Epstein Barr

[smittykins]

Doesn’t a tox screen take a while to come back(maybe two weeks if you rush it)?

[hoipolloi]

53 minutes ago, smittykins said:

Doesn’t a tox screen take a while to come back(maybe two weeks if you rush it)?

Yes, tox screens can take up to 3-4 weeks, sometimes more, depending on what's included in the screen.

[fraurosena]

Food for thought. Will this be investigated?

 

[Howl]

Holy Schmoley. 

[fraurosena]

Prince Andrew still maintained his friendship after Epstein was convicted of sex with minors. He had Epstein and a young 'companion' over at Balmoral -- possibly while his mom was in residence.  He went to Epstein's island, partied with (very) young girls, and he's trying to convince people he knew nothing of what was going on there?  

More Epstein accusers surface, as Prince prepares for cops

[Warning: graphic content]

Quote

Prince Andrew is willing to speak to police probing the alleged crimes of his late friend and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, it has been claimed.

The Duke of York, 59, has strongly denied any allegations of sexual misconduct regarding his relationship with the late-financier, The Sun reports. Andrew would be willing to provide a witness statement or be questioned by cops in either Britain or the US about his friendship with the paedo, the Daily Express reports. The prince does not consider himself above the law and is willing to help the probe, the report says.

Sources reportedly say the royal has never been asked to speak to investigators about Epstein.

Meanwhile, three women have sued the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, saying they were sexually abused by the financier, both before and after his controversial plea deal that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution for sex crimes in 2007. The lawsuits, filed in Manhattan federal court, bring the total number of civil cases against Epstein’s estate since his apparent suicide in jail on August 10 to at least five.

Two of the women say they met Epstein when they were 17, while a third said she met him when she was 20. All describe similar patterns of being brought to Epstein’s home to provide massages and then subjected to repeated, unwanted sex acts.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking children. It is unclear how the probe into Epstein’s alleged crimes will proceed after his suicide.

But it is believed that former associates of the banker, such as Ghislaine Maxwell, could be probed by cops after the US Attorney-General William Barr said the abuser’s conspirators should “not rest easy.”

Meanwhile, the New York Post reports that Ghislaine Maxwell once taught one of Epstein’s accusers “the proper way” to perform oral sex just how he liked, a new lawsuit claimed. The British socialite allegedly gave the victim, Priscilla Doe, a “step-by-step” tutorial during a meeting at the convicted paedophile’s island, Little St. James, in 2006, according to Priscilla’s lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

Maxwell, Epstein’s gal pal and alleged madam, used her own hands “to demonstrate how to pleasure Jeffrey Epstein manually so that plaintiff would know exactly how to make Jeffrey Epstein happy,” the complaint said. Maxwell provided other graphic advice on “stimulation” and “pressure” — and eventually made sure that Priscilla and other young women were “constantly on call to sexually service” Epstein, according to the filing.

On the same trip, Priscilla — who was a 20-year-old dancer when she was “recruited” as one of Epstein’s personal masseuses in 2006 — was forced into having sex with another woman, identified as “Associate 2,” during which she was choked by Epstein, the suit said.

The New York Post also reports that Epstein forced one of his alleged sex slaves into marrying another woman — by promising to foot a $30,000 bill for the victim’s much-needed medical surgery, according to a new lawsuit. The victim, only identified as Katlyn Doe, was just 17 when she first met Epstein in 2007 and spent the next seven years traveling to his homes in Manhattan, Florida and the US Virgin Islands for the sole purpose of having sex with him, the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court said.

The young woman was one of three Epstein accusers to file suit against the late pedophile’s estate and others on Tuesday — a day after his will was filed in St. Thomas.

Soon after they’d met, Epstein, 66, promised he’d cure Katlyn’s eating disorder, as well as take care of her medical bills for an undisclosed “serious medical condition,” court papers said. In 2013, he allegedly coerced her into legally marrying one of his female recruiters, “Associate 3,” so that the recruiter could obtain legal status to “remain in the country to work for him,” the suit said. In exchange, he told Katlyn he’d pay $30,000 for her to get surgery — but he only half-fulfilled that promise, the victim claimed.

