Better in their words…

Elites who were recently named for their ties to late child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein following his conviction are now expressing “regret” doing so.

The mea culpas come after the Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of Epstein’s personal calendar and a trove of emails which have named several powerful figures. All named figures have said their relationship with Epstein was innocuous but nevertheless express “regret” over their associations.

Jeffrey Epstein registered as a sex offender and served 13 months’s jail time in 2008 for procuring a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of trafficking minors for sex. The billionaire, who ran in an elite circle of the world’s most powerful people, was said to have committed suicide in his cell while awaiting for trial, though that claim remains thoroughly challenged.

Kathryn Ruemmler, a White House counsel under former President Barack Obama, met with Epstein over three dozen times after she left her federal post when Epstein was already a registered sex offender. The meetings were reportedly in connection with Ruemmler’s subsequent role as an attorney at the Latham & Watkins LLP law firm, before she assumed her current position at Goldman Sachs.

Epstein introduced Ruemmler to potential legal clients like billionaire Bill Gates.

“I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein,” Ruemmler said. A Goldman Sachs spokesman said “[i]t was the same kinds of contacts and engagements she had with other contacts and clients.”

For his part, Gates claims he “regrets” having dinners with Jeffrey Epstein, which he says were strictly about philanthropy.

“A spokeswoman for Mr. Gates said Epstein never worked for Mr. Gates, misrepresented their relationship, and that Mr. Gates regrets ever meeting with him,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

Harvard University Professor Martin Nowak met with Epstein and other academics, including antisemitic linguist Noam Chomsky. Nowak’s several meetings with Epstein resulted in generous grants for Nowak’s research, though the professor says he “regretted his role in fostering a connection between Epstein and Harvard.”

Former US Treasury Secretary and Harvard University President Lawrence Summers also had several meetings scheduled with Epstein after the billionaire was registered as a child sex offender. Summers petitioned Epstein to donate to a nonprofit run by Summers’ wife, a Harvard professor. Records show a $110,000 donation to the organization in 2016 from a nonprofit linked to Epstein, though Summers now “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction” and the nonprofit now “regrets accepting funding from Epstein”.

Billionaire and LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman met with Epstein several times in 2014 and 2015 and even stayed in the billionaire’s Manhattan townhouse. He also visited Epstein at his island mansion in the US Virgin Islands. Hoffman says he was only trying to raise money for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), though he now “regrets interacting with Epstein after his conviction”.

Epstein had a monthly rendezvous for 11 months with former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak  who visited Epstein’s New York townhouse and Palm Beach mansion and flew twice on the billionaire’s private jet. The plane was nicknamed the “Lolita Express” for shuttling underage girls to Epstein’s residences.

“I never participated in any party or any other improper event around [Epstein], and never met him with girls or minors, or even adult women in improper context or behavior,” Barak said.

Terje Rød-Larsen, who helped negotiate the widely criticized Oslo Accords in the 1990s, was forced to resign as president of the International Peace Institute (IPI) in 2020 after it was found that he visited Epstein’s townhouse dozens of times, secured a personal loan from Epstein for $130,000, and also secured $650,000 for the IPI from Epstein’s foundations.

The IPI said Mr. Rød-Larsen “apologized for his failed judgment.”

Other Epstein associates include Oscar-winning Director Woody Allen, Bard College President Leon Botstein, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, CIA Director William Burns, billionaire Leon Black, Glenn Dubin, Eva Andersson-Dubin, Ariane de Rothschild, and others.

Chomsky defiantly told the Wall Street Journal that his relationship with Epstein is “none of your business”. He also said that “what was known about Jeffrey Epstein was that he had been convicted of a crime and had served his sentence. According to U.S. laws and norms, that yields a clean slate.”