Who Was

Jeffrey Epstein?

The Epstein Files lay bare how power always protects its own, writes James Bloodworth

Jeffrey Epstein is one of those names that now exists outside time – a cipher for elite corruption. But to understand who Epstein was, not merely what he did, is to see something bleaker still: how easily evil can cloak itself in civility, and how often power protects its own.

He began life a long way from the palaces and private islands in which he would eventually hold court.

Born in 1953 to working-class Jewish parents in Brooklyn, Epstein was not groomed for greatness. He was a college dropout; his father worked for the city parks department; the family lived modestly.