The Epstein scandal exposes the dark attraction of money and power in America

Smart, sane, and famous men – with everything to lose – found themselves drawn to the Epstein flame, writes Jon Sopel. Four years after the billionaire took his own life, many are still sleeping uneasily, terrified of what is still to come out

‘Maybe they thought Epstein was untouchable, immutable – and that the heat shield around him would afford them a Teflon non-stick coating too’ (New York State Sex Offender Registry)

Orgies with underage girls. A wealthy American financier. Stephen Hawking. An offer of payments to the youngsters concerned to deny any such orgy took place. I’m not sure what is more remarkable: the salaciousness or the improbability of it all. It is head-spinning.

But then we’ve grown used to some of it. The sleaziness of Epstein; the involvement of Ghislaine Maxwell in procuring extremely young women to act as the masseuses and providers of sexual services to a host of older men. There’s the private island befitting a Bond villain, the private jets put at your disposal; you can almost imagine the noxious, acrid smell of sweat, sex, stale cigar smoke – and power – mashed together in a ghastly fusion.

The movie, when it comes – and it surely will – will have to be X certificate. Like the title of the Ian Dury song, it is “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” to the nth degree. There is plenty to dwell on there. But more interesting is what it says about power in the US, and the magnetic, irresistible attraction of money. Smart, sane, famous, eminent men – with everything to lose – found themselves drawn feebly, or perhaps willingly, like moths to the Epstein flame.

But maybe they thought Epstein was untouchable, immutable – and that the heat shield around him would afford them a Teflon non-stick coating too.

Before his conspiracy-theory-inducing suicide while awaiting trial in a prison in New York, the multimillionaire was known for his links with the glitterati: the celebs, politicians, power-brokers, billionaires, and stars of academia.

It is worth recalling that Epstein was initially arrested in Florida in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old for sex. A host of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but bizarrely, prosecutors ultimately cut a deal. He’d plead guilty to a single charge and walk away with the gentlest tap on the wrist. The prosecutor would later turn up as labor secretary in Donald Trump’s cabinet. Trump, of course, was another associate of Epstein.

Once he was a convicted sex offender, some did indeed give Epstein a wide berth – notably former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump – but what is remarkable is that there are dozens who didn’t.

Prince Andrew, in the mother of all car-crash interviews, told my podcast colleague, Emily Maitlis, that it was a sense of loyalty that kept him in Epstein’s orbit long after he should have abandoned him. Andrew mused that he himself was perhaps just “too honourable”.

Really? Is that it? To misquote Mrs Merton, what was it that first attracted all these people to the multimillionaire financier and his dodgy adventure playground? Was it the fear that if they cut Epstein adrift he would come after them, or worse still, expose them? Was it vanity – that they somehow felt chosen to be part of this most exclusive members’ club? Was it the rubbing of shoulders (and perhaps other parts of the anatomy) with others as successful and renowned as themselves?

In his interview with Emily, Andrew explained the allure of Epstein thus: “He had the most extraordinary ability to bring extraordinary people together, and that’s the bit that I remember ... going to the dinner parties where you would meet academics, politicians, people from the United Nations.”

I remember attending Davos for the first time ahead of a scheduled interview I was to do with Tony Blair when he was prime minister, and being invited to something called the Red party, in a small conference room in the poshest hotel in Davos. There were rock stars, supermodels, world leaders, CEOs – and yes, actually, Prince Andrew. I was the only person there I hadn’t heard of. It was slightly intoxicating, and bewildering.

Davos is one big schmooze-a-thon for these types of people, as the prince well knows. And if you are breathing that type of rarified air with the good and the great, there is no shortage of opportunity to discuss the problems of the world in endless salons and get-togethers for the well-to-do. But how much more agreeable to do it on a private island, with young women there to attend to your every need.

One wonders whether these kings of the universe ever embarked on a risk/reward analysis as they made themselves comfortable in the soft, leather seats of the Gulfstream on their way to the island. It seems somehow inconceivable that they did, because surely you could only come to one conclusion. But maybe that is what it is like when you enter those social circles: you start to believe your own publicity, and in your own invincibility.

If that was the case then, I bet that now – some four-plus years since Epstein took his own life at the Metropolitan Detention Center – these grandees are still sleeping uneasily, terrified of what is still to come out.