I think there’s a real danger that the Epstein files will quickly become a footnote to 2026, fading into conspiracy theorist fodder, like the “grassy knoll shooter” of JFK, or the “impossible’ collapse of Building seven during 9/11, or the “stage 16 moon landing”. That’s because the story of the Epstein files is being buried under partisan rhetoric in the USA, and neither side will ever believe anything the other side has said about the file contents. When’s the last time you heard an Epstein story update and didn’t think “sure, here we go again”?

I’ve seen all kinds of postings of “stunning revelations” from documents purporting to be from the Epstein files. But what’s true? What’s believable? 

Credible sources like the Washington Post, the Associated Press and the CBC have all reported on the interview, documented  by the FBI, of a woman who, in 2019, alleged that Trump had sex with her when she was 13 years old. However, none of those sources were able to verify the woman’s account. The FBI declined to pursue charges because there were aspects of the woman’s story that were inconsistent or problematic, and she eventually became fed up with the investigation and stopped cooperating with investigators.

Records show that Trump was on the Epstein airplane seven times, but do not show that he went to Epstein’s private island. There are verified photographs of Trump and Epstein together with young women at a party or parties at Mar-a-Lago, but no indication in those photos of illegal conduct. Unless new facts come to light, I suspect the Democrats are going to be disappointed with the Epstein files. 

Trump’s sexual history (Jean Carroll, Stormy Daniel) makes me believe that he’s probably guilty of sexual misconduct. But this is the era of disinformation and false news and it could all be lies. He might be as pure as the driven snow. And if there really is a “smoking gun” document out there, we may have trouble recognizing it  when it comes around, because it will be buried in a blizzard of lies and exaggerations.

The only way any of it becomes believable is if charges are laid and the issue is debated in a  court of law. There his little or no chance that America’s current DOJ is going to charge Trump with anything. And remember that the FBI under Biden had Epstein’s information for four years after he died, and no charges were filed against Trump. There may be nothing conclusive in there.

It would be wonderful if a victim charged him in a civil suit, but that would require more than an allegation. It would require documented evidence that Trump and the victim were in the same place at the same time, or pictures, or more than one witness with corroborating testimony. I don’t see any of that happening. As a result, the liberal world’s hope that the dead hand of Jeffrey Epstein would reach from the grave and pull Trump off his pedestal may be doomed to failure. And the Epstein story may, in consequence, fade into obscurity.

And if it does, you’re likely to miss the real story. 

The real story is that Jeffrey Epstein was a lot more than a sleazy sex trafficker. He was the spider at the centre of a web of influence and corruption that spanned the globe. The Epstein connections are a stinging condemnation of the elite world of wealth and power, While Trump may appear to be comfortably teflon-clad, the Epstein mess is shaking the foundations of power around the world. 

Epstein had influence before he had a sex trafficking business. The influence led to the sex procurement activities as a secondary activity. The sex trafficking made even more money and doubled his influence. Whether he blackmailed people is unclear, but he certainly had compromising information on a lot of people from whom he might request an occasional favour.

He started as a young math whiz with a penchant for cutting corners. Although unqualified, he taught math at an expensive private school attended by the children of the rich and famous. When he left the school (fired for being unqualified to teach) he was offered a job in a major financial services firm by the father of one of his students. A dynamic trader, he made partner at Bear Sterns by age 27. He left Bear Sterns after being investigated for SEC trading violations, and started his own financial management firms. 

I’m not going to try to trace his whole financial service career, because it’s extensive and it’s fairly murky. His big break came when became involved with Les Wexner, the billionaire owner of, among other things, Victoria’s Secret. For some inexplicable reason, Wexner gave Epstein power of attorney, and Epstein cashed in  big time. Epstein’s business dealings for Wexner moved more than a billion dollars in cash and stock trades over a period of about twenty years. Fees and misappropriated funds sticking to Epstein’s fingers are estimated to have exceeded $200 Million. (Mental note – don’t give power of attorney to my financial adviser!) It was after becoming rich from his financial services company, and aided by the rocket boost of Wexner’s fortune that he became the world’s favourite sex party host.

In 2008 he agreed to a plea deal on charges of soliciting prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution, after an investigation by Palm Beach police in a case that involved 32 different victims. He served 13 months of an 18 month sentence, but with an approved “work release” clause that allowed him to leave his jail cell six days a week to continue his business from his office in West Palm beach. As part of that cushy deal, a Federal indictment on more than 60 charges including racketeering and prostitution of minors was dismissed. Furthermore, the plea deal included immunity for “any potential co-conspirators”, which probably included a large number of the monied elite and specifically included Les Wexner.

