Deconstructing Epstein connections: Why the sweeping guilt-by-association approach to the doc reveal doesn’t work

Back in 2019 as the feds were closing in on Jeffrey Epstein for a second time, I embarked on a story to debunk a conspiracy theory on why he got off so lightly the first time: That he was an informant for the government in its crackdown on financial-crisis-related crimes.

By talking with SEC officials, prosecutors and Wall Street executives with knowledge of what the feds were doing after 2008, I had concrete proof it was all BS.

I was ready to write except I had to make one more call — to the convicted sex offender himself.

But how do you get in touch with someone like Epstein? It’s not like he’s in the telephone book.

He was then an increasingly reclusive figure hounded by plaintiffs’ attorneys representing his victims, and prosecutors who wanted to do what they failed to do the first time: put him away for life.

That night, I had dinner with two New York City power brokers and told them my problem. One, a billionaire and a known quantity in New York business circles, whipped out his iPhone and proceeded to give me Epstein’s number.