De Niro: Epstein is a monster and Trump is his "greatest protector".. The maze of three million documents. Have you published them all?
Afrasianet - The death of British whistleblower Simon Andrews, who revealed correspondence linking U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to convicted sex crime financier Jeffrey Epstein, has shed light on a string of deaths involving people named in the case, among defendants, complainants, witnesses and whistleblowers.
In a report published in The Independent, writer Katie Rosinski reviews the deaths that have fueled speculation about the case, although the available evidence does not prove a connection or suggest that they were the result of a joint conspiracy.
Epstein was found dead inside his cell in a New York jail in 2019, while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and his death was classified as a suicide, and the US Department of Justice concluded in 2023 that there was no evidence of a murder, but acknowledged negligence, misconduct, and failures in the performance of work inside the prison, which gave him the opportunity to end his life.
US Secretary of Commerce
Failures included guards not checking on Epstein regularly, not searching his cell as required, allowing bedding to accumulate and not appointing a new companion to the cell after a previous suicide attempt.
Andrés, who previously worked as a managing director at the brokerage firm BGC Partners, which Lutnick founded and managed, said he discovered through Epstein's files released by the U.S. Department of Justice a series of emails dating back to 2018 in which the two men discussed a joint business venture, and Lutnick was not charged with wrongdoing related to Epstein, and he had previously condemned his behavior and illegal activities associated with it.
Andrés wrote in August that the personal consequences of reporting wrongdoing were devastating, hinting that he planned to publish more evidence.
After his family declared his death a suicide last month, British MPs called for an investigation into the Financial Supervisory Authority's handling of his complaint, accusing it of failing to take effective measures to protect him, and the authority announced the appointment of a new member of its board of directors to review the case and draw the necessary lessons.
The most popular complaints
Another most notable death was the death of Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's most famous complainants, last April at the age of 41, who said she was lured as a teenager by Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell, then sexually trafficked and forced to have sex with him and others, and accused former British Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor of sexual assault, which he vehemently denied, before settling the civil lawsuit in 2023 without admitting responsibility.
Joffrey's death sparked controversy, with her father questioning the possibility of her suicide, while her lawyer later clarified that she did not see the death as suspicious and that she did not want to speculate on its causes.
In February 2022, French model agent Jean-Luc Brunel was found dead by suicide in his Paris prison after he was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the rape and trafficking of underage girls, charges he denied, and his name was linked to Epstein, who financed the modeling agency he founded.
In July, Daniel Siad, a 69-year-old French model agent, was also found dead at his Paris home, whose name appeared thousands of times in Epstein's files, and their correspondence included photos of young women Siad had attracted from across Europe.
The medical examination found no recent signs of violence that could be linked to the death, although no definitive cause was identified, and Siad had faced and denied rape accusations and denied knowledge of Epstein's illegal activities.
Clinton aide
The list includes Mark Middleton, an aide to former US President Bill Clinton who committed suicide in 2022 after his name was linked to flights on Epstein's plane, as well as Thomas Powers, a former Deutsche Bank official who committed suicide in 2019.
The bank had dealt with Epstein between 2013 and 2018 and then agreed in 2020 to pay $150 million to settle charges related to his financial relationship with him, while admitting errors in his dealings.
These sporadic deaths continue to cast a heavy shadow over one of the most contentious cases in the United States, but their coincidence or association with Epstein is not in itself evidence of a conspiracy, although the persistence of questions about the circumstances of the case gives conspiracy theories fertile ground to spread.
________________
Source: The Independent
