December 4, 2018

"Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein reaches last-minute settlement ahead of jury selection for civil trial, avoiding testimony from his sex assault victims."

The Daily Mail reports.
The 65-year-old hedge fund manager 'surrendered' and agreed to an undisclosed financial settlement with attorney Bradley Edwards, who represents several of Epstein's alleged victims. Edwards had sued the financier alleging malicious prosecution and defamation after the billionaire filed a lawsuit attacking Edwards and his methods.

Epstein admitted today to making 'totally false allegations.' The settlement also means none of the women will be able to testify against Epstein, who is accused of pimping out 80 underage girls to his friends from 1995 - 2005....

44 comments:

Humperdink said...

Scot Free!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

who traveled with Epstein to under-age rapey Island? Would that be Hillary's husband?

gahrie said...

How in the Hell in the days of #metoo are Epstein and his fellow perverts skating on these crimes?

Is it really as simple as the need to defend the Clinton legacy?

Birches said...

Must have been a lot of money... I am pretty angry, but not surprised.

rehajm said...

#MeToo has kind of fizzled now that Kavanaugh is confirmed. Served and failed at its purpose, apparently...

Lucid-Ideas said...

I am dubious that aforementioned strategy is really about keeping the girls from talking about Epstein. It's who else they could talk about that this settlement is primarily designed to protect.

Howard said...

Trump escape from the stigmata of pedophilia

James K said...

How in the Hell in the days of #metoo are Epstein and his fellow perverts skating on these crimes?

The wrist slap on the criminal charges was 10 years ago, as I understand it. A few months in prison on reduced charges. That was the real scandal. This was just a civil trial, so he's paying them off, which would have been the outcome of a trial anyway.

AustinRoth said...

Trump? God you are delusional. It was Clinton that visited the child sex island, repeatedly.

Trump barred him from his property.

jaydub said...

Wonder how much this cost the Clinton Global Initiative.

Otto said...

Scratch free.

Paul said...

Bill's and Hill's friends are all either pedophiles or rip off artist. But then birds of a feather flock together, right?

Nonapod said...

More than 60 girls have claimed they were turned into sex slaves by Epstein when they were teenagers and Edwards previously won $5.5million for some victims.

After Edwards took his cut I bet each victim was lucky to end up with like $20k.

lgv said...

It wasn't just about protecting the Clintons. There were many more involved from both political parties. There were a lot of people working very hard (and successfully) in avoiding a criminal trial. Now, the civil trial will silence everyone forever. That is why they will probably get more than $20k each. Big money and fear of becoming a suicide victim with two shots to the back of the head.

Unknown said...

Much like the precious elite buying carbon credits so they can continue to lay waste to the environment, his dollars allow him to continue to rape and traffic young girls but his rape credits give him a democrat pass.

wendybar said...

They always get away with things when they "know" people!! Sometimes it's good to know the Clintons!

rhhardin said...

Underaged girls will have to go back to selling their bodies in back alleys.

FullMoon said...

It was always about the money. Simple.

Girls did not have to do anything, lawyer handles everything on contingency. I bet the lawyer contacted girls and solicited them to sue.

tcrosse said...

Nothing new about the Droit de Seigneur.

Rick said...

I bet the lawyer contacted girls and solicited them to sue.

In this case the lawyer sued Epstein for Epstein's false statements about the lawyer. The victims were only witnesses, not plaintiffs. I'm disappointed the lawyer accepted any though. Not only does it prevent the testimony from becoming a public record but he specifically invoked that issue in pretrial publicity. The victims lose again.

bagoh20 said...

How is such a deal any different than him paying the young girls as prostitutes?
We'll I'll tell ya:
1) He gets to pay later, and maybe not at all instead of up front like most prostitutes get.
2) He get the state to help with the prostitution by guaranteeing the girls silence. You don't get that from your standard pimps.

Can you imagine the cops catching you with a street prostitute and then not charging you, but guaranteeing the prostitutes silence for you if you just pay extra? That is some special law enforcement for ya.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Didn't Althouse ask, the otherr day, why there hadn't yet been a financial settlement before the Florida newspaper story broke?

gilbar said...

So, this happened from 1995 to 2005?
And he's now 65?
So he was 42 to 52?
If you're in your late forties, an 18 year old sure Should be young enough
But they needed even younger: sick

Sebastian said...

"Underaged girls will have to go back to selling their bodies in back alleys."

But they will be able to use the sovereign territory of their bodies and have plenty of time to think about the morality of their actions, so in Althouse world it's all good.

Mark O said...

Ex-President, royalty, famous law professor. They, too, are hiding behind his curtain of wealth.

