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Jeffrey Epstein And His Clandestine Business In Africa (Part 1) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Jeffrey Epstein's origin story has always been more
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: shadow than substance, a foggy patchwork of half-truths, unverified claims,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and just enough documentation to keep those myths alive. After
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: walking out of Bear Stearns in 1981, he launched Intercontinental
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Assets Group Incorporated, a consulting firm with a mission that
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: was as vague as it was suspicious. Epstein himself would
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: later describe the work as recovering stolen money for wealthy clients,
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  Speaker 1: a line that raised more questions than it answered. Who
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: were these wealthy clients? What kind of stolen money were
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: they trying to get back? And more importantly, why would
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  Speaker 1: they trust an obscure ex-options trader with no law enforcement
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  Speaker 1: or investigative background to do it? Those answers never came.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: What did come, however, were whispers, that this recovery business
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  Speaker 1: sometimes blurred the lines between legitimate asset retrieval and working
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: with people who moved in much darker worlds. This period
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of Epstein's life is the canvas onto which later allegations
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: have been painted. One of the most striking came in 2025,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: during a Department of Justice interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, where
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: she claimed Epstein once boasted of working with, or at
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: least on behalf, of African warlords. According to her, Epstein
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  Speaker 1: even showed her a photograph of himself with such figures,
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  Speaker 1: using it as proof of his reach and willingness to
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  Speaker 1: go where others would not. To Maxwell, it was a
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  Speaker 1: way of illustrating that Epstein's fortune wasn't built solely on
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  Speaker 1: Wall Street clients or high society benefactors. It was born
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  Speaker 1: in places where human lives were expendable, where diamonds, weapons,
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  Speaker 1: and blood money changed hands, like currency. The problem, like
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: everything else when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, of course
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: is verification. And while everything Elaine Maxwell says should be
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: taken with a grain of salt, there is no doubt
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  Speaker 1: whatsoever that Jeffrey Epstein was active in Africa and was
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: also involved with this gun running and arms trafficking. This
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: is what we talked about in a previous episode. And
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any doubt that Jeffrey Epstein was
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: involved in the illegal arms trade, or at the very least,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: finding money that was allegedly stolen or misappropriated from these
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: warlords and these dictators. Glenn Maxwell's claim is one of
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the only first-hand mentions of his alleged ties to African warlords.
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  Speaker 1: And yet, the allegation fits comfortably well into the broader
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  Speaker 1: context of the 80s, when African conflicts were rife with warlords, mercenaries,
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  Speaker 1: and Western intermediaries eager to launder profits from stolen resources.
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  Speaker 1: We're talking about an era where blood diamonds fueled militias,
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  Speaker 1: where Cold War geopolitics armed despots, and where the recovery
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  Speaker 1: of wealth often meant negotiating with killers. And this is
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the environment where Epstein cut his teeth. While Maxwell's warlord
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: story remains unproven, like everything else she talked about, Epstein's
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: financial movements in the late 80s are well documented in
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: another realm. His association with Stephen Hoffenberg and the fraudulent
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Towers Financial Corporation. Hoffenberg, who later went to prison for
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: running a massive Ponzi scheme, employed Epstein as a consultant.
