One of the many black jokes doing the rounds of social media in the wake of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s death is a meme stating, “If you’re surprised Jeff Epstein committed suicide, imagine how surprised he was”. Black conservative Charisse Lane joked on Twitter that Epstein “hung himself with Jussie Smollett’s noose”, while comedian Matt Walsh commented that, “I’m officially a conspiracy theorist on this one”.
Jokes aside, as Walsh observed, “[an accused] global sex trafficker who could implicate some of the richest and most powerful people on Earth as pedophiles died in his jail cell while under suicide watch in federal prison on the very night that his case files were unsealed”. It doesn’t take a foil hat to channel the conspiracy vibes on that.
So what do we actually know about Epstein’s death?
Even before his first suspected suicide try last month, Jeffrey Epstein was perhaps the most vulnerable man in the federal jail system: a wealthy and well-known financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. He was, by all accounts, the kind of inmate who should have been under the closest possible supervision.
Instead, Epstein was taken off suicide watch in the days before he apparently took his own life, officials told NBC News, a decision that baffled former wardens and veterans of the federal prison system…Epstein’s status was changed sometime in the last two weeks for reasons that remain unknown, officials told NBC News.
Days later, Epstein is dead.
Now, if the allegations of the extent of his crimes are true – and let’s not forget that Epstein was in fact convicted for some of them in 2008 – I doubt that many will shed a tear. But if those allegations are true, then Epstein had a lot of very powerful friends who shared in his crimes and are still walking free, with no chance now that the convicted sex trafficker will ever reveal the truth.
The FBI is investigating the case, law enforcement officials told NBC News…Attorney General William Barr issued a statement expressing concern over the case, saying he was appalled and that Epstein’s death “raises serious questions that must be answered.”
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., used far starker language in a scathing letter to Barr.
“Every single person in the Justice Department — from your main Justice headquarters staff all the way to the night-shift jailer — knew that this man was a suicide risk, and that his dark secrets couldn’t be allowed to die with him,” Sasse said…
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prison-experts-are-stunned-angry-jeffrey-epstein-was-taken-suicide-n1041121
What does this mean for the case against Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators and offenders? According to Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman:
“Today’s events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in Court. To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing.”
justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-manhattan-us-attorney-death-defendant-jeffrey-epstein
So, it remains to be seen if the deceased Epstein’s buddies will end up escaping the metaphorical noose.