JEFFREY EPSTEIN: FILTHY RICH
Powerful, Outrageous, Pedophile + Pimp
The Netflix documentary about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein premiered on May 27th. The four-part docuseries, Filthy Rich, uncovers the billionaire’s perverted use of power, money and his decades-long abuse and rape of underage girls. Referred to as a “sexual pyramid scheme,” the victims are front and center as they expose the manipulative Epstein. They tell of being recruited and recruiting other girls to have sex with Epstein, under the guise they were going to make some easy money to give him massages.
The victims share in graphic detail their experiences on Epstein’s private island-also known as “pedophile island,” his Palm Beach mansion, and his other homes. Sarah Ransome, an Epstein accuser, says she went to his island, “from the very first day that I arrived on the island, the abuse started.” Ransome was summoned to the massage room where Epstein raped her, “It was like lying on a surgeon’s table and someone doing things to you that you have no control over. You’re powerless. I was trapped.”
The series explores the 2008 case built against Epstein in Palm Beach after a phone call to the police about a 14-year-old girl’s allegation against the financier. Police identified 36 underage girls who were sexually assaulted and solicited for prostitution. In a shocking secret plea deal, Epstein avoided a life sentence and served just 13-months in jail. Alexander Acosta, a federal prosecutor in Florida, handled the sex crimes prosecution of Epstein and in 2017 was nominated and confirmed as the U.S. Secretary of Labor. An outcry of his handling of the Epstein case and the plea deal forced him to resign.
In 2003, investigative journalist, Vicky Ward profiled the very private Epstein for Vanity Fair. Ward set out to write a business article about the elusive and wealthy New Yorker, but she uncovered much more. She learned that two sisters, Maria and Annie Farmer, had reported abuse by Epstein and his long-time partner Ghislaine Maxwell in the 1990s. The FBI investigation of Epstein evaporated. Both Maria and Annie tell their story in the series, but VF edited the allegations from Ward’s article. “Jeffrey Epstein is the ultimate story of the abuse of power and money, but of course, what none of us knew was that the girls I had spoken to were only the tip of the iceberg,” said Ward in episode one.
Epstein traveled with a circle of powerful, high-profile titans. He capitalized on his relationship with billionaire business tycoon Les Wexner. Epstein had total financial control over Wexner’s money and amassed a fortune as a result of their friendship. Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and defense attorney Alan Dershowitz were often with Epstein. Other accused sex offenders including, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen and Kevin Spacey, were also part of his orbit. Virginia Roberts Guiffre, another Epstein accuser, talks candidly about being trafficked to Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz. It is a claim Dershowitz vehemently denies in the series. Prince Andrew retreated from his royal duties after a photograph of him with the 17-year-old Guiffre surfaced. Epstein snapped the picture of the two at the London home of his girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The victims were young, vulnerable and often from broken homes. Maxwell would recruit these girls and groom them by exploiting their need for security. Lisa Bryant, director of the docuseries, told TIME in an interview, “They depended on him for housing, for medicine. They were fearful for their lives. There was a feeling like there was no way out.”
It would be more than a decade before Epstein got arrested again, but this time in New York. Bryant shows in-depth the willingness of the victims to continue to seek justice as they move forward with their lives. The young victims are now grown women and still carry the burden of his abuse. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the outcome they expected. On August 10, 2019, Epstein died by suicide while being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center jail in lower Manhattan. “Honestly, I felt so devastated that once again, he had managed to escape any kind of accountability, says Annie Farmer.”