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  Speaker 1: paying him an astonishing 25 Gs a month, and extending
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  Speaker 1: him a $ 2 million loan. Together, they mounted ambitious corporate
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  Speaker 1: takeover attempts, Pan Am and Emory Air Freight among them,
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  Speaker 1: that ultimately collapsed. Hoffenberg would later call Epstein the architect
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  Speaker 1: of his schemes, though Epstein managed to slip away from
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  Speaker 1: any formal charges when Towers Financial imploded. Now taken together,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: these threads paint a picture that's hard to ignore. On
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  Speaker 1: one side, you have the verified facts, Epstein creating a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: consulting firm that trafficked in murky asset recovery and his
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  Speaker 1: lucrative high-risk maneuvers alongside Hoffenberg. On the other, you have
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Maxwell's allegations that Epstein's early millions were seeded by dealings
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: with African warlords, the type of figures who made fortunes
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  Speaker 1: by stripping nations bare and leaving ruin behind. And given
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: all we know about Jeffrey Epstein, that suggestion resonates. because
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Epstein's life was defined by his proximity to power, financial, political,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: and criminal. Whether on Wall Street, in the boardrooms of
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Towers Financial, or the alleged company of men who commanded
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: armies of child soldiers, Epstein's trajectory shows a man comfortable
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: with leveraging other people's misery for his own gain. From
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: the very beginning, Epstein lived in a world where moral
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  Speaker 1: boundaries dissolved and where the company he kept, whether confirmed
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  Speaker 1: partners like Hoffenberg or alleged ones in Africa, was a
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  Speaker 1: reflection of a man who knew how to thrive in
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  Speaker 1: the shadows. Today's article is from ABC News and the headline.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Records show Jeffrey Epstein's request for multiple passports, travel to
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  Speaker 1: Africa and the Middle East. This article was authored by
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: James Hill. In June 2011, the U.S. Department of State
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  Speaker 1: received an urgent request from an American businessman who sought
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  Speaker 1: a second U.S. passport for impending trips to Europe and
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  Speaker 1: multiple African nations. I am frequently required, on extremely short notice,
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  Speaker 1: to schedule international trips with itineraries to multiple destinations, requiring
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: me to obtain multiple visas at the same time. which
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: is simply not possible on such short notice without a
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  Speaker 1: second passport, the letter said. The applicant, who identified himself
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  Speaker 1: as the president of an international finance consulting firm, said
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  Speaker 1: he had business trips scheduled in the coming weeks to France,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Sierra Leone, Mali, and Gabon. Now what do you think
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein has to do in a place like Sierra Leone,
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  Speaker 1: or Mali, or Gabon? You think he has some kind
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of business dealings down there that are legitimate? Or do
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  Speaker 1: you think he's going down there to exploit people one
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  Speaker 1: way or the other, whether it's financially or elsewise? Please
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  Speaker 1: issue me a second passport so I may have the
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  Speaker 1: three visas issued for Africa while I am using my
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  Speaker 1: current passport in France, he wrote. Now, who was in
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  Speaker 1: charge of the State Department then? Oh, that's right. Hillary Clinton.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: The businessman's name? Jeffrey Edward Epstein. Three years earlier, Epstein
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  Speaker 1: had pleaded guilty in Florida to solicitation of an underage
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  Speaker 1: girl a felony that required him to register as a
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  Speaker 1: sex offender for life, unless we're talking about New Mexico.
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  Speaker 1: Then of course Jeffrey Epstein had run of the roost.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't have to register, no state-run investigation, Rojas did whatever
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  Speaker 1: he wanted, whenever he wanted, and nobody ever checked him.
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  Speaker 1: The letters found among several passport applications and renewal forms
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  Speaker 1: submitted over three decades by Epstein, whose staggering wealth and
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  Speaker 1: proximity to power have long defied ready explanation. And there's
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: no doubt about that. Nobody can explain how Jeffrey Epstein
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: was able to weasel his way in when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to all these powerful people. Wasn't because he was a
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  Speaker 1: cool guy. Wasn't because he had great conversation. Wasn't because
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: he was extra smart. So that leaves us with, what
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  Speaker 1: was he offering? Well, we all know what Jeffrey Epstein
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: had on tap. More than 50 pages from Epstein's files
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  Speaker 1: were obtained by ABC News in a public records request
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to the State Department. The records span from the early 80s,
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  Speaker 1: when Epstein was an unknown bushy-haired broker from Brooklyn, to 2019,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: when his indictment in New York for alleged sex trafficking
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  Speaker 1: of children made him notorious worldwide. The documents reveal Epstein's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: penchant for reporting lost passports and his intentions to travel
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  Speaker 1: to far-flung destinations, including several countries, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Senegal
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  Speaker 1: that have not appeared in other accounts of Epstein's travels.
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  Speaker 1: What the fuck was he doing in Afghanistan? I mean,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: for real? We're talking about a war-torn country. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: he was talking about these security risks, so what does
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  Speaker 1: he need a passport to Afghanistan for? What are you
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: doing in Afghanistan? And who are you doing it for? Now,
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  Speaker 1: if I had to make a wager, my guess is
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  Speaker 1: it had something to do with Saudi Arabia. The earliest
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  Speaker 1: application is from April 1983, when Epstein sought to replace
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  Speaker 1: a lost passport in time for an upcoming trip to London.
