Fresh scrutiny is falling on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as new court filings and investigative reports revive disturbing speculation about the 47th US president’s entanglement in Epstein’s web of trafficking, surveillance and elite privilege. While Donald Trump has not been charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes, like Bill Clinton’s, his name appears on flight logs and guest lists of parties hosted by the disgraced financier. The scandal is once again casting a shadow over some of the most powerful institutions in the Western world.
It’s a scandal that refuses to die—not just because of its lurid particulars, but because the Epstein story continues to implicate major institutions and individuals. From Buckingham Palace to Langley, from Palm Beach to Tel Aviv, the saga is not simply one of criminal depravity. It’s a study in the machinery of secrecy, influence and impunity.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier of unclear means, was not just a man with expensive tastes and dangerous appetites. He was also a man with extraordinary access. His now-infamous black book of contacts included billionaires, royals, presidents and spies. He hosted figures ranging from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump, from Ehud Barak to Prince Andrew. His Upper East Side mansion in New York was rigged with hidden cameras, coded entryways, and surrealist art. The question that lingers: who was watching whom?
India has its own share of elite scandals—involving businessmen, Bollywood celebrities, even politicians—but few that expose a global convergence of sex trafficking, intelligence services, and systemic protection like Epstein’s. For Indian readers, his case is a chilling glimpse into how power can be shielded across borders, using private influence, foreign intelligence and institutional silence.
Central to the saga is Ghislaine Maxwell, British socialite and daughter of media tycoon Robert Maxwell—himself long rumoured to have had dealings with both Mossad and MI6. Her role in grooming and trafficking underage girls has now been confirmed by a US court. Yet, it is her connections that raise enduring questions. Was Ghislaine merely Epstein’s enabler? Or was she, like her father, acting on behalf of interests larger than herself?
Robert Maxwell's mysterious death at sea in 1991—with his body found floating near the Canary Islands—and later revelations of his cooperation with Israeli intelligence are part of the shadow legacy Ghislaine inherited. That she embedded herself so deeply into the Anglo-American elite without scrutiny for so long speaks not only to privilege, but to protection.
Prince Andrew’s entanglement is no longer a matter of speculation. His now-settled civil case with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of abusing her as a minor, came with a multi-million-dollar payout and a permanently-damaged reputation. The photograph of him with Giuffre, Maxwell in the background, remains iconic—not just for what it shows, but for how it was denied.
The prince’s association with Epstein, even after Epstein's first conviction, and the disastrous BBC interview that followed, confirmed what many already feared: that the British establishment had, at best, turned a blind eye. At worst, it was complicit.
Numerous observers, including former intelligence professionals, have long speculated that Epstein was a facilitator—creating honeypots, filming the powerful, and quietly handing over the results to interested parties. Former Israeli officer Ari Ben-Menashe and American whistleblowers have suggested Epstein’s operation bore the hallmarks of classic compromat used for control or blackmail. Why else would such a man be funded, protected, and even after conviction be welcomed by the world’s most influential people?
Epstein’s death in a high-security New York prison in 2019, officially ruled a suicide, though surveillance footage vanished and the guards reportedly slept through it, only deepened suspicions. It was the perfect ending for a man who knew too much.
At first glance, Trump appears as just another name in Epstein’s contact list who famously called Epstein “a terrific guy” in 2002. But since Epstein’s death, many within Trump’s base have seized on the scandal as proof of a global elite network rotten to its core—a real-world echo of what the QAnon, the far-right conspiracy movement, claims about a secret cabal of child-abusing elites that Trump was chosen to expose. While neither Clinton nor Trump has faced charges over Epstein’s activities, their documented ties continue to raise uncomfortable questions.
To many on the right, Epstein became symbolic of a decadent ruling class—jet-setting, untouchable and predatory. The fact that Epstein’s ties to Clinton were longer and deeper than to Trump has not gone unnoticed. Nor has the fact that Epstein's prosecution accelerated under the Trump-era department of justice.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s on-again, off-again ideologue, reportedly had access to hours of private interviews with Ghislaine—some filmed while she was in hiding in New Hampshire. Was it for a documentary, a counter-narrative, or something more coercive? The answers remain buried for now.
For Trump’s supporters, the Epstein story affirms what they already believe: that America’s elites are not just out of touch. They are morally corrupt and shielded by a media-intelligence nexus. That perception, however partial, fuels their distrust of institutions and explains the enduring appeal of populists who promise to drain the swamp.
Despite trials and exposés, much of the Epstein archive remains sealed. Flight logs are redacted. Visitor logs disappeared. Surveillance tapes from his homes have never surfaced. His private Caribbean island, with its odd blue-and-white temple and underground rooms, remains a monument to unanswered questions. If Epstein was indeed an asset of intelligence services, we may never know the full truth.
But what is already known is damning enough. A global trafficking operation catered to the powerful, protected by the system, and buried before too many questions could be asked. The Epstein story is no longer about one man. It is about the infrastructure of impunity—secretive, elite, and shameless. And until the full truth is known, it will remain the ghost in the machine.
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Shyam Bhatia
Former Diplomatic Editor, The Observer and author of Bullets and Bylines