New court papers provide more details of the serial pervert’s disturbing behaviour, including how he’d “be on the verge of ejaculating and would stop in order to make a phone call, at times saying that nearing sexual climax evoked certain important thoughts in Jeffrey Epstein’s mind.”

Ghislaine, the socialite daughter of disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell, has vehemently denied allegations that she procured young women to be abused by her former lover Epstein.

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew was criticised for continuing his friendship with the multi-millionaire American following his conviction and imprisonment.

And after video emerged of the Duke peering from behind a door and waving at a young women at Epstein’s New York mansion in 2010, the royals released a fresh statement:

“The Duke of York has been appalled by the reports of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged crimes. His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent.”

The prince met Epstein in the 1990s and enjoyed a holiday in Phuket, Thailand with the hedge fund manager in 2001 and also invited his pal to the Queen’s Sandringham estate the previous year. Andrew also hosted the paedophile and a young model, aged in her 20s, at Balmoral castle in Scotland in 1999.

Further allegations were made in 2011 regarding the royal’s friendship with Epstein in a Florida civil suit which was seeking to overturn the sex offender’s 2008 plea bargain.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"At least eight jail officials knew Jeffrey Epstein was not to be left alone in cell"

Spoiler

At least eight Bureau of Prisons staffers knew that strict instructions had been given not to leave multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alone in his cell, yet the order was apparently ignored in the 24 hours leading up to his death, according to people familiar with the matter.

The fact that so many prison officials were aware of the directive — not just low-level correctional officers, but supervisors and managers — has alarmed investigators assessing what so far appears to be a stunning failure to follow instructions, these people said. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing investigations. They declined to identify the eight.

Investigators suspect that at least some of these individuals also knew Epstein had been left alone in a cell before he died, and they are working to determine the extent of such knowledge, these people said, cautioning that the apparent disregard for the instruction does not necessarily mean there was criminal conduct. The explanation, they said, could be simpler and sadder — bureaucratic incompetence spanning multiple individuals and ranks within the organization.

The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment.

“It’s perplexing,” said Robert Hood, a former warden at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colo. “If people were given instructions that Epstein should not be left alone, I don’t understand how they were not followed.”

Hood, who also once served as the Bureau of Prisons’ chief of internal affairs, said it was disconcerting that officials might have thought they were putting Epstein on a less-intensive form of suicide watch.

“You’re either on suicide watch or you’re not. If you have any concern at all, you maintain the suicide watch,” he said.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center during the early morning of Aug. 10. He had been held at the facility in Lower Manhattan for more than a month on sex trafficking charges that could have led to a prison sentence of as much as 45 years. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was due to go to trial next year.

Epstein hanged himself using a bedsheet fastened to his bunk bed, according to a person familiar with the investigation. New York City’s medical examiner has ruled the death a suicide — a finding not accepted by Epstein’s lawyers, who said they are conducting their own investigation.

The death has prompted investigations and a leadership overhaul at the Bureau of Prisons, the federal agency that runs the jail. On Monday, Attorney General William P. Barr named Kathleen Hawk Sawyer its new director, having replaced the detention center’s warden days earlier.

The circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death are being investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Speaking Wednesday at an unrelated event in Dallas, Barr said that the investigation is “well along,” adding, “I think I’ll soon be in a position to report to Congress and the public the results.”

Barr said there had been some delays in the investigation “because a number of the witnesses were not cooperative. A number of them required having union representatives and lawyers.” He also said there were “serious irregularities at the center. At the same time I have seen nothing that undercuts the finding of the medical examiner that this was a suicide.”

The investigations already have found a troubling lack of follow-through by Bureau of Prisons personnel after a July 23 incident in which Epstein may have tried to kill himself, according to people familiar with them.

In that incident, guards rushed to Epstein’s cell when his cellmate at the time, Nicholas Tartaglione, began yelling, according to these people . Tartaglione told officers he had noticed Epstein had a bedsheet around his neck and appeared to be trying to kill himself, the people said .

Epstein denied that, they said, and told prison staff that he had been attacked — something Tartaglione denied.

Some MCC staff doubted Epstein’s claim that he was attacked, suspecting instead that he either faked a suicide attempt or intended to take his own life, the people familiar said.

