The Mysterious Epstein List
We live in interesting times. Sometimes I think we are completely ensnared in conspiracy theories and Zombie facts. Conspiracy theories come from an attempt to connect unconnected facts into a seamless story of what happened or what is happening. They are not new; I remember my father telling me that Pearl Harbor happened because President Roosevelt wanted the United States to be attacked and therefore set up Pearl Harbor to be attacked. Later, he told me that Japanese workers on Oahu cut arrows in sugar cane fields so that the Japanese pilots would know where to attack.
Only later did I learn that the Army and Navy had sent multiple “war warnings” to military commanders in Pearl Harbor so that they would be prepared for the attack. These warnings should have made admiral Kimmel and General Short more vigilant, but they did not, and a disaster ensued. Only later when I was stationed at Pearl Harbor did I see that Pearl Harbor’s location was obvious and arrows cut in sugar cane would have been a wasted effort. These were all part of a conspiracy theory—one that was obviously false, but which nevertheless persisted.
“Zombie” facts are different than conspiracy theories. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, M.D., a British physician, published a study showing a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. This study was then used to demonstrate to people that providing normal childhood vaccinations to children can cause them to become autistic. The study was soon proven to be false and was later withdrawn, but not before millions of people took it to heart. Despite the fact that there is no evidence linking vaccinations to autism, millions of parents have decided to forgo vaccinations putting their children at risk of serious injury or death. Why is it a “Zombie fact”? Because like a Zombie, the fact lives on even though it is dead.
What does all of this have to do with Jeffrey Epstein? According to some people—we don’t know their identities or the source of their information—Jeffrey Epstein was a rich and powerful abuser of young women and children who used these women and girls to ensnare other powerful men and force them to do his bidding. Who were these other men? This is where the “list” comes in.[1]
[1] The first famous “list” to be discussed in the media was the so-called “Clinton List”. This list allegedly contained the names of the people the Clintons had murdered during their rise to the Presidency. The list has been published, however, and the Clintons have not been charged with murder.
Lest anyone believe that conspiracy theories are a phenomenon of the right, Hillary Clinton attacked opponents of her husband as being members of a “vast right-wing conspiracy”. No conspiracy was ever identified, however, and as Bill Clinton faded into the sunset, the Clinton List was largely forgotten only to be resurrected again in the shadows when Hillary Clinton ran for President in 2016, losing to Donald Trump.
According to the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who was asked about Epstein’s client list in February, the list was going to be produced. She even emphasized, “It’s a new administration,” she said, “and everything is going to be made public”. So, there you have it. In February, there was a list, and it was going to be made public. In fact, “everything” was going to be made public. Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, and he died, allegedly by suicide, while under guard at the federal detention center in New York. Now, finally, six years after his death, the public was finally going to be made aware of the names on the list.
Except, it never happened. Apparently, after perusing the list for half a year, Ms. Bondi had a change of heart. It has been suggested that after seeing President Trump’s name in the file, apparently in multiple locations, she determined that there was no list and that other information could not be released. These are the events that bring us to this article.
At first, Donald Trump supported Bondi announcing that it was time to move on and forget about Epstein. After all, he was dead, and there was nothing else to look into. He even referred to some of his own supporters as “stupid” which may reflect his actual view of people who voted for him. As protests escalated, he referred to controversy over the Epstein file as a “witch hunt” saying that it had been created by the Democrats. The Democrats? Yes, them. Anyone remotely critical of the President is, in his terms, a “Democrat”.
The Epstein List.
But let’s get back to the Epstein list. Trump makes it easy to get lost in the hyperbole of his daily discontent. Recently, former President Barrack Obama was a “traitor” who should be prosecuted. No one knows what will happen next. Remember the Monica Lewinsky missile strikes? When news of President Clinton’s dalliance with Lewinsky arose, he quickly ordered a missile strike on terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan—the missile hit on the same day Lewinsky testified before Congress. Might President Trump do the same thing; perhaps ordering targeted attacks on Democrats in California and New York? He has had more unkind things to say about Democrats than he has terrorists.
