Layers of Complicity

 Now that the information in the Epstein files is slowly coming out, many of us are still waiting to hear the names of more wealthy and powerful men believed to have had sex with underage girls.

But there is a whole layer underneath of people connected to Jeffrey Epstein who did not commit such crimes, or those related to them. First, there are individuals who knew very well what was going on with Epstein, even appearing to joke about it with him in emails or texts.

Then there were those who knew but continued their association with Epstein while saying nothing. After that, there were those in the circle who found out about Epstein’s activities, were genuinely shocked, and cut him off in disgust, but still said little or nothing, except in some cases, to authorities. All of these can be exposed to some level of shame as the files come out, but it’s really a question of what they knew and when they knew it.

 “Well, of course, I would have spoken up!” you might say. Really? Suppose you were a corporate CEO, a legislator, or a college president? To be honest, I can understand why some of those who cut Epstein off simply wanted to put as much space as possible between themselves and him without getting further involved. As this story unfolds, however, should everyone with ANY revealed connection to Epstein, be required to resign their positions and go directly to shame hell?

As for the names of all the possible sexual offenders in the Epstein case, we may not get them from the Justice Department directly, but instead from some members of Congress who see the unredacted files or even a few very courageous and fed-up survivors who, in spite of the potential consequences, come forward to publicly say, “When I was 14, I had sex with X and Y while Z watched.” In the post-MeToo era, who is not going to believe them?

But the Epstein saga is much bigger than a few wealthy, dirty old men. Epstein appears to have been at the center of an international sex trafficking operation, suspected to have involved co-conspirators supplying young women from around the world. But he also did things like helping prestigious universities connect to wealthy potential donors.

To me, it’s the biggest thing since the Catholic Church sex-abuse story, unveiled more than two decades ago -- maybe even bigger, since it has involved a wider variety of people. These scandals don’t say much for the human race, but we can take a little comfort in the fact that they still involve only a minority of us.