Epstein was placed on suicide watch, but officials lifted those measures six days later, on July 29. On that day, MCC officials returned Epstein to a special housing unit known as Nine South — where officers were directed to check on him in his cell every 30 minutes. The other explicit condition of his removal from suicide watch was that Epstein would not be left alone in a cell, these people said.

That instruction was spelled out widely within the chain of command, people familiar with the matter said, and one of the issues investigators are trying to understand better is how so many people could have known of the instruction and still failed to enforce it.

Upon his return to the special housing unit, Epstein was placed in a cell with a suspect other than Tartaglione, according to people familiar with the case. Authorities have not identified that individual, who was moved out of the cell Aug 9. By the next morning, Epstein was dead.

Investigators are examining exactly why that cellmate was relocated, people familiar with the matter said, and why detention center staff failed for several hours to make the required checks on Epstein every 30 minutes. He was found about 6:30 a.m. as breakfast was being delivered to inmates.

The head of the local union that represents MCC staffers did not respond to requests for comment. An FBI spokesman and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Manhattan declined to comment.

The death of such a high-profile defendant has brought intense scrutiny to the Justice Department generally and the Bureau of Prisons specifically. Union officials have said such a suicide was inevitable, given long-term shortstaffing at the MCC and throughout the bureau, a situation that has led to employees working extensive overtime.

The two staffers assigned to check on Epstein the morning he died were both working overtime — one forced to do so by management, the other for his fourth or fifth consecutive day, the president of the local union has previously said.

Epstein’s death has sparked renewed criticism of the Justice Department from lawmakers and others who have accused officials of not taking the Epstein case seriously.

Epstein was arrested July 6 after landing at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport. The sex trafficking charges filed in New York involved dozens of girls and alleged incidents spanning 2002 to 2005.

In 2008, he pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges based on similar conduct, as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors that has been widely criticized as too lenient. That deal allowed Epstein to avoid being accused of federal crimes, and he ultimately spent 13 months in jail with flexible ­work-release privileges.

Its terms were approved by Alex Acosta, who was then the U.S. attorney in Miami. Acosta served as President Trump’s labor secretary, though he resigned from that post July 12 after Epstein’s arrest raised new scrutiny of Acosta’s handling of the previous case.

Meanwhile, the federal judge overseeing Epstein’s case has ordered a hearing next week before he dismisses the charges against the deceased financier. The decision is somewhat unusual, but U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman said he would allow Epstein’s alleged victims to speak at the hearing, as well as prosecutors and Epstein’s lawyers.

In a court filing Wednesday, Berman said that since the defendant “died before any judgment has been entered against him, the public may still have an informational interest in the process by which the prosecutor seeks dismissal of an indictment.”

Justice Department officials have pledged they will continue investigating, and could still bring charges against anyone found to have conspired with Epstein.

 

[Howl]

Epstein's Zorro ranch is New Mexico has not been searched by authorities, allowing an astounding amount of time to pass in case "someone" wanted to scrub incriminating evidence. 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Epstein's Zorro ranch is New Mexico has not been searched by authorities, allowing an astounding amount of time to pass in case "someone" wanted to scrub incriminating evidence. 

Let me hazard a guess... the name starts with 'G' and ends with 'hislaine Maxwell'. After all, there must be a reason why they are letting her roam free, despite all the accusations against her and investigations into her.

[fraurosena]

Twenty? Wow. 

Pity it's before a Grand Jury, as they're not public.

I'm still on the fence if this is major scapegoating or actual fact-finding from DOJ.

 

[Howl]

For non-twitterati, the very readable unroll is here: BREAKING: Will Barr force DoJ prosecutors to indict McCabe?

[fraurosena]

I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked!

 

[Howl]

Yes, @fraurosena, I too am SHOCKED I tell you, that there is a nonfunctioning camera in this establishment! 

[fraurosena]

Now where have I heard that phrase before? It sounds familiar somehow...  ?

 

[Audrey2]

58 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Now where have I heard that phrase before? It sounds familiar somehow...  ?

 

Well, pervs of a feather flock together...

