What is the reach of Epstein's network?

BarcelonaFor years, Jeffrey Epstein was part of an exclusive world. A world of money, private jets, prestigious universities, foundations, political connections, and a shared belief that certain questions—the uncomfortable ones—are impolite. Convicted of sex crimes, Epstein wasn't expelled from that universe. The crime was simply ignored.

One ordinary afternoon in Cambridge, someone from the MIT Media Lab reviews a schedule before an important visit. Among meetings with researchers and philanthropists, a brief, almost coded, note appears: "JE." The instruction is clear: that person must not appear in the schedule. There's no need to write the full name. Everyone knows who it is. Everyone also knows that the money associated with that name has been deposited. The scene surgically encapsulates who Jeffrey Epstein was: someone accepted in private without uncomfortable questions.

Epstein didn't fit into any clear professional category. He didn't manage a large fund, he didn't publish audited returns, and he lacked a traceable philanthropic track record. His talent wasn't financial but relational. He cultivated proximity to power. He knew who wanted to know whom, which institutions needed money, and which people wanted to feel relevant. He served a purpose: to circulate prestige and entertain the masses.

Cosmopolitan Elite

This role made sense within a transnational, cosmopolitan elite that doesn't define itself by borders or ideologies, but rather by a set of shared codes: discreet luxury, constant mobility, confidentiality, and the conviction that success offers moral immunity. This ecosystem—comprising banks, universities, foundations, law firms, hotels, and airplanes—is self-sufficient. The same people meet in New York, London, Davos, or the Caribbean. The rules aren't discussed; they're intuited.

Epstein was functional. He facilitated encounters, lubricated relationships, and offered spaces where power could relax and recognize itself. But this same environment, often described as sophisticated and enlightened, also functioned as a trap. A trap for powerful men overconfident in their invulnerability. And a devastating trap for young, poor, or uprooted girls, drawn into this universe as if it were an opportunity and consumed with contempt.

In Palm Beach, at Epstein's mansion, everything was calculated. Luxury without rigidity, informality without equality. Young women coming and going. Sex didn't appear as an excess, but as social currency, as an implicit service within a world where money, contacts, and bodies circulated. We now know that extortion was also present. No explicit threat was necessary. It was enough to know that someone might remember what had happened all too well and that it had been photographed and filmed with a naturalness and systematic approach that are hard to believe.

When Epstein was convicted of sex crimes against minors in 2008, his career should have ended. It didn't. In his circle, the conviction served as a manageable obstacle. His name continued to appear in emails, diaries, and discreet conversations. The crime was known, but not decisive. A choreography of shared irresponsibility: small, rational decisions, defensible individually, devastating as a whole.

Despite the wealth of documents, emails, and testimonies that have come to light, the true extent of Epstein's political connections remains opaque. We know who he associated with, what circles he frequented, and whose names appear in diaries and invitations. What is still unclear is exactly whom this network served. Was he merely an extraordinarily skilled social intermediary, or a cog—voluntary or instrumental—within mechanisms of influence and dependence that transcend mere elite hedonism? The question remains open.

Epstein survived socially because his world was trained not to ask questions that might close doors. Silence, however, is a form of capital. Abuse was less uncomfortable than conflict. Except for Melinda French Gates.

Self-indulgent masculinity

Viewing Epstein as an individual aberration is comforting, but insufficient. The most disturbing aspect of his case is not only what he did, but how well he fit into a culture that confuses privilege with moral superiority and success with abuse. The masculinity that enabled him is neither loud nor primitive. It is refined, polite, self-satisfied. It operates through the right to access, to consume, to not have to give explanations. In this universe, the girls' bodies become proof of success, confirmation of power, part of the scenery, and the complicit women do so to remain part of the privileged elite.

Epstein understood that the context was already doing the work. That luxury numbs. That prestige protects. That silence is more effective than any threat. The real scandal is not that Epstein existed, but that for so long so few found reasons to get up from the table. Or from bed.