From 2008 until his death in 2019, Epstein was fighting civil and criminal actions. As of this year, it is estimated that some $850 Million dollars have been paid out in settlement of claims against the Epstein inner circle. Critically important is the fact that a significant portion of that money came from sources other than Jeffry Epstein. Epstein paid $100 million dollars back to Les Wexner (oops, sorry, book-keeping error!), and his estate has paid $170 million direct to sex trafficking victims and $105 million to the US Virgin Islands (USVI) government. 

Epstein’s bankers have taken it on the chin. As Epstein’s primary bank, JP Morgan Chase processed some 4200 transactions that included payments to the girls, and facilitated large cash transactions without filing Suspicious Activity Reports as required under the bank’s money laundering rules. They’ve paid out $290 million to victims and $75 million to the USVI.

Against the advice of their own compliance monitoring team, Deutsche Bank took Epstein on as a client after he’d already been convicted in Palm Beach, because the bank’s executive viewed Epstein as a rain-maker with influence over a great number of high net-worth contacts. That cost them a $150 million regulatory fine paid to the state of New York, and $75 million to the victims. 

Filings from the US District Court in southern New York place the total recompense for victims at approximately $570 million. Legal actions have not been completed yet, but the number of victims sharing more than half a billion dollars is estimated to be between 175 and 225. Using the latter number, that amounts to about two and a half million dollars each. Recipients of compensation had to sign a release from further legal action (take the money and run!) and some of them have signed non-disclosure agreements. I suspect that a half billion dollars worth of NDA’s explain why not a lot of victims are lining up to testify against Donald Trump or anyone else.

In 2019 the State of New York arrested Epstein, claiming that they weren’t bound by any plea deal negotiated in Florida. He was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy, but the charges were dismissed after he died in jail as an apparent suicide by hanging. Conspiracy theorists, as expected, insist that he was murdered. The two most compelling arguments for murder are i) the failure of surveillance equipment in his portion of the jail for a period of twelve days leading up to his death, and ii) the statement by a former New York City chief medical examiner that Epstein’s injuries were inconsistent with hanging, but much more consistent with manual strangulation. However it came about, his death silenced him forever,  no doubt to the relief of his billionaire buddies. 

So the man is dead and gone. Good riddance. But his name is now poison. Depending on where you are and what your public profile is, mere association with Epstein may be enough to get you fired, or given a chance to quietly resign. Despite the seeming invulnerability of Trump and Howard Lutnik, the Epstein files are one big inner circle enema. The following list is long, but not exhaustive – there are more where these come from.

– Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the pedophile formerly known as Prince, removed from the royal family in the UK, arrested and charged with misconduct in public office.

– Peter Mandelson, former British ambassador to the USA, arrested and charged with misconduct in public office. Further charges may arise from continuing EU investigation into him feeding Epstein privileged EU Trade information in 2010.

– Les Wexner, billionaire owner of Vicoria’s secret – in addition to losing hundreds of millions of dollars to Epstein, his name is being stripped from various university buildings and hospital wings.

– Thomas Pritzker, billionaire former chairman of Hyatt hotels, resigned his position in February 2026.

– Casey Wasserman, owner/chair of Wasserman talent agency and Chairman of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles sold his talent agency because of “client backlash”. He remains Chair of the Olympic Games committee in LA despite growing pressure for him to leave that position.

– Miroslav Lajcak, Former Foreign Minister and Senior Security Adviser to the Slovak PM, resigned his position in February 2026.

– Mona Juul & Terje Rød-Larsen, married couple in Norway. She was an ambassador and he was a senior diplomat. Both are suspected of receiving bribes from Epstein. She has been charged with aggravated corruption, and he has been charged as an accomplice.

– Howard Lutnick, US Commerce Secretary – still hanging in there. No resignation yet.

– Donald Trump – US President – “Completely exonerated”. No resignation yet.

– Kathryn Ruemmler (Goldman Sachs Top Lawyer): Announced a resignation for the end of June 2026.

– Larry Summers, Former US Treasury Secretary, former President and Professor Emeritus at Harvard University –  lifetime ban from the American Economic Association in late 2025 and resigned all Harvard positions on February 25, 2026.

– Richard Axel, Nobel prize laureate in neuroscience, quietly resigned from head of neuroscience labs at Columbia university.

– Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEP of DP World, a multinational logistics firm out of Dubai. Removed from his position by the Dubai government in February 2026.

– Thorbjørn Jagland, former Prime Minister of Norway, charged with “aggravated corruption” in February 2026.

-Dean Kamen, multi-millionaire Board member for Beta Technologies, resigned in February 2026 to avoid being a distraction for the publicly traded aerospace/clean tech firm.

– Børge Brende, President and CEO of the World Economic Forum resigned his position on February 26th.

-Bill Gates, multibillionaire and Microsoft entrepreneur – has been asked to testify before the House Oversight committee. 