[fraurosena]

It's simply disgusting and inexcusable that Epstein was given that sweetheart deal in 2005. It really needs to be investigated to the fullest how that came about and why. Sadly, I don't think it will be.

Damning video emerges of Epstein’s underage girls during his 2005 arrest

[graphic content]

Quote

Video footage of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s 2005 arrest has resurfaced showing disturbing images in his Florida home of underage girls, including one — who appears to be about six years old — bending over, according to reports.

The damning video compilation was filmed during a police raid on the convicted sex offender’s sprawling Palm Beach estate in Florida, US.

In one clip, detectives investigating Epstein’s alleged sexual relationships with young girls enter the mansion with guns drawn and read a search warrant to the house manager.

“The court, being satisfied of the existence of said ground (for search) set forth in the affidavit and that the laws of the state of Florida have been violated in or on a premises known and described as follows, to wit 358 El Brillo Road,” one detective says in the footage obtained by CBS 12.

The officers then sweep through the $US16.4 million ($A24.3 million) waterfront compound, where they come across a photo of a girl who appears to be about six years old bending over in a short dress with her backside exposed, according to the Daily Mail. Authorities blurred the image.

One framed photograph features a girl in a tiny bikini hanging above an image of a naked girl lying on a beach, the video shows.

Several photos show the financier’s then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, 57, who has been accused in civil suits of having recruited underage victims for Epstein — and of engaging in group sex with him and various girls.

Ms Maxwell, previously described as Epstein’s alleged former “lady of the house”, has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any crimes.

In one photo captured on video during the police raid, Ms Maxwell can be seen stretched out naked on a beach, the New York Post reports.

One blurred image shows a couple resembling Epstein and Ms Maxwell in what appears to be the White House press briefing room — but its authenticity hasn’t been determined.

Epstein had longstanding ties to former US President Bill Clinton, who took at least 26 trips on the millionaire’s Boeing 727 between 2001 and 2003, according to a Fox News report.

Before Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges involving underage girls, Mr Clinton released a statement saying he knew nothing of the crimes Epstein had committed.

In the 2005 police raid video, the camera also pans to Epstein’s bathroom and shows what appears to be a fully equipped dentist’s chair and cart stocked with drills and other instruments.

A crudely drawn picture of a baby and a skull also hangs on a wall, with quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson and Star Trek’s Mr Spock.

Other photographs depict Epstein shaking hands with world leaders including Pope John Paul II and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

A police report cited by the Daily Mail lists sex aids, four massage tables, framed photos of naked girls and soap-on-a-rope among dozens of items authorities seized in the raid.

Epstein later pleaded guilty to a single charge of soliciting an underage prostitute and served 13 months in prison as part of a controversial deal that allowed him to avoid federal prosecution in 2007. He was also required to register as a sex offender.

But the wealthy financier’s alleged predatory behaviours didn’t end there, according to more than a dozen accusers who say he sexually abused them in various locations.

On Tuesday, many of his alleged victims filed into the US District Court in New York after being invited to testify before the case was dismissed as a result of his death.

Judge Richard M. Berman started the hearing by describing Epstein’s death as “a rather stunning turn of events”.

“I believe it is the court’s responsibility, and manifestly within its purview, to ensure the victims in this case are treated fairly and with dignity,” he said.

One after another, Epstein’s alleged victims spoke through tears about how they had been lured into giving him erotic massages, then coerced into sex and pressured to continue seeing him.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who now lives in Cairns, was among the plaintiffs in court.

Ms Giuffre, who previously said she was a 15-year-old working at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club when she was recruited to perform sex acts on Epstein, told the court her “hopes were quickly dashed and my dreams were stolen”.

“I am a victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and the dark and cruel criminal acts they committed against me … for years and years and years unstopped,” she continued.

“It’s not how Jeffrey died, it’s how he lived.

“I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didn’t understand, and I’ve been fighting that very world to this day, and I won’t stop fighting — I will never be silenced until these people are brought to justice.”

Ms Giuffre has previously alleged she had sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew “three times, including one orgy” in London at Epstein’s home and at an “orgy” on his private island in the Caribbean, according to court papers filed in Florida.

She said she was 17 years old at the time, which is under the age of consent in the state.