But once again I digress, and it is so easy to do when it comes to the Epstein list. What can we say about the list?
On one hand, it does seem unlikely that such a list would exist. While one could surmise that Epstein might have created a list to protect himself, there would have been a lot of people who would have recovered and destroyed the list after his faked[2] suicide. Once Epstein was arrested, corrupt FBI agents or top secret “contractors”—Navy SEALs or others with special training—would have conducted a clandestine search of everything, and once the list was found, it would have been destroyed.
[2] The term “fake” has become a term of art recently, sort of like the word “beautiful”. Anything that supports the President is “beautiful” and anything opposed to the President is “fake”. By using the term “fake suicide” I do not mean to suggest that Epstein did not commit suicide. I only want to use the term to further the goals of this article.
But what about Pam Bondi? How did she get to see the list? Well, I am glad you asked because this is where the story really gets interesting. It all begins with a conspiracy theory. Epstein is both a billionaire and one who has an apparently insatiable appetite for underage girls. So, it seems logical—and this is where conspiracy theories start—that there must be a nexus between Epstein, the underage girls, and the rich clientele with whom he associates. A further review of Epstein’s financial circumstances does not reveal an apparent source of his funds.[3] He appears to have come from middle class origins and did not graduate from college. What is apparent is that he did have an ability to connect with wealthy and powerful people. In 2008, after molesting dozens of children, he entered into a controversial plea agreement where he pled to procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting prostitution and received only a thirteen-month prison sentence, which he mostly did not serve anyhow.
[3] He does appear to have had at least two significant financial clients, Les Wexler and Leon Black, and has a possible history of fraud and criminal behavior. He was also a partner with Bear Stearns, an investment bank. It is not known how much wealth he accumulated from these entities, but it could have been significant.
These circumstances feed the conspiracy theory that Epstein had connections with powerful people, based upon a shared interest in underage girls, that allowed him to escape responsibility for his actions. For years now, prominent conspiracy theorists have alleged the existence of a “deep state” within the government that protects people like Epstein and his clients from responsibility for their actions. Trump and people like Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, Kash Patel, the Director of the FBI, and Dan Bongino, Deputy Director of the FBI, have said for years that when they come to power they would release all information concerning the Epstein case.
The belief in a deep conspiracy based upon Democratic Party (or liberal) involved child abuse runs deep. In 2016, a man from North Carolina acting on information published on multiple alt-right websites, took over a Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington, DC associated with Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, to save children being held in the basement for satanic rituals. QAnon—a murky group of unknown origin—reported these children were murdered under extreme stress to produce a hormone used by Democratic leaders and the wealthy for their personal benefit. This theory runs deep. And Trump and his minions have fanned the flames of these conspiracy theories to personal political gain.
And so, when they came to power, there was a clear expectation that all information related to Epstein would be released. So, for seven months now, Trump’s “fans” have been waiting for Trump’s administration to act. Instead of action, however, they have received excuses. It has been reported that Trump’s name appears in the Epstein materials; if this is true, that would explain why the “list” was not released.
It may indeed be true that there was no “list” written by Epstein in his own handwriting that was notarized before a notary public. There is likely no document entitled “Epstein list”. Pam Bondi’s reference to an “Epstein List” sitting on her desk could very well be her own personal incompetence in speaking too loosely without knowledge of what she had or did not have in her possession. Therefore, although it looks like she is lying, she may not be. She could also be lying, but we do not have evidence to suggest that is true at this time.
Epstein Materials versus an Epstein List.
The presence or absence of a “list”, however, is different from Epstein “materials” that are in the possession of the Attorney General. We know that Epstein was associated with many rich and powerful people, many of whom visited his island in the Caribbean. We know that there were underage girls on that island. This information could be disclosed to the public, and it could give a much better view of people with whom Epstein associated, but at this point, no one knows exactly what was investigated and what was not.
