brain cells who spent more than a few hours in his orbit would have realized that something was hinky. But it’s just a hope, because proximity to money has a way of making people stupid.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-jeffrey-epsteins-friends-face-justice/917242/60 "2024-01-02T00:21:00Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#):
>
> Seriously asking since the only thing I know about Epstein is that he was a sexual predator of young girls.
That’s what he became (in)famous for later. By then the whole public knew about him, but what they knew is what you said.
Before that he was a well-connected wheeler dealer in fatcat circles, and largely unknown to the public at large. Some fatcats might have known about his side gig in teenage women. But probably not most.
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