Prince Andrew is among prominent men who have long been accused of soliciting Epstein’s harem of underage “sex slaves”. He has denied the allegations.

In a statement released at the weekend, Prince Andrew said he did not “see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that led to Epstein’s arrest and conviction”. He said it was “a mistake and an error” to see Epstein after the convicted sex offender’s earlier release from prison, and he “deplores the exploitation of any human being”. Outside court on Tuesday, Ms Giuffre said Prince Andrew “knows exactly what he has done”.

“I hope he comes clean about it,” she said.

Jennifer Araoz, who has accused Epstein of raping her in his New York mansion when she was a 15-year-old aspiring actress, said he “robbed me of my dreams, of my chance to pursue a career I adored”.

“The fact I will never have a chance to face my predator in court eats away at me,” she said. “They let this man kill himself and kill the chance for justice for so many others.”

Sarah Ransome, who alleged Epstein pressured her into sex when she was in her early 20s, encouraged prosecutors in their efforts to bring others to justice, saying: “Finish what you started. … We are survivors and the pursuit of justice should not abate.”

Another accuser, Courtney Wild, told the court “justice has never been served in this case”.

“I feel very angry and sad,” she said.

“He is a coward.”

Some of the accusers, who withheld their names, said they felt Epstein had victimised them a second time by him taking his own life.

“It felt like new trauma all over again,” one woman said.

Brad Edwards, one of the lawyers representing Epstein’s victims, described it as “a historic day for crime victims in the United States”.

According to prosecutor Maurene Comey, the dismissal of Epstein’s case “in no way prohibits or inhibits the Government’s ongoing investigation into other potential co-conspirators, nor does it prevent the bringing of a new case in the future”. Those inquiries “have been ongoing, remain ongoing and will continue”, she said.

Earlier this month, US Attorney-General William Barr said the abuser’s co-conspirators should “not rest easy”.

Jennifer Araoz, now 32, filed a lawsuit against Epstein's estate, former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and three other unidentified accomplices under a New York law that recently took effect.

Prosecutors previously alleged several unnamed employees of Epstein’s were involved in his alleged crimes in the early 2000s by accepting payment to arrange massages that led to sex acts with young girls, then encouraging them to recruit others.

“Through these victim recruiters, Epstein gained access to and was able to abuse dozens of additional minor girls,” Epstein’s indictment read.

According to multiple court filings previously reviewed by the Miami Herald, lawyers for one alleged victim claimed Epstein and Ms Maxwell acted as the leaders of an “organised crime family” and Ms Maxwell helped traffic girls and women to powerful figures.

According to the documents, Ms Maxwell lured the alleged victims into the sex ring by offering them modelling, fashion, and educational opportunities. Two of the women alleged Epstein and Ms Maxwell together sexually assaulted them, according to court documents.

In recent years, Ms Maxwell has struck confidential settlements in civil court with two of the women who say she participated in Epstein’s sexual exploitation of them, according to the The New York Times.

 

[Howl]

Long before Julie Brown's story broke in the Miami Herald, best selling author James Patterson co-wrote (John Connolly, Tim Malloy) Filthy Rich: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein The Billionaires Sex Scandal (April 2017) 

I checked it out of my local library and read it this summer. There was an appalling travesty of justice and likely corruption.  Julie Brown's stellar investigation put Eptein under a white-hot spotlight, but it wasn't new news. 

It's almost forgotten now, but Alex Acosta was the US attorney involved in brokering Epstein's deal and he quietly resigned as Sec. of Labor in the first half of July and immediately sank into oblivion.  Yes, that's July 2019, LAST MONTH, but a long time ago in Trump Time.  Anyway, that plea deal is currently being investigated by DoJ.   Two key paragraphs from this NPR article dated July 10, just before Acosta resigned: Labor Secretary Alex Acosta Defends His Handling Of Jeffrey Epstein Plea Deal

Quote

[Elijah] Cummings and other House Democrats also sent a letter to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility in which they said: "There are significant concerns with Secretary Acosta's actions in approving an extremely favorable deal for an alleged sexual predator while concealing the deal from the victims of Mr. Epstein's crimes, which a judge found violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act."

and in light of Bill Barr, we can expect that exactly nothing will happen. 

