Was Epstein "famous"/"known" at the time

[topcat2014]

There seems to be no end to the rich/famous that Epstein seems to have known. Was he "famous" and in the news back when these offences took place?

I'm trying to feel sorry for Sarah Ferguson a bit here - was she being "conned" along with so many others?

Mandelson - not quite as much sympathy but maybe a bit?

I don't recall hearing about him until after all these offences

No sympathy for any of them. They all need to be hung out to dry, especially (like Fergie and Mandelson) they continued to try and slither up Epstein’s anal tract even after he’d been convicted of being a paedophile. They repulse me

The Andrew Lownie 'Entitled' audio book is worth a listen OP.

You won't feel sorry for either her or her disgraceful ex husband.

Greedy, self serving, appalling people who were extremely good friends with Epstein, much longer than she admits and, as we now know, still privately grovelling to him long after she had publicly slated him. He bailed her out and she needed more money from him/anyone.

She knew Epstein first and introduced Andrew.
Impossible to believe she wasn't aware of his trafficking operations.

Interesting question, I'd probably say that he wasn't a well known person in the UK at the time. Ghislaine probably more so through her father

I'm sure he was able to fool a lot of people in the same way Jimmy Savile did

Andrew, Sarah and Peter have all fallen down the Epstein rabbit hole out of greed. All three of them chose to maintain a friendship with a convicted paedophile. Andrew and Peter stayed in his houses (not sure about Fergie) and claim they knew nothing so they are liars too. None of them get any sympathy from me.

When I was a child a friend of my parents was imprisoned for sexually assaulting a child in his family . My parents had no idea - should they have been ‘hung out to dry ?’ They remained friends with his wife - she died of cancer while he was imprisoned

I understand he was wealthy at the time but it was Maxwell that had the societal status he wanted.

That was the basis of their partnership as she was broke.

He was well known in the US as a successful business person, but not necessarily a household name.

I can remember reading heavily coded articles in Private Eye many, many years ago about the, "Lolita Express" etc. So I knew, or at least suspected.

It was all in Private Eye if you could work it out. Ever since poor, dear Robert toppled off his yacht in 1991. The kind of mistake that could happen to anybody!

That’s a not even remotely the same as this.

The pair of them are despicable. Feel sorry for their daughters who to my knowledge have never put a foot wrong

He was some kind of broker, enabler who was able to charm people. Everybody loves flattery and famous/rich people are no different. Plus everyone likes forbidden pleasure and if it's on a private island then you can indulge and your new friend can talk to you. Maxwell was his confidante and had the connections. He wasn't known here by the public but in those circles he was. No wonder people have been buying the rights to photos taken during those years. No pics, it never happened.

He wasn’t well known in the UK. No one really knows how he amassed his original fortune, but it definitely wasn’t because he was some brilliant investment guru, most likely to be blackmail related.

Disgusting, amoral bastard and anyone who associated with him is just as bad.

There is a documentary about Epstein where they query how someone with his background, poor, who was a teacher at one point became a multi millionaire with an island with ties to rich and famous. The thought was that he was a spy and had been financed to become this person who courted the rich, and then gained information on them. Peter Mandelson, Prince Andrew and Fergie were all known to be dodgy back in the 80’s.90’s. Somehow being brought back into limelight more recently. There is more to this than we will ever know.

Financed by who?

Can you tell us the name of the documentary?

Wiki tells us he was exceptionally good at maths and got into banking/finance and rose thro the ranks. Lots of dodgy dealing but money being made so that's alright. Unhealthy interest in young women from the start. Once again, if you are making the wrong people money then they dont care what you are up to as long as they dont get dragged into it

According to Forbes in 2025, the great majority of Epstein's wealth between 1999 and 2018 came from $490 million in fees, (most of that from two billionaires, Leslie Wexner, $200 million, and Leon Black, $170 million) with the remaining $310 million reported as income during that period by his companies as being from investment returns, and was worth $600 million when he died.[82]

They remained friends with him after he was convicted though.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Sarah F and Andrew now both face being 'banished from the kingdom', yet King Dick hosts Epstein's best buddy with a banquet. You couldn't make it up. Maybe Spitting Image will. I hope they do.

That's completely different. KC is Head of State. The UK government invited Trump in his role as President of the USA.
The RF host foreign heads of state and dignitaries at the request of the government. Their role is the hosting and the soft diplomacy. Personal choices have nothing to do with this.
I think most US presidents have been hosted, through the years.
This was not a personal invitation from Charles.

Considering - it really shouldn't matter. I get that it's different because of US UK relations but it should not matter. There is no good example here, no one has any backbone. Trump is a sex offender, likely rapist and a felon. But let's deflect all that by focussing on Andrew and Sarah. That'll do it.

No sympathy for Andrew and Fergie whatsoever. Andrew enough said, now it is clear that Fergie put out a statement disowning Epstein when he was convicted purely to protect herself and her family whilst continuing to support him in private, despicable and dishonest, I'm glad her charities are dropping her as fast as possible.

I'd be interested to know where these emails are all suddenly appearing from though.

Deflect what? I've no time for Trump. He's all the things that you said he is. However. The people of the USA elected him, he's the President. There's nothing the UK government can do about that. What they see fit to do is keep relations with an ally as cordial as possible.
That's the decision of the government. KC, Camilla and the others had a job to do. Host him before the Chequers meeting with Starmer.
That's diplomacy, whether you like the person or not.

I know all of this, but it shouldn't matter. It blows my mind that there is a king who virtually has no power but to do what the government tell him. He should have the power to say no. He should have a backbone. Kate should be able to say 'I am not sitting with a sex offender'. I know none of this isn't realistic but it makes me so angry. And it is deflecting. It's like saying 'look we are doing something, we're punishing Sarah and Andrew, so you can't say we aren't doing anything'. The hypocrisy is staggering. But then putting a sex offender into power is wrong as well. The whole thing makes me sick.

It's a constitutional monarchy. The government is chosen by the electorate (via Parliamentary elections), and therefore decides policy and state invitations. Of course the RF do as they are told in that respect.

There are plenty of repulsive people who gave been given state visits because the UK government wanted to sweeten them up.

Trump is abhorrent, but he was elected by the US electorate. You couldn't say that about e.g. the Ceausescus, to give one example.