HANNAH GOTO

     NEWS EDITOR

     Recently, a lot of speculation has risen around the name “Epstein”.  And with Jeff Epstein’s recent death, the media in general has gone wild with claims and accusations. This new influx of information can be overwhelming, confusing, and at times, incomprehensible. To better understand what’s going on now, let’s take a look at his past.  Epstein was first introduced to Wall Street in 1976 as a junior assistant to a floor trader at Bear Stearns, a New York investment bank. Soon after, he was promoted to an options trader, working with some of the bank’s wealthiest clients. After remaining at the job for only four years, this position led the way for Epstein to open up his own consulting firm in 1981, allegedly telling friends that he “sometimes worked as a consultant for clients who embezzled funds”. During this time, he also made several connections in Saudi Arabia that would later be implicated in his civil suits. It was also at this time that Epstein began consistently meeting clients and acquaintances in Palm Beach, Florida, a place where many of his alleged and convicted instances of sexual assault with minors took place. By 1996, Epstein has residences in New York; Palm Beach, Florida; Paris, France; and The Virgin Islands, although it was only in March of 2005 that accusations began to come forward. The first incident involved a 14 year old girl who was allegedly paid a sum of $300 to undress and massage Epstein.The FBI became involved, starting a 13 month investigation, and through searches of his house, found two hidden cameras and a large quantity of photos of young girls throughout the residence. The local Police force alleged that at least five different victims and seventeen witnesses existed, and that Epstein had paid several girl at this point to perform sexual acts with him. From this point on, Epstein was involved in nine different civil cases, some of which implicated or suggested implication of Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Alan Derchowitz, a Havard Law professor; Glenn Dubin, owner of a private investment company, and Donald Trump, current president of the United States; in his pedofilic crimes. On July 23rd of this year, Epstein was found unconsious in his cell with injuries to his neck, and subsequently put on suicide watch for six days. After these six days, Epstein was moved to a special housing unit with an inmate, with the Justice Department instructing guards to check on him every 30 minutes. On August 9th, Epstein’s roomate was transferred out with no replacement, and on August 10th, he was found dead in his jail cell due to an alleged suicide, although the New York City examiner’s office stated the next day that more information would be needed to determine a cause of death. It was later revealed that the two guards watching Epstein’s cell had broken protocol, falsified log entries, and instead fallen asleep and did not check on him for 3 hours. In Epstein’s autopsy report, several bones in his neck were broken, including the hyoid, which is more frequently broken in strangulation cases than in hanging cases. As we find out more and more about this case every day, it is just as possible that Jeff Epstein’s death may forever be shrouded in mystery. Regardless, it is important we keep up to date, to ensure we better understand the events going on around us.