Quote

...this year, the Justice Department confirmed that its Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating whether lawyers committed misconduct in the handling of the earlier case against Epstein...A Justice Department spokesman told NPR on Wednesday that the review is "ongoing," with no timetable for its completion

And then there is this last, depressing paragraph which pretty much tells you this will go nowhere, because even before Bill Barr,  DoJ's Office of Professional Responsibility is where things go to die. 

Quote

The Office of Professional Responsibility, which conducts internal investigations involving allegations of professional misconduct, has faced criticism in the past over its perceived slow pace and lack of transparency.

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Howl

[fraurosena]

More Epstein cover-ups uncovered.

How An Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Quote

The M.I.T. Media Lab, which has been embroiled in a scandal over accepting donations from the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, had a deeper fund-raising relationship with Epstein than it has previously acknowledged, and it attempted to conceal the extent of its contacts with him. Dozens of pages of e-mails and other documents obtained by The New Yorker reveal that, although Epstein was listed as “disqualified” in M.I.T.’s official donor database, the Media Lab continued to accept gifts from him, consulted him about the use of the funds, and, by marking his contributions as anonymous, avoided disclosing their full extent, both publicly and within the university. Perhaps most notably, Epstein appeared to serve as an intermediary between the lab and other wealthy donors, soliciting millions of dollars in donations from individuals and organizations, including the technologist and philanthropist Bill Gates and the investor Leon Black.

There is so much consciousness of guilt... 

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The effort to conceal the lab’s contact with Epstein was so widely known that some staff in the office of the lab’s director, Joi Ito, referred to Epstein as Voldemort or “he who must not be named.”

Quote

Epstein’s apparent role in directing outside contributions was also elided. In October, 2014, the Media Lab received a two-million-dollar donation from Bill Gates; Ito wrote in an internal e-mail, “This is a $2M gift from Bill Gates directed by Jeffrey Epstein.” Cohen replied, “For gift recording purposes, we will not be mentioning Jeffrey’s name as the impetus for this gift.”

Quote

On Ito’s calendar, which typically listed the full names of participants in meetings, Epstein was identified only by his initials. Epstein’s direct contributions to the lab were recorded as anonymous. In September, 2014, Ito wrote to Epstein soliciting a cash infusion to fund a certain researcher, asking, “Could you re-up/top-off with another $100K so we can extend his contract another year?” Epstein replied, “yes.” Forwarding the response to a member of his staff, Ito wrote, “Make sure this gets accounted for as anonymous.” Peter Cohen, the M.I.T. Media Lab’s Director of Development and Strategy at the time, reiterated, “Jeffrey money, needs to be anonymous. Thanks.”

Quote

He wrote that future filings related to Epstein should be submitted only “if there is a way to do it quietly.”

Quote

But the e-mails show that Ito consulted closely with Epstein and actively sought the various donations. At one point, Cohen reached out to Ito for advice about a donor, writing, “you or Jeffrey would know best.”

Quote

Current and former faculty and staff of the media lab described a pattern of concealing Epstein’s involvement with the institution. Signe Swenson, a former development associate and alumni coordinator at the lab, told me that she resigned in 2016 in part because of her discomfort about the lab’s work with Epstein. She said that the lab’s leadership made it explicit, even in her earliest conversations with them, that Epstein’s donations had to be kept secret.

Quote

Swenson recalled having a conversation with Cohen and Ito about how to take money from Epstein without reporting it within the university. Cohen asked, “How do we do this?” Swenson replied that, due to the university’s internal-reporting requirements, there was no way to keep the donations under the radar. Ito, as Swenson recalled, replied, “we can take small gifts anonymously.”

