Jeffrey Epstein’s Final Act of Impunity
How did Jeffrey Epstein’s story capture so much attention in 2019? The financier, who was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan jail on Saturday, was a monster, but unfortunately monsters—even child rapists—exist in society. In fact, Epstein’s story wasn’t all that new. While Julie K. Brown’s stunning Miami Herald series brought new information about Epstein’s crimes, the basic outlines were already public: He had already been convicted, and received a sweetheart deal, back in 2008.
Perhaps one reason is that the United States is still convulsed by anti-elite sentiment fostered by the 2008 financial crisis. The crash, largely driven by reckless and greedy moves in business and enabled by policy makers who received money from Wall Street, sometimes in the form of campaign donations and sometimes in the form of sinecures after leaving government, threw millions of Americans out of. It appeared to many Americans that there were two sets of rules: one for ordinary Americans, and another for the rich and well connected.
