Jeffrey Epstein Docuseries: What Happened to Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew and Other Key Figures?
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Netflix’s explosive four-part docuseries, “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich,” debuted this week on the streaming giant and chronicles the sex trafficking crimes of the high-profile financier – whose social circles included the likes of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Harvey Weinstein, among others.
Through harrowing sit-down interviews with his accusers, interrogation footage of Epstein himself, and legal summaries from his lawyers and law enforcement officials, “Filthy Rich” graphically details Epstein’s lengthy “pyramid sex trafficking scheme” in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands and questions how the mysterious billionaire was able to evade a harsher prison sentence despite mountains of evidence from his victims and law enforcement investigators.
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Here’s an update on where some of the alleged co-conspirators and key figures are now:
Jeffrey Epstein
The billionaire pedophile at the center of Netflix’s docuseries, committed suicide by hanging in a New York City jail cell in August of 2019 where he was being held without bail on sex-trafficking charges. Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019 and pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges of sex trafficking for luring underage girls as young as 14 from 2002 to 2005.
His controversial death: Prison guards at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan weren’t monitoring Epstein’s jail cell at the time of his death – he was found unresponsive with a bed sheet tied around his neck – and the two security cameras outside his cell malfunctioned that night, leading some to speculate that Epstein was murdered. The F.B.I. and U.S. Department of Justice’s Inspector General are both investigating the circumstances of Epstein’s death and his lone sibling, Mark Epstein, hired forensic experts to dispute the theory that he died by hanging, as documented in the final episode of “Filthy Rich.”
Where’s the money? In one of his final acts, Epstein signed away his remaining $577 million fortune two days before his suicide and placed it in a Virginia Islands Trust Found, which makes it nearly impossible for his victims to seek restitution. Epstein had multi-million-dollar properties in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands, as well as several private jets.
Ghislaine Maxwell
Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and right-hand woman, accused by his victims as being the ringleader of his global sex trafficking crimes, has denied any wrongdoing and is currently being investigated by the F.B.I. She hasn’t been seen in public since August of 2019 when she was photographed at an In N’ Out in Los Angeles.
A civil suit filed by one of Epstein’s accusers, Annie Farmer, is currently on hold because the federal investigation into his co-conspirators, which includes Maxwell, is still ongoing. Maxwell, herself, has filed a suit against Epstein’s estate in hopes of recouping legal fees tied to his arrest.
Maxwell has since sold her two homes and her environmental nonprofit organization, The TerraMar Project, was shuttered in 2019.
Royal Controversy: The British socialite is said to have procured dozens of the underage girls and is even accused of engaging in sex acts with many of the girls. Virginia Roberts, one of Epstein’s accusers, said Maxwell hosted one of Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual encounters with the then-17 year old at her London townhome after a night out partying. She also was photographed with the Duke of York, who had his arm around Roberts’ waist in the picture.
Alex Acosta
The former Labor Secretary resigned from Donald Trump’s administration in 2019 over his handling of the Epstein sex crimes when he was U.S. attorney in southern Florida.
Acosta, who refused to be interviewed for the Netflix series, was US attorney in Miami where he oversaw a secret non-prosecution agreement for Epstein in 2008, despite evidence that he sexually assaulted at least 400 teenage girls that normally would’ve meant a life sentence behind bars. Instead, Epstein was prisoned for 13 months, which allowed him to leave 12 hours a day, six days a week for “work” causing Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter, who tried to put him behind bars, to personally apologize to Epstein’s victims and their families.
During his resignation press conference, Acosta said, “We believe that we proceeded appropriately” and “we did what we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail.”
Acosta has kept a relatively low profile and remains jobless since leaving the White House. He was succeeded by current Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia.
Les Wexner
The billionaire who founded L Brands, a global retail empire that includes Victoria’s Secret and Bed Bath and Beyond, stepped down as CEO and chairman of the company in 2020 and sold his majority stake in VIctoria’s Secret for $525 million.
Following Epstein’s indictment in 2019, Wexner accused his former financial adviser of stealing $46 million from his company.
“We discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family,” the 82 year-old said at the time. “This was, frankly, a tremendous shock, even though it clearly pales in comparison to the unthinkable allegations against him now.”
One of Epstein’s accusers, Maria Farmer, said she was sexually assaulted by Epstein at Wexner’s 336-acre Ohio estate in the late 1990s, and told The Washington Post that Wexner should be held “responsible.”
“Les loves me, he’ll let me do anything,” she recalled Epstein telling her about the retail mogul.
Wexner is said to be the primary reason Epstein gained such enormous wealth.The New York Times reported that in 1991 Wexner signed a three-page power of attorney “that enabled Mr. Epstein to hire people, sign checks, buy and sell properties and borrow money – all on Mr. Wexner’s behalf.”
Their two-decade relationship reportedly went beyond just business ties, too, with attorneys in Netflix’s “Filthy RIch” asking Epstein during an interrogation if they were also lovers, which Epstein denied. His business partners on Wall Street said in the doc that Epstein would brag about their relationship and how he controlled the mogul’s mind and emotions.
Wexner’s wife Abigail, who is on the board of trustees at Ohio State University where the Wexners are major donors (the school’s hospital is named after them), has also been accused by Farmer of being complicit of Epstein’s alleged assault on the teenager at their Ohio mansion in 1996.
Wexner is still chairman emeritus of L Brands. Abigail Wexner remains on the board of trustees at Ohio State.
The billionaire couple have denied knowing about the criminal encounters between Epstein and the underage girls and are currently not under investigation.
Prince Andrew:
The Duke of York is one of the many high-profile figures accused of sexual assault in the series alongside Harvey Weinstein and Alan Dershowitz (Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet “Lolita Express” 26 times according to flight manifests but there were no reports of sexual assault).
Prince Andrew, according to Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts, assaulted her on multiple occasions. Another Epstein employee corroborated a story about Roberts and Prince Andrew naked together at Epstein’s “Orgy Island” estate in the Virgin Islands. Roberts also has a photograph of herself with Prince Andrew, his arm wrapped around her waist , that was allegedly taken after a night partying at London club when Roberts was just 17 years-old at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London townhome (Maxwell is also pictured), but Prince Andrew would later say he has “no recollection of meeting this lady whatsoever.” That night, according to Prince Andrew, he was at a “Pizza Express in Woking” with his daughter.
The Duke has also been asked why he decided to stay with Epstein at his New York mansion in 2010 following his 13-month stint at a Florida prison.
“Right, I have always … ever since this has happened and since this has become, as it were, public knowledge that I was there, I’ve questioned myself as to why did I go and what was I doing and was it the right thing to do? Now, I went there with the sole purpose of saying to him that because he had been convicted, it was inappropriate for us to be seen together. I felt that doing it over the telephone was the chicken’s way of doing it. I had to go and see him and talk to him.”
Following Epstein’s death in 2019, Prince Andrew issued a statement saying “at no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behavior,” adding, “His suicide has left many unanswered questions and I acknowledge and sympathize with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. This is a difficult time for everyone involved and I am at a loss to be able to understand or explain Mr. Epstein’s lifestyle. I deplore the exploitation of any human being and would not condone, participate in, or encourage any such behavior.”
The U.S. continues to investigates Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators, including Prince Andrew, but in March, prosecutors in New York said that contrary to the Duke’s public offer to contribute to the investigation, he has “completely shut the door on voluntary cooperation and our office is considering its options.”
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