Quote

In an e-mail from Cohen to Ito, asking whether Black wished his contributions to remain anonymous, Cohen wrote, “Can you ask Jeffrey to ask Leon that?” He added, “We can make it anonymous easily, unless Leon would like the credit. If Jeffrey tells you that Leon would like a little love from MIT, we can arrange that too.…”

Quote

In the summer of 2015, as the Media Lab determined how to spend the funds it had received with Epstein’s help, Cohen informed lab staff that Epstein would be coming for a visit. The financier would meet with faculty members, apparently to allow him to give input on projects and to entice him to contribute further. Swenson, the former development associate and alumni coördinator, recalled saying, referring to Epstein, “I don’t think he should be on campus.” She told me, “At that point it hit me: this pedophile is going to be in our office.” According to Swenson, Cohen agreed that Epstein was “unsavory” but said “we’re planning to do it anyway—this was Joi’s project.” Staffers entered the meeting into Ito’s calendar without including Epstein’s name. They also tried to keep his name out of e-mail communication. “There was definitely an explicit conversation about keeping it off the books, because Joi's calendar is visible to everyone,” Swenson said. “It was just marked as a V.I.P. visit.”

Quote

Swenson and several other former and current M.I.T. Media Lab employees expressed discomfort over the lab’s recent statements about its relationship with Epstein. In August, two researchers, including Zuckerman, resigned in protest over the matter. In a Medium post announcing the decision, Zuckerman wrote that M.I.T. had “violated its own values so clearly in working with Epstein and in disguising that relationship.” Zuckerman began providing counsel to other colleagues who also objected. He directed Swenson to seek representation from the legal nonprofit Whistleblower Aid, and she began the process of going public. “Jeffrey Epstein shows that—with enough money—a convicted sex offender can open doors at the highest level of philanthropy,” John Tye, Swenson’s attorney at Whistleblower Aid, told me. “Joi Ito and his development chief went out of their way to keep Epstein’s role under wraps. 

Quote

Swenson said that, even though she resigned over the lab’s relationship with Epstein, her participation in what she took to be a cover-up of his contributions has weighed heavily on her since. Her feelings of guilt were revived when she learned of recent statements from Ito and M.I.T. leadership that she believed to be lies. “I was a participant in covering up for Epstein in 2014,” she told me. “Listening to what comments are coming out of the lab or M.I.T. about the relationship—I just see exactly the same thing happening again.”

All of this just goes to show that money and greed always trumps basic humanity and common decency.

[fraurosena]

 

 

[fraurosena]

It turns out Joi Ito is getting some of his just desserts:

 

[Howl]

On 8/26/2019 at 6:54 PM, Howl said:

For non-twitterati, the very readable unroll is here: BREAKING: Will Barr force DoJ prosecutors to indict McCabe?

So here we are.  It's looking like McCabe will be indicted, or that's the word on the street.  Time for a prescient Sarah Kendzior  tweet from January 29, 2018: 

 

[justwatching]

So here we are.  It's looking like McCabe will be indicted, or that's the word on the street.  Time for a prescient Sarah Kendzior  tweet from January 29, 2018: 
 

They laid that out in such a way that even nonpolitical folks like me can understand it. Wish they had more posts.

[fraurosena]

Barr may be obstructing any investigation into Epstein in America, but thankfully the French are on it. Prince Andrew is in their crosshairs too.

Jeffrey Epstein’s £7m Paris home raided by cops – as pressure intensifies on Prince Andrew to cooperate

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COPS have raided the Paris home of Jeffrey Epstein as pressure intensifies for Prince Andrew to help judges investigate the financier's alleged crimes in the city. The raid follows Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz launching a probe into claims of abuse carried out by Epstein on victims as young as 12.

Agents from the Central Office for the Suppression of Violence against Persons carried out a raid on the £7m apartment in Avenue Foch, next to the Arc de Triomphe, yesterday and in the early hours of today.

There was also a simultaneous raid on Karin Models, an agency run by Jean-Luc Brunel, who is accused of helping Epstein procure women.

France Info, the French news outlet, reported: "The searches authorised by judges began on Monday at 3pm, and ended on Tuesday at 4am on Tuesday in the apartment of the American financier.

"According to the testimony of Epstein’s butler in France, whom France Info has met, the apartment has a custom-made massage room, frequented by a large number of women, some of whom had paid relations with the multimillionaire."

Mr Heitz, the prosecutor, said his investigation would focus on crimes carried out by Epstein, 66, who hanged himself in a New York prison cell in August.

There is considerable evidence that vulnerable girls travelled between France and America, and were treated as "sex slaves" by Epstein and his associates.

