Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell: Dirty Money

TW: Sexual Abuse

TW: Soliciting Minors

TW: Suicide Mention

I did not know who Jeffrey Epstein was until the allegations against Prince Andrew were publicised and featured on every news website available. At the time, I was more focused on Prince Andrew, as he was a member of a royal family, and his crimes/allegations were more in the spotlight.

And then a few months afterwards, I saw a documentary on Netflix, me and my mother both exclaimed "that is the person who was friends with Prince Andrew!" That's who he was known as to us, but now I understand who Epstein really was.

This documentary was Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, and it revealed the story of Jeffrey Epstein. A story of corruption, money and abuse of power.

This is the story about a wealthy financer, eluding justice for financial and sexual crimes from his first days on Wall Street until the very end.

He was able to use his power as a rich, white man to manipulate, corrupt and abuse minors, and put them through soul wrenching pain and trauma.

Epstein extorted young women and girls. He encouraged them to visit his home to engage in sexual acts with him, after which he would pay them off with hundreds of dollars in cash. Furthermore, to maintain his supply of victims, he also paid certain victims to recruit additional girls to be abused by him. Some of these acts included erotic massages where he was evidently aroused.

The question is, how did he spin this narrative into benefiting himself? His lawyers even said that the massages which he procured young girls for, were therapeutic for him rather than blatant abuse. How did he use his charm and charisma to befriend powerful socialites like Harvey Weinstein, Prince Andrew and most vitally, socialite Ghislaine Maxwell?

Ghislaine Maxwell is known as Epstein's right hand woman, prosecutors and survivors have accused Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit, groom an abuse victims, they both knew they were children, some as young as fourteen.

Maxwell is an interesting element here because when it comes to white, cis men abusing their power and harming woman, we see it nearly every day, look at Donald Trump. However it simply doesn't comport with my understanding of who commits sex crimes. We don't expect adult women to sexually prey on girls, we expect that they will moderate men's bad acts not abet them. I am not saying that women do not abuse children because they do, however it is quite rare.

Prosecutors allege that Maxwell befriended the girls, sometimes taking them shopping or to the movies and encouraging them to accept Epstein's financial assistance. She would expose the girls to conversations of sex, undress in front of them, massage Epstein herself and push the girls to massage him. It can be argued that Maxwell normalized sexual abuse which enabled Epstein to abuse his teenage victims, with Maxwell sometimes participating.

The indictment also reveals that Maxwell's presence during the involved sex acts helped put the survivors at ease because an adult woman was present.

The crux of the matter is, if Maxwell committed the crimes she is accused of, what did she get out of helping Epstein? She was already wealthy and well known, she had no want for money. She dated Epstein and continued to help him after their romantic relations ended. She wasn't just turning a blind eye, she was aiding him and the question is why? How can we understand her motivations?

Virginia Roberts Guiffre was one of these minors procured by Maxwell. At 16, Guiffre had a dream of being a massage therapist, she was reading a book on massage therapy when she was approached by Ghislaine Maxwell, Maxwell said she knew someone who was looking for a travelling masseuse. What came as an opportunity to further her career and experience, turned into a nightmare.

“If the guy likes you, then, you know, it will work out for you. You’ll travel. You’ll make good money. You’ll be educated,” Ms. Giuffre recalled Ms. Maxwell telling her.

Guiffre took the job and was trained by Maxwell on how to give erotic massages and was soon providing them to Epstein. Before long she was being flown on Epstein's private jet to perform sexual services on Epstein's acquaintances, one of them being Prince Andrew.

Epstein's legacy came to an end when he was charged on July 8th 2019 with one count of sex trafficking of a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Following the indictment, Epstein pleaded not guilty on both charges. He remained in jail until August 10th 2019 where he died by apparent suicide. However, even in death, numerous questions still remain about his life and crimes, some of them which could be revealed in the new case against Maxwell.

These three people, are examples of a corrupted system, they sacrifice young girls for the pleasure of rich socialites, for people with money and power. The targeted girls blatantly with no repercussions, why did no one say anything? Why did no one help these girls at the time? How did they manage to get away with it for so long? Why were these behaviours encouraged and helped? Was it a contributing factor to the extortion, was he also using these girls to guarantee that he would not be caught? To gather ruinous intelligence on other powerful men that guaranteed Epstein's safety from the justice system?

Throughout the Netflix Documentary; Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, it is noted repeatedly Ghislaine Maxwell denies all allegations levelled against her, but on 3rd July 2020, she was arrested by the FBI and charged with conspiracy to entice minors to travel and engage in illegal sex acts and transporting minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. She is currently awaiting to appear in court.

Prince Andrew has stated that he will not be cooperating with the US in the investigation.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are an example of how we must always be vigilant. How we must always hold people accountable for their actions. People with money should not be able to use people like pawns on their chess board, they are not objects to manipulate, they can not be moulded into however they desire and whatever their money can buy.

As always, we must always be vigilant and listen to people's stories, and to help them where ever we can, we must believe victims and survivors. And we must give them a voice.