– Jes Staley, former CEO of Barclay’s bank, resigned in 2021, was banned from the UK financial industry in 2025, and fined £1.8 million.

– Reid Hoffman, billionaire, venture capitalist, partner of Greylock Partners and Board member at Microsoft – continues to hang onto his positions after public apologies. Has resigned from several high profile Democrat party fundraising positions.

– Austin Hill, Canadian former CEO of Blockstream, a multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency infrastructure form, resigned in February 2026.

– Leon Black, CEO of Apollo Global Management, personal net worth estimated to be about $12 billion. Implicated , though not yet charged or convicted, in bribery and tax avoidance schemes. Has been removed from the Board of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), after using MoMA transactions as cover for payments to Epstein.

– Jack Lang, President of the Arab World Institute, formerly France’s Culture Minister, resigned his positions in February 2026. He has been alleged to have diverted some of France’s cultural exchange funds to Epstein, and is currently under investigation for aggravated tax fraud and money laundering.

– Steve Tisch, billionaire owner of the New York Giants football team – allegations are that Tisch was using Epstein as a “social concierge” for his private life. So far he is consequence free, but several groups are calling for his scalp.

– Woody Allen, movie director and screenwriter – lost several European film distribution deals after Epstein connections became widely known.

– Jean-Luc Brunel, founder of a major French modelling agency had pled guilt to prostitution charges involving a minor in Florida in 2008. In 2020 he was arrested. The BBC says that “Prosecutors suspected Brunel of raping, sexually assaulting and sexually harassing multiple minors and adults. They also suspected him of transporting and housing young girls or young women for Epstein.” He was found dead in his cell in February of 2022 – suicide by hanging again.

There are lots of things to note from that list. First, if the failure to depose Trump has you thinking that the Epstein files haven’t had much impact yet, look at how many resignations and dismissals have occurred in February 2026. Release of the Epstein files has triggered a great upheaval amongst the privileged class.

The second thing to note is the remarkable positions that these people held. We saw current or former Prime ministers, cabinet ministers, CEO’s, Board members from large corporations, ambassadors and other senior diplomats, a Nobel prize winner, a Harvard professor emeritus….oh yes, I almost forgot the prince. 

The Economist has a report on an AI summation of the millions of messages in Epstein’s files. It says “The rest of the emails, however, depict a remarkable network. The top 500 correspondents come from a number of different industries. Some 19% of messages were with financiers; 10% with scientists or doctors; 8% with people in media, entertainment or public relations; 7% with technologists; 6% each for lawyers, politicians, academics and other businessfolk; and 5% with property magnates. The share of contacts in finance peaked at 25% in 2014 and then fell as those in academia and law rose. Most correspondents were based in America, though Epstein kept ties with Britain, France, Germany, Nordic countries, Gulf states and even a Venezuelan oil trader….He did not waste time on middle managers. A quarter of his top non-staff contacts have a Wikipedia page. He traded emails with at least 18 current or former billionaires.” 

Picture Epstein as the fixer, the arranger, in that circle and ask yourself how much influence he wielded.

Did you note how banking rules don’t apply to the very rich? Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase agreed to huge settlement figures without a trial, reportedly because they didn’t have a leg to stand on. They had clearly violated banking rules and ignored Epstein’s murky dealings. Eventually they had had enough of Epstein so they kicked him out, but he caught on with Charles Schwab. In the very last few days before his arrest at Teterboro Airport in New York in 2019, Epstein attempted to buy a palace in Morocco – a residence from which he would have not been subject to extradition. Schwab wired $14.95 million to a Moroccan realtor, despite the fact that his account was empty at the time. The entire $14.95M was an overdraft. Just a little perk for the rich guy that you or I wouldn’t get. Schwab did file a Suspicious Activity Report some nine days after the overdraft transfer was done, but by then Epstein was in custody and the folks at Schwab were seeking to cover their butts.

The fourth thing is that relatively few of Epstein’s associates have actually been charged with anything. The 2008 Palm Beach plea deal absolutely reeks of a buy-out, and don’t forget the clause in that deal which bought immunity for a large number of Epstein’s friends. 

Where charges have been brought, they mostly have little to do with sex trafficking or sexual abuse of minors. The charges are more about insider trading, influence peddling, money laundering, and tax avoidance. What we’re seeing is a bunch of rich powerful people in positions of authority and trust abusing that trust and ignoring the rules because the rules don’t apply to them.

I often try to close these things out with a lesson learned. I’m not sure I’ve learned anything useful except perhaps not to give power of attorney to my financial advisor. I’ve learned to distrust the monied class a little more, and I’ve gained new levels of cynicism. I guess time will tell whether that’s useful in any way. But keep your eyes open – `I suspect there’s more to come.