SINCE the release of the Epstein Files by the US Department of Justice on January 30, outrage has been unleashed across the United States and Europe. But the revelations, which include more than 30 lakh e-mail exchanges, over a lakh of photographs and above a thousand video clips, bring out the horrific crimes that were anchored by self-styled financial advisor and power peddler Jeffrey Epstein and his close associates unravelling his network of leverage, blackmail and influence peddling.
Among the charges are kidnapping and forced exploitation of helpless teenage girls, orphaned and destitute, from some of the poorest neighbourhoods, orphanages and refugee camps. It is true that this sordid saga attempted to disproportionately focus and target Epstein. However, the chronology of events makes it abundantly clear that Epstein’s inhuman crimes were not instances of individual deprivations. It flowed from the systemic environment. The history of wrongdoing spans decades, characterised by early and largely private allegations that evolved into high profile criminal investigations, a controversial plea deal in 2008, his eventual arrest and the alleged death by suicide in 2019.
During the 1980s and 90s, he reportedly began recruiting and exploiting women and girls. According to a 1996 report, an artist told the FBI that Epstein stole photos of her young sisters threatening her if she spoke out. In 1998 he purchased Little St. James, his private island in the US Virgin Islands. This came to assume centrality to his sex trafficking activities. In 2000 itself, Epstein’s to be masseuse, claimed of being a teen sex slave.
In March 2005, an investigation began in Palm Beach after a report of a 14-year-old girl being molested. In July 2006, Epstein was arrested on a state charge of soliciting prostitution. In June 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor before a court in Florida. Subsequently, Epstein’s ‘sweetheart’ plea deal with US Attorney Alexander Acosta allowed him to avoid federal charges and resulted in an 18 months sentence.
In 2011, Virginia Giuffre (earlier Virginia Roberts) appeared in public and alleged being trafficked to Prince Andrew. In November 2018, a series published by Miami Herald revealed details of the 2008 plea deal, drawing public outrage and legal attention. On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested in New York on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges involving minors. On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, which was ruled to be a suicide by hanging in suspicious circumstances.
Even after Epstein’s death, curtains could not be finally drawn. In December 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s closest associate was convicted of sex trafficking and subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison. After protracted legal wrangling, court ordered the release of Epstein files, naming his clients without specific allegations of wrongdoing. It is in this background and rising tide of protests triggered by allegations by over a thousand victims, insistent investigation by public spirited journalists and other critics, that the US Congress was forced to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the release of more investigative records.
These Epstein Files were part of the huge chest of material – e-mails, photographs and video clips – which featured virtually the who’s who of the power elite of the United States and many of the European countries. It included not just politicians, but policy makers like Larry Summers, Peter Mandelson, royalty, academia and top-notch entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Richard Branson. It is really mind boggling that Epstein’s network operated with such diverse and numerous ‘celebrities’. Donald Trump himself has found mention more than 100,000 times while Epstein describes him as ‘my closest friend’. Epstein also had security sensitive connections with Israel and the former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak.
The Epstein Files were largely recovered from one of the priciest properties – Epstein’s New York Mansion – where they were stuffed in a neatly arranged storage space. But now, after the Department of Justice’s release of these, all hell has broken loose. It is believed that millions of other pieces of evidence are yet to be released. The US Congressional Committee on Justice had its public hearings, particularly nailing down Pam Bondi, US Attorney General and in-charge of complying with the provisions of the Transparency Act and Kash Patel, FBI Director.
It is clear from all these proceedings that there was a deliberate attempt to delay and cover-up the misdeeds and criminal connections. It is also clear that the release of evidence falls far short of bringing out the full truth by using the instrumentality of redaction to selectively reveal even the identity of the victims while concealing those of the ‘high and mighty’. The mainstream media continues to focus only on Epstein, underpinning the crude attempt to divorce his horrific crimes from the systemic protection and encouragement to enable crimes of such a grotesque magnitude.
Even cursory reading of what has come out graphically unravels the systemic nature. More than 150 years back, concluding his chapter on the Genesis of Industrial Capital in Capital, Marx stated, “Capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” He buttressed this with a quote in the footnote from a worker and trade union leader, T J Dunning. “With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 per cent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent will produce eagerness, 50 per cent, positive audacity, 100 per cent will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent and there is not a crime at which it will scruple nor a risk it will run even to the chance of its owner being hanged”. The narrative unravelled by Epstein Files brings out the reality of Marx’s contention.
The evolution of capitalism to its present neoliberal avatar and accompanying cronyism produces astronomical inequality and unemployment. This has given rise to the pernicious neoliberal ideology which goes far beyond its economic paradigm. Extreme inequality has created what commentators note, the ‘Epstein class’ of global predators exploiting the rest financially and in other ways. It creates an ethos that no longer recognises the common humanity that sees other people as Elon Musk puts it, “non-player characters” and believes that, “the fundamental weakness of western civilisation is empathy”.
It is this audacity and sense of insularity which arms them against any modicum of accountability. The corporate owned media reproduces this idea and normalises them to perpetuate the current systemic environment. There cannot be any free market in media ownership and the free market in information and ideas. The oligarchs who dominate the sector stifle inconvenient thoughts and promote the policies that protect their fortunes.
Hardip Singh Puri, the current Petroleum Minister of the Modi government, and now charged industrialist Anil Ambani, had their documented interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. Without proper investigation, nobody would know what transpired and what the provocation was. But all that happened in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019, almost a decade after Epstein himself admitted to his horrible crimes. We have to soldier on to bring out the truth and brace ourselves for the global fallout of this systemic infrastructure that facilitates such anti-human crimes.
(February 17, 2026)
