Sing, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sing

Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate accused of sex trafficking, attends her trial near an image of Epstein on a screen in a courtroom sketch in New York City, N.Y., on Dec. 2, 2021. Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

Commentary

The conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell for her pimping role in the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile sex ring would seem to have brought this whole sordid business to a welcome end. Maxwell, convicted on five of the six charges brought against her, for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused, now faces up to 65 years in prison.

Yet there’s one aspect of the trial that remains deeply disturbing. The U.S. government decided to keep out of the trial the names of the rich and powerful men that Epstein and Maxwell allegedly supplied with underage girls for their amusement and exploitation. This, on the face of it, seems inexplicable. It’s only explicable if something deeper and darker is going on.

Let’s back up and review the story, which is both an American success story and a story of the American dream twisted beyond recognition. Epstein started out as a prep school teacher before he switched careers and went into the investment business for himself. Somehow, he befriended powerful moguls such as Leslie Wexner, founder of Victoria’s Secret, who entrusted their money to him. Epstein promptly amassed a considerable fortune for himself.

Maxwell is the daughter of British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell. What seems to have drawn her to Epstein, and him to her, is their mutual interest in sexual perversity. Epstein seems to have recognized that it wouldn’t be easy for him directly to procure underage girls; he needed a “madam.”

Maxwell fit the role perfectly. She was rich, classy, sophisticated. She represented, in a way, what many young girls aspire to be. So it was easy for Maxwell to lure these girls, some in their early teens, into Epstein’s lair with the promise of money, career advancement, and the prospect of meeting rich, powerful men. Maxwell, however, wasn’t merely the go-between; she herself is accused of having participated in the sexual escapades.

In a manner almost suggestive of the plot of a James Bond movie, Epstein purchased an island that has now come to be known as Lolita Island. This, of course, is a reference to Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita,” which describes the obsession of a middle-aged man, Humbert Humbert, with a voluptuous young girl.

Even so, Humbert wasn’t a roaming predator; his obsession centered on this one girl. Epstein and Maxwell, however, allegedly had no individual interest in any of the girls. They allegedly regarded them as objects, merchandise that might be of interest to a global elite. Right away, we have a disquieting reality to face—there’s allegedly a group of rich, older, well-connected men seeking predatory sexual access to underage girls.

Epstein’s precise relationship with his alleged “clients” isn’t entirely clear. Did he offer them sexual access on his private island as a favor and then use that leverage to demand something in return? Was it sufficient for Epstein to be the provider of young girls, so that he would be initiated into one of the most privileged circles of the world’s rich and famous?

The critical question here is obviously: Who are these men? This is important to know because there are obviously a considerable number of very powerful individuals roaming around who are sexual criminals of the worst sort. These aren’t mere participants in a prostitution ring. Rather, they are pedophiles and sex predators who know full well that having sex with underage girls is a form of rape, since those girls aren’t legally capable of giving free consent.

Epstein knew who those men are, but can’t talk, because he was found dead in his cell. To this day, the circumstances are highly suspicious. The guards left their posts. The cameras were turned off or didn’t function. The guards then allegedly altered records to conceal their locations. Then-Attorney General William Barr said he was satisfied, upon a review of the internal investigation, that Epstein hanged himself, but the results of that investigation have never been made public.

Epstein didn’t have a motive to kill himself. He was a narcissist and psychopath, and such people rarely kill themselves. His brother Mark says he was hopeful about a bail hearing coming up that could have gotten him out of prison pending his trial. Mark Epstein hired a leading forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, who concluded that Epstein’s injuries were more consistent with manual strangulation than hanging.

With Epstein out of the picture, Maxwell became the only person with knowledge of all the alleged sex predators. Now, one might think that this list would be of obvious interest to prosecutors. In fact, it would be the mother lode. Getting Maxwell is like getting the getaway driver of a heist. You want to get the people who are actually pulling off the heist.

All of this makes the decision of the U.S. government to deliberately exclude specific references to these alleged male sex predators profoundly worrisome and suspicious. How difficult would it be to offer Maxwell a deal in exchange for this information, and her willingness to testify against these men? The refusal of the prosecution to do this suggests a cover-up. The U.S. government is covering up the alleged crimes of these rich and powerful predators.

But why? My provisional answer is that they represent a cross-section of the global and national elite. Maxwell has one last chance to name names that could help her reduce her prison sentence. But, somehow, I don’t think she'll do so. Maybe the U.S. government threatened her. Maybe she’s terrified that she’ll meet the same fate as Epstein.

In any case, my concern isn’t merely that there are evil sex predators who aren’t being called to account, but also that there are evil cover-up artists in the higher echelons of the U.S. government who are enabling their crimes.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.