For example, one of Epstein’s victims was Virginia Guiffre who said she flew around the world basically as a sexual servant of Epstein’s engaging in sexual acts with men when she was seventeen and eighteen. One of the men she says she met with and had sexual intercourse with was Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. In 2021, Ms. Guiffre sued Prince Andrew in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case was settled the next year for a “substantial” amount, although Prince Andrew did not admit liability.
Prince Andrew, however, was never charged criminally with the sexual assault,[4] and we do not know if he was ever investigated by any law enforcement agency.
[4] On April 25, 2025, Ms. Guiffre committed suicide at her home in Australia. According to her family, Ms. Guiffre experienced death threats and financial ruin because of her association with Epstein and what came from it. Her attorneys report that she testified to having sex with approximately 100 different men. Her name most recently came up when President Trump reported that Epstein had “stolen” Ms. Guiffre from him.
Understanding Investigations.
It is important to understand that investigations never happen in a vacuum, especially when they touch upon the rich and the powerful. In 1992, I was on active duty as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Navy. It was during that time that the now infamous Tailhook Convention took place in Law Vegas. The Tailhook Convention was a convention hosted by defense contractors that catered to naval aviators. In 1991, however, substantial misconduct occurred at the convention involving allegations of sexual assault and other official misconduct. The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Trost appeared at the convention and may have been in one or more rooms where inappropriate conduct occurred. There was no allegation, however, that Admiral Trost engaged in any illegal activity or even knew that anything untoward was happening.
However, Admiral Trost’s name came up in several witness statements. The Commander of the Naval Investigative Service at the time was Rear Admiral Williams, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Navy. Rear Admiral Williams decided to bury evidence of Admiral Trost’s presence at Tailhook. I suppose that he was trying to prevent Admiral Trost’s name from being tied up with the Tailhook investigation that was then only in its infancy—I do not believe there was any intent to cover up criminal activity. In the end, neither Admiral Trost nor Rear Admiral Williams were ever charged with a crime, but they were both fired and forced to retire.
But Williams’ situation does show how the involvement of powerful people can shape the contours of an investigation. If Admiral Trost had been a nobody, then there would have been no need to remove his name from the investigation. Investigators assigned to look into the Epstein case could have come across the names of powerful people; people who could make or break careers.
Federal investigators normally divide people being investigated into one of three categories: target, subject, or witness. By the time the second Epstein began in earnest, there were already two targets—people suspected of committing crimes—Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Attempting to figure out every person who might have been involved with Epstein, even if they are only identified as subjects, could subject these people, who could be innocent, to intense media scrutiny, and a reasonable investigator, or his or her superiors, might decide to focus solely upon the two primary targets. Their arrests would be a big deal and might be enough to stop the investigation.
If the entire investigation is ever released, it might reveal a lot about Epstein and Maxwell, including things that we might not already know. But it might not contain more than passing references to other big-name individuals, like Donald Trump. There may also be an inability to verify key details in the investigative report. Epstein is now dead, as is Virginia Guiffre. Two other victims, Leigh Sky Patrick and Carolyn Andriano, have died of drug overdoses. Jean-Luc Brunel, a French national under investigation for supplying Epstein with girls in Paris died in his prison cell in 2022, apparently from a suicide.
Senior members of the Justice Department may find it unfair to disclose evidence when the witnesses who provided it are no longer available to verify what they said, if, indeed, the investigation ever went further than Epstein and Maxwell.
So, is there an Epstein list? Probably not. Is there an ability to investigate further and identify other people who engaged in illegal conduct? Probably. Will anything ever happen? Probably not. If the information within the possession of the Attorney General related only to prominent Democrats, it would have been released long ago. At this point, my prediction is that some information will be released, and, eventually, the media will move on to something else and all of this will be forgotten.
But what about President Trump’s latest comment that he terminated his friendship with Epstein because Epstein was “stealing” his girls who apparently worked at the Spa at Mar-a-Lago? I do not think that any of us can ever own a girl as one might own a vehicle, and “stealing” a girl from another billionaire should be problematic.