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  Speaker 1: In barely legible handwriting, then 30-year-old Epstein lists his occupation
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  Speaker 1: as banker and his address as an apartment on Manhattan's
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  Speaker 1: Upper East Side. The staple color photograph depicts Epstein, who
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  Speaker 1: in later years favored loose-fitting tracksuits, in a crisp black
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  Speaker 1: suit and glossy tie. In the mid-80s, Epstein was a
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  Speaker 1: college dropout, who taught math at an exclusive Manhattan private
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: school and later worked for five years as a self-described
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  Speaker 1: financial strategist on Wall Street. After an abrupt exit from
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  Speaker 1: Bear Stearns, he claimed to have launched a career as
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: a self-employed investment advisor for the uber-rich. Epstein twice more
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  Speaker 1: in the 1980s reported his U.S. passport lost or stolen,
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  Speaker 1: once left behind in a London black taxi, and once
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  Speaker 1: stolen out of his jacket pocket as he dined at
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  Speaker 1: a restaurant according to his explanations in the files. Literally
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  Speaker 1: never happened. Imagine believing that? Oh yeah, Jeffrey Epstein lost
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  Speaker 1: his passport. Or is it more likely that he was
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  Speaker 1: looking to make a false passport, some kind of doctored
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  Speaker 1: up one, and needed a base to do that with?
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  Speaker 1: So say you lost your passport, get another passport, and
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  Speaker 1: you still have the one you said you lost, and
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  Speaker 1: you can use it to, you know, modify or whatever,
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  Speaker 1: and make fake documentation. And what, Jeffrey Epstein's above that?
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  Speaker 1: When I say that this is the smarmy son of
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  Speaker 1: a bitch, I mean it. He was up to no
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  Speaker 1: good in every aspect of his life. In an application
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  Speaker 1: to replace his passport on February 26th, reported he was
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: then residing in London. The address he provided, which has
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  Speaker 1: not previously been associated with Epstein, is in an area
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by foreign embassies. Oh, I wonder why. All of
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  Speaker 1: this is just a coincidence, folks. Has nothing to do
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  Speaker 1: with Jeffrey Epstein's ties. to the intelligence world, to the
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  Speaker 1: world of arms trafficking, nothing at all. In his affidavit
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  Speaker 1: of loss, Epstein indicated he had a flight booked the
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  Speaker 1: next day to Sweden. Less than a week later, former
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  Speaker 1: Miss Sweden Eva Andersson was the host of a televised
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  Speaker 1: musical contest in the country. Video of the event unearthed
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  Speaker 1: by YouTube user GreenClown2021 shows Epstein in the audience clapping
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  Speaker 1: half-heartedly between musical acts. Anderson will later testify in Glenn
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell's criminal trial in 2021 that she and Epstein dated
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  Speaker 1: on and off in the 1980s. And when you go
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: through all these articles and you go through all the information,
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  Speaker 1: there's always a little golden nugget, right? And here that
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: golden nugget is the fact that Jeffrey Epstein's house was
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  Speaker 1: basically in Diplomat Row, not near the financial sector, not near,
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  Speaker 1: you know, any place where he's going to be working,
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  Speaker 1: but next to the power base. I'm sure that's all
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  Speaker 1: a coincidence too, right? That wasn't by design. Jeffrey Epstein
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  Speaker 1: would never, ever set himself up like that. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's no different than the lobbyists down on K Street
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  Speaker 1: in D.C. Same kind of shit, right? I mean, if
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  Speaker 1: these are the people that you're trying to manipulate, these
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  Speaker 1: are the people that you're trying to, you know, coerce,
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  Speaker 1: then yeah, you want to have access to them. And
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: what better way to do that than live directly in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of all of them? Epstein's 93 passport application
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  Speaker 1: shows his hair graying and his fortunes improving. He listed
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  Speaker 1: his address on East 69th in New York City, was
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  Speaker 1: the former resident of the Iranian ambassador, which had been
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: taken over by the State Department before Epstein rented the property.
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  Speaker 1: The government later terminated Epstein's lease after he sublet the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: townhouse without permission and jacked up the rent. Now that's
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the townhouse that Ghislaine Maxwell was talking about in the
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  Speaker 1: transcripts that she ended up renting. I guess it's just
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  Speaker 1: another coincidence in a long line. of Jeffrey Epstein related coincidences.
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  Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're going to wrap up episode one
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  Speaker 1: right here. And in the next episode, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: pick up where we left off. All of the information
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
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  Speaker 1: description box.