Ray - SoCal said...

Amazing what money can buy...

glenn said...

And once again, too bad we don’t have any real newspapers.

Rosalyn C. said...

Is the billionaire into anything else now, e.g., human trafficking in some foreign country? Or was he rehabilitated?

Maillard Reactionary said...

Bubba sighs in relief.

Hildebeest tries to make a bitter comment but ends up in a coughing fit instead.

[Insert your favorite T.S. Eliot quote here.]

Rusty said...

Rick said...
"I bet the lawyer contacted girls and solicited them to sue.

In this case the lawyer sued Epstein for Epstein's false statements about the lawyer. The victims were only witnesses, not plaintiffs. I'm disappointed the lawyer accepted any though. Not only does it prevent the testimony from becoming a public record but he specifically invoked that issue in pretrial publicity. The victims lose again."
Unless a felony can be proved.

MB said...

Harvey Weinstein was caught with much less serious stuff. No idea what he's actually guilty of.
Anyway, I can't really imagine the pressure brought to bear on witnesses and on their relatives and the horde of private detectives, lawyers, crooks, and other dubious people circling them. Looks like none or almost none of it is coming to trial.
How soon is the comeback scheduled?

traditionalguy said...

Well if the slimeball can afford $15,000,000 to pay a crew to quickly destroy the evidence on his Island Party Palace, then he can pay the young people he used as honey pot traps to film the rich and powerful for the worst Blackmail known. Making blackmail tapes of sex with children is the CIA's original and still the best method.

Unknown said...

#MeToo means nothing when is gets too close to the wrong people. And Victor Davis Hanson lets loose today in NRO in "One-eyed Jacks Law", making it clear that the same principle applies in the DOJ and the FBI. Any guesses as to who the wrong people are?

Trump will be gone some day, and the waters will close over his head. What ever happened to the Tea Party?

William said...

As others have noted, Epstein's rep is already trash, but he can, no doubt, implicate some other power players. There are important and influential people with the leverage and skill to keep this under wraps. I'm surprised though that such people would be involved in such high risk behavior. Still, why would Cosby drug all those women, and Weinstein do what he did. Moreover, how did they get away with it for decades?......Maybe rich, important people think they're the untouchable because they frequently are.

Earnest Prole said...

Underaged girls will have to go back to selling their bodies in back alleys.

A rare example of a self-inflicted reductio ad absurdum argument.

rcocean said...

Notice how the "Never trumpers" have been pretty quiet about the whole thing.

Remember how upset they were over the "Pussy tape"

And my God, Trump was such a scumbag. He's been divorced and may have comitted adultery.

OMG. But with Epstein, they've been realtively quiet. You'd think they'd be outraged.

rcocean said...

People wonder who's paying for national review.

I'm beginning to wonder too.

Dad29 said...

It was Clinton that visited the child sex island, repeatedly.

And Senator Robert Menendez, (D) NJ

FIDO said...

What Party does he belong to again? What is their platform?

Is there a mob of Feminists insisting on his destruction like they did about Trump TALKING about pussies?

If I do not see a mob of Feminists and a cadre of outraged womxn (sic) screaming at this miscarriage of justice in three days, well...it's hard for them to sink lower in my estimation. It's just more proof they lack ANY principles. Ellison, Epstein, Menendez, Clinton.

I can't take them seriously if they don't take themselves seriously.

Guessing a few quiet articles in some obscure, all women, publications just to 'prove their principles' but not actually DO anything.

After all...Inga...what party is he in?

Dad29 said...

What ever happened to the Tea Party?

They're moving from pretty flags and pins to guns and ammo. That's why the low profile lately.

FIDO said...

Trump was correct again. Mock him at your peril.

Where is a horse whip and men with balls when you need them? Oh...yeah...single mothers.

Sorry ladies. All you have to protect you is the Law now. See how well they do?

Sleep well!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Ex-President, current President, royalty, famous law professor. They, too, are hiding behind his curtain of wealth.

tim in vermont said...

I think that they are hiding behind the curtain of power of an ex-president who can to this day go out in public and not get asked a question he doesn’t want asked, like “What were you doing on that island those six times you ditched the Secret Service?”

Even Inga said, a little before the #MeToo thing looked like a way to get Trump that we “Don’t know what she thinks of Bill Clinton.” Inga, conspirator of silence for decades. I went looking around for the stuff on Trump and Epstein, and it looks pretty insubstantial.

Doug said...

Ray - SoCal said...
Amazing what money can buy...

As a wise man once told me: "If you have a problem that can be solved with money ... then you don't have a problem".