Many of those connected with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are keeping quiet in the face of questions following the trial of his one-time girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell was convicted on five of six counts in December, including a charge of conspiring to sex traffic minors. Epstein, who pled guilty to sex charges in 2008, was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges then committed suicide while awaiting trial.
The guards on duty at the time of his suicide were charged, however, those charges were dropped during Maxwell’s trial.
Epstein had close ties to celebrities, politicians, and executives, even after he had been convicted as a sex offender. Among those who were known to have been close were L Brands founder Lex Wexner, Director Woody Allen, and Prince Andrew.
Andrew is perhaps the most notable of Epstein’s friends, having first met him in 1999 according to a 2019 report by the New York Post. The Duke of York stepped back from royal duties in the wake of an interview concerning his ties with Epstein.
Epstein also had ties with Harvard University, where he donated over $9 million, according to an internal report issued by the university that showed Epstein made dozens of visits after his 2008 plea-bargain. The university took action against Martin Nowak, a professor who provided Epstein with the access, placing limits on his research and advisory activities.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also met with Epstein on a number of occasions, as did employees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates met with Epstein as recently as 2019 despite the concerns of his then-wife, Melinda.
“I had several dinners with him, you know, hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge,” Gates said during an interview. “When it looked like that wasn’t a real thing, that relationship ended.”
Prior to Epstein’s 2008 conviction on charges stemming from soliciting, his legal team included lawyers from Kirkland and Ellis, including former independent counsel Ken Starr and Jay Lefkowitz.
“My role, as Of Counsel to the law firm, was to seek to persuade the US Attorney’s Office that the matter in question was entirely a state criminal matter, not a federal matter,” Starr said in an email.
“My law firm handled the representation in an entirely professional manner. We sought to convince the US Attorney that the offenses, as charged at that time, were properly entrusted to the Palm Beach County State’s Attorney’s Office for prosecution. Notwithstanding our arguments, the US Attorney was not persuaded,” Starr said.
