Epstein’s power and wealth must not be allowed to shield his crimes

By

Opinion

July 11, 2019 - 10:21 AM

Jeffrey Epstein (center) is shown in a Palm Beach County courtroom on July 30, 2008, where he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges.

Only the most naive would believe that power and wealth aren’t the best defense for the guilty.

This is what makes the stomach-turning case against mega-rich financier Jeffrey Epstein so much the more galling. We don’t want to believe that what happened in his case could happen in a nation under rule of law.

But it did happen. Epstein got away with amounted to a slap on the wrist in his first case for abusing girls — spending a little more than a year in “jail.” In fact, he had the privilege of spending most days at his plush Palm Beach office where he entertained guests including, as The Miami Herald called it, “female friends.”

Our hope is that new charges against Epstein will spotlight the scourge of sex trafficking in a way that will produce a new national resolve to confront this darkness.

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