A plausible explanation of Epstein's business model

[muriel_volestrangler]

which ties together a hell of a lot of the known details. It's a twitter thread - here's the crux:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

(4/13) So, what to do? Well, the second idea has some merits. First, you need to recruit people in. Have lots of massive parties at your spacious home (check), invite top academics, artists, politicians to encourage people to come (check), and supply lots of young women (check)

(5/13) You don't even have to do anything, and most people invited might even be totally unaware of the real purpose of the parties! But, sooner or later, some billionaire will get handsy, she'll escort him to a room with a hidden camera, things happen. Morning after, you strike.

(6/13) You inform him she was really 15, but you offer him a nice, neat way to buy your silence: a large allocation to your hedge fund, which charges 2/20 (check). To ensure nobody else asks questions, you also take the extraordinary step of demanding power of attorney (check)

(7/13) The fund is offshore in a tax haven (check) and nobody will see the client list (check). Of course, you don't really know anything about investing, instead making up some nonsense about currency trading (check), and nobody on Wall Street has ever traded with you (check)

Via Balloon Juice. Which alos points out what Alex Acosta's Department of Labor has been up to in the past few weeks:

The Trump administration has stalled a critical pathway to protect vulnerable workers, thanks to a new Labor Department moratorium on processing visa applications for victims of human trafficking and other egregious workplace crimes.

Cheryl Stanton, who assumed office April 29 as head of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, in early May suspended her agency’s role in certifying visas that grant temporary status to immigrants who were illegally trafficked to the U.S. or face other forms of severe mental and physical abuse. Delays in processing the visas protecting people who aid law enforcement could step on White House efforts to combat trafficking, but may also be seen as advancing the administration’s emphasis on curbing the flow of undocumented immigrants.

Stanton revoked authorities previously delegated to career officials, including the power to approve the visas. That’s created a backlog of time-sensitive applications from across the country. Stanton has yet to sign a single application, even though they’ve been approved by regional offices and DOL attorneys, Bloomberg Law reported June 19.

The freeze has been in place for more than six weeks, during which Stanton has been sitting on applications for U visas for victims of eight types of crimes uncovered in workplace investigations—including forced labor, extortion, and witness tampering—as well as for T visas for trafficked workers. Wage and Hour Division offices recently started receiving inquiries from workers’ attorneys as to whether they can still count on the agency to review their clients’ applications before they’re sent to the Homeland Security Department for a final decision.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/human-trafficking-victims-blocked-from-visas-by-trump-wage-boss

[uponit7771]

1. Yep, Red Sparrow movie comes to mind ... typical Russian honey pot move with an underage girl

... and then you're doing everything they want you to do.

I wouldn't put it past a ton of low character republican pols to be caught up in this someway too

[rampartc]

2. don't be surprised if a few low character democrats are in this net as well

which is why I predict this plea deal works out well outside the spotlights and Epstein, again, disappears from the radar.

[True Blue American]

3. I am thinking of Devin Nunes,

His Russian partners and the boat sex scandal.

Our plutocracy is corrupt to the core. Has been for a long time. Now the pus is spilling out.

[Recursion]

4. What's that slapfight with Scott Adams about?

Why the hell is he flapping his gums here?