UNITED STATES: Epstein files reveal criminality of American oligarchy

bY Jacob Crosse
World Socialist Web Site
2 February 2026

On Friday, the Justice Department released more than three million documents, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images related to financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The documents associate Epstein, who ran a prostitution ring trafficking children for sexual abuse, with Trump, the current world’s richest man (Elon Musk) and the former world’s richest man (Bill Gates).

Others named in the documents include: Former Prince Andrew (referred to as “The Duke”), who is pictured in photographs with Epstein and appears in emails that shed new light on their contact; British billionaire Richard Branson, who appears in images and contact materials; former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Lawrence Summers, listed in schedules and correspondence about meetings and dinners; former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is described as staying at Epstein’s New York mansion even after his 2008 conviction; and billionaire Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants, who is included in emails in which Epstein describes arranging to provide women for him.

Others include former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon, and a wider cast of billionaires, financiers, celebrities and officials whose names populate Epstein’s contact books, flight logs and internal communications. While some of those named deny wrongdoing and claim only incidental contact, the files provide a chilling portrait of a tightly interconnected global elite orbiting Epstein’s criminal enterprise.

Epstein was a financier who ran an international sex trafficking operation for decades, procuring underage girls for himself and his wealthy and powerful associates. After a 2008 conviction in Florida for procuring minors for prostitution, Epstein received a sweetheart deal orchestrated by Alex Acosta, who later served as Trump’s labor secretary.

The deal allowed Epstein to serve just 15 months in a county jail with work release, despite prosecutors having identified 30 victims. According to a 2019 report by the Daily Beast, Acosta told Trump transition officials he had cut the deal because he “had been told to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade.” Acosta reportedly said: “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”

Epstein was arrested again in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. He was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on August 10, 2019, in what the government and the media, without any serious investigation, immediately ruled a suicide.

Despite ample evidence, none of Epstein’s clients among leading politicians and business leaders have been charged, let alone convicted.

Musk, the largest single donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign, appears throughout the release, with his name referenced more than 1,000 times. In November 2012, four years after Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring minors, Musk emailed him asking, “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

In December 2013, Musk again sought to visit Epstein, writing, “Will be in the BVI/St. Bart’s area over the holidays. Is there a good time to visit?” Epstein responded, “I will send heli for you.” Subsequent emails between Epstein, Musk and Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff show continued coordination over travel to the island in early January 2014.

These emails contradict Musk’s 2019 claim to Vanity Fair that he “declined” repeated invitations to Epstein’s island and never visited. Over the weekend, Musk denounced reporting on the emails as “fake” and the files themselves as a “distraction.”

Gates also features prominently. In a 2013 email, Epstein appeared to blackmail Gates, referencing requests to delete emails regarding Gates’s sexually transmitted disease, requests for antibiotics to secretly give to Melinda Gates and explicit sexual details. Epstein suggested Gates provide him with millions of dollars and purchase a home for him. Melinda Gates later stated publicly that her divorce was due to her husband’s relationship with Epstein, whom she described as “evil.”

Among the files are emails showing emails from billionaire Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants, seeking Epstein’s help in procuring women for sex—years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. The exchanges reveal Epstein remained actively engaged in trafficking with the knowledge of elite clients. Tisch is the cousin of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, reappointed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The files underscore the international scope of Epstein’s network. Newly released photographs show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, positioned on top of a young female whose face has been redacted. In Britain, Peter Mandelson, a central architect of New Labour, resigned from a party role after it was revealed he received three payments of $25,000 from Epstein.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also sought to distance himself from Epstein, claiming he cut ties in 2005 after noticing a “massage table” in Epstein’s apartment. However, emails show Lutnick corresponding with Epstein as late as 2012, well after the conviction. In one December 2012 email, Lutnick coordinated dinner plans in the Caribbean while traveling with his family and children ranging in age from seven to 16.

These powerful individuals—who run entire governments, banks and corporations—claim they did not know what Epstein was. What nonsense, everybody knew! The sheer scale of his contacts, the extraordinary reach of his network, speaks to the character of the ruling class itself.

While documents are being released, every element is covered in deceit, including what is released and what information is redacted. In a statement released Friday evening signed by 20 of Epstein’s victims, the signers wrote: “This latest release of Jeffrey Epstein files is being sold as transparency, but what it actually does is expose survivors. Once again, survivors are having their names and identifying information exposed, while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected.”

The more fundamental political questions remain unanswered, and if it remains in the hands of the ruling class, will remain unanswered. Epstein was not an independent operator. Whose interests was he serving? Was he working for the CIA, the Mossad, or some other intelligence agency? Acosta’s claim that Epstein “belonged to intelligence” has never been investigated.

Beyond the specific individuals involved, the Epstein scandal reveals the character of a social class. The American oligarchy has amassed its wealth through parasitism, speculation and fraud. It is, in its social being, in its mode of acquisition, a criminal class at the summit of American politics. Its fortunes are the product of financial manipulation, corporate swindling, war profiteering and the exploitation of billions of people.

The oligarchy feels itself above the law. Trump is the personification of this class—brazenly criminal, contemptuous of democratic norms, openly inciting fascist violence and plotting war. His administration views the Constitution as a worthless piece of paper, international law as irrelevant. It declares the right to murder individuals, citizen or non-citizen, with, in the words of Vice President JD Vance, “absolute immunity.”

The American ruling class is wallowing in political, social, legal and moral degradation. The Epstein scandal holds up a mirror to itself.