Guests at the Epstein property included his long-term companion Ghislaine Maxwell, 57, who is also alleged to have helped Epstein find victims.

Prince Andrew and Maxwell, the daughter of the late tycoon Robert Maxwell, are close friends, and have travelled extensively together.

A "black book" stolen by Epstein’s late butler also contains the names of numerous contacts in the French capital who could potentially be connected to the Duke of York.

Prince Andrew has denied any wrongdoing, saying at no stage did he “witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to (Epstein's) arrest and conviction”.

A previous Buckingham Palace statement said: "The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes. "His Royal Highness deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent."

However, commenting on the French enquiry, a prosecuting source said: "The nature of the enquiry allows anyone who might have useful information to be called to give evidence. They can do this as witness, without initially facing criminal action. Prince Andrew would certainly be an obvious person to assist with this enquiry. He is clearly deeply involved in this case."

Epstein was arrested on July 6 by FBI agents after he landed at Teterboro airport in New Jersey following a flight from Paris Le Bourget airport in his private jet. US prosecutors had alleged that Epstein  ‘sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls’ from 2002 to 2005 at his properties in New York and Florida.

Epstein – who faced 45 years in prison – had entered a not guilty plea when he appeared before judges on July 8.

Key witness Virginia Roberts said had also frequently been sent to France to serve as his "sex slave" when she was still a minor. Roberts - now Virginia Giuffre - said that Epstein’s victims also included two 12-year-old girls who had been sent to him from France by "one of his friends" as "a surprise birthday present".

Beyond Ms Maxwell, those alleged to have taken part in this sex trafficking included the French fashion scout Jean-Luc Brunel.

Both Maxwell and Brunel have firmly denied any wrongdoing.

Roberts claims she was first recruited by Maxwell, who has joint British and French nationality, to work as a masseuse to Epstein when she was aged 15.

Following a criminal conviction in the USA in 2008, Epstein was placed on a sex offenders register and served 13 months of a prison sentence. Epstein spent three weeks at his Paris apartment before his arrest, and had frequently stayed there before this time too.

'BIRTHDAY GIFT'

Referring to the time Epstein had boasted about abusing two 12-year-old girls, Roberts said: "It was a surprise birthday gift from one of his friends and they were from France. I did see them, I did meet them.

"Jeffrey bragged afterwards after he met them that they were 12-year-olds and flown over from France because they're really poor over there, and their parents needed the money, or whatever the case is, and they were absolutely free to stay and flew out."

The girls, who may have been from Eastern European, would now be aged around 30.

Ghislaine Maxwell has called Roberts a liar, prompting her to launch a defamation suit against Maxwell in 2015.

In legal depositions connection to this libel case, Roberts said:  "I also had sexual intercourse with Jean-Luc Brunel many times when I was 16 through 19 years old.

 

[hoipolloi]

The forensic pathologist hired by Epstein's brother now says that Jeffrey's death was a homicide:

Quote

 

...Now a private forensic pathologist hired by Mark Epstein to oversee his brother’s autopsy bolsters what conspiracy theorists have suggested for months: that the evidence does not support the finding that Jeffrey Epstein killed himself.

Dr. Michael Baden, one of the world’s leading forensic pathologists, viewed Jeffrey Epstein’s body and was present at the autopsy, held August 11 — the day after Epstein was found dead at the notorious Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan....

Baden’s findings, first aired in an interview on Fox & Friends Wednesday, is that Epstein suffered multiple fractures in his neck that are more consistent with strangulation than suicide by hanging. Epstein, who was found dead Aug. 10, had three fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx, Baden said....

 

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by hoipolloi
Clarity

[front hugs > duggs]

I am not somebody who believes in conspiracy theories....but..... ? there seems to be so much more in this scenario...

[Howl]

On 10/31/2019 at 9:01 AM, front hugs > duggs said:

I am not somebody who believes in conspiracy theories....but..... ? there seems to be so much more in this scenario...

A post popped up on fb today.  It's a news clip from a local TV station somewhere USA, of an interview with a  veteran with a retired  military working dog.  The guy is talking about that whole thing, right on topic, the dog is being a very good boy, and the veteran's last sentence, out of the blue, is Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself.