Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Mega Edition: Jeffrey Epstein And The Crimes That Were Ignored (10/25/26)

Transcript

Mega Edition: Jeffrey Epstein And The Crimes That Were Ignored (10/25/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Imagine a world where every dollar leaves a trail,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: where the bank teller's smile, the ATM's click, or the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: wire you send overseas isn't just about the money moving,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: it's about the information being captured, patterns being analyzed, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: alarms silently going off in the background. Behind the curtains
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of the financial system, there's a hidden language. Signals passed
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to the government when something just doesn't add up. They're
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: called Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs. Now, here's the thing.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: You've probably never seen one. You've never been told if
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a bank filed one on you. By law, you can't
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: be tipped off. And yet, these reports form one of
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the most powerful surveillance networks in the world, feeding intelligence
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to the FBI, the DEA, IRS, Homeland Security, and even
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: foreign agencies. A SAR doesn't prove you did anything wrong.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: It's not a conviction, not even an accusation. It's a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: warning flag. An institution saying something here doesn't look right.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: In this episode, we're going to talk more about SARS
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and how James Comer is now requesting any suspicious activity
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: reports that have to do with Jeffrey Epstein from the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Treasury Department. And to do that, we have an article.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: But before we get to the article, why don't we
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about suspicious activity reports and
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: set the groundwork so everybody understands exactly what it is
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: that we're talking about. It starts quietly in the background
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: of the financial world. A man walks into a branch
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and deposits cash, but the pattern's odd. Structured just under
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: reporting limits, repeated again and again. To the teller, it
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: looks routine. But deep in the bank's system, algorithms flag
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the activity. An alert is born. And that alert is
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the seed of what might become a Suspicious Activity Report,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: or a SAR, the nervous system of America's financial crime defenses.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: The authority behind this is the Bank Secrecy Act. a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: law that makes financial institutions a first line of defense
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: against money laundering, fraud, terrorism, and corruption. SARS aren't court evidence,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and they aren't convictions. They're warnings, whispers in the system
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: filed to the government so that investigators can connect the
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: dots across different banks, casinos, brokerages, and crypto exchanges. It's
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: not just the big banks to carry the burden. Credit unions,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: money service businesses, casinos on the Vegas Strip, brokers in Manhattan,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: even insurers selling single premium policies. All of them are
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: part of the network. Each one has rules tailored to
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: its sector, but the mandate is universal. When something looks wrong,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: dig in, and if it's still wrong, report it. Thresholds
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: define when suspicion becomes obligation. For banks, insider fraud gets
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: reported no matter the size. If you can identify a suspect, $ 5, 000
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: is enough to trigger a filing. If no suspect can
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: be named, it takes $ 25, 000. Money service businesses work under
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a lower bar, just 2Gs. Casinos, insurers, and others tend
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: to use $ 5, 000. But if the activity smells like terrorism
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: financing or sanctions evasion, the dollar amount doesn't matter. Suspicion
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: alone is enough. Now, time is short once suspicion crystallizes.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Banks have 30 days from the moment they recognize something's
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: off to get the czar out the door. If they
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: need more time to figure out who's behind it, they
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: can stretch to 60. But the clock never stops. And
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: if the scheme keeps going, the filings keep coming. Updates
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: every four months, painting a live picture for law enforcement.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: And the SAR form itself is part grid, part story.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: The grid captures the hard data. Names, accounts, amounts, dates.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: But the real power lies in the narrative section. That's
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: where investigators tell the story. Here's what's expected here. Here's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: what happened instead, and here's why it matters. A good
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: narrative reads like a clear case file. A bad one
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: is just noise. What kinds of stories get told in SARS?
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: A restaurant funneling wires to offshore shell companies without business reasons.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: A young woman's account suddenly receiving dozens of payments linked
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: to online sex ads. A retiree's savings drained by someone
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: posing as his grandson. A crypto wallet moving coins through mixers.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and darker markets. In each case, the pattern looks wrong,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: and that wrongness becomes the basis of a SAR. Inside
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: the bank, the process is structured. An alert goes to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: an investigator. That investigator pulls customer files, account histories, IP logs,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: maybe even device fingerprints. They weigh the facts. Is this
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: truly suspicious or just unusual? If suspicious, the case escalates.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: The narrative gets drafted, checked, polished. and finally fired with
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: FinCEN's e-filing system. Once sent, it enters the government's vast
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: data pool. And here's the thing. Nobody outside that closed
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: circle can ever know. The law is ironclad. Banks cannot
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: tip off customers. You can't tell a client, we filed
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a SAR on you, that's a crime. At the same time,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: banks are shielded, filing good faith, and you can't be sued,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: even if the suspicion turns out unfounded. The balance is
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: secrecy plus safe harbor, designed to keep the flow of
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: intelligence alive. The SAR isn't just paperwork. Banks must hold
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: onto it. And all of the evidence behind it for
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: five years. Investigators may need it later. Prosecutors may subpoena
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: it in court. Regulators may review it during an exam.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Every screenshot, statement, or analyst note matters. Record-keeping is what
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: gives the SAR its backbone. Once filed, the report disappears
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: into the government's bloodstream. FinCEN receives it, analysts sift through it,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: agents from the FBI, DEA, IRS, or Homeland Security pull patterns.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: A loan SAR about wires to Turkey might seem trivial,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: but combine it with 100 others from different banks, and
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: it becomes the outline of a terrorist financing network. That's
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the power of the system. It's collective intelligence. Now, we
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: also have formal sharing mechanisms as well. Under Section 314A,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: FinCEN circulates suspect names nationwide for banks to cross-check. Under
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Section 314B, banks can share information with each other legally
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: if it helps trace money laundering or terrorist financing. This
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: cooperation turns isolated dots into connected webs. Boards of directors
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and executives don't see the SARS themselves. They're too sensitive.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: But regulators expect them to oversee the program, enough staff,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: enough training, independent audits, and metrics on timelines and volume.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Weak oversight can mean fines, forced reforms, even personal liability.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: No board member wants to be caught sleeping on SAR compliance.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Technology is the engine room. Monitoring systems generate alerts, but
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: they must be tuned carefully. Too many false positives and
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: analysts drown in noise. Too few, the bank misses true crime.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Regulators increasingly demand validation, show us your models, prove your
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: data is good, document your changes. Compliance is becoming as
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: much data science as detective work. Now quality control, that's
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: another layer. Separate teams sample SARs to check for accuracy, timeliness,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and clarity. They feed lessons back into training and system tuning.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Metrics like time to file or continuing activity cadence become
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: benchmarks not just for compliance, but for credibility with law enforcement.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: The narrative, though, that's the beating heart. Investigators must write
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: like storytellers. Who the subjects are, what's normal, what deviated,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and why it fits a known criminal typology. Clear stories
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: make SARS useful. A messy list of transactions is worthless.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: A coherent narrative... can launch an investigation that stops human traffickers, scammers,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: or corrupt politicians. But analysts also have to know when
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: not to file. Not all unusual behavior is criminal. A
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: restaurant that suddenly spikes in cash sales may have just expanded.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: A retiree wiring money abroad may simply be helping family.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Filing SARS on everything dilutes the system. The art is judgment.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Choosing what truly warrants suspicion SARS don't stand alone. They're
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: part of a broader web of compliance. Currency transaction reports
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: for big cash deals, OFAC screening for transaction hits, and
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: due diligence that builds profiles of customers. SARS tie it
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: all together. When something crosses the line from unusual to suspicious,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: they are a subjective, narrative piece of the puzzle. And
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the rise in crypto shows how adaptable the system has
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: to be. Exchanges now file... SARs, just like banks, blending
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: blockchain analysis with customer data. Investigators trace wallets, mixers, darknet addresses.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: They stitch on chain behavior to off-chain identities. In many ways,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: SARs are evolving alongside the very crimes they're meant to fight. Now,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: penalties for failure can be harsh. Banks that ignore SAR
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: duties have paid hundreds of millions in fines. Regulators impose lookbacks,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: forcing them to re-examine years of activity. Sometimes boards are
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: forced to certify fixes under oath. The message is unmistakable.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: The SAR system is not optional. And through it all,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the customer remains unaware. SARs are invisible by design. A
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: client may suddenly find their account restricted or closed, but
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the reason is never disclosed. Frontline staff are trained to
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: escalate quietly, never confront. The intelligence function hums in the
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: background unseen but vital. In the end, The Suspicious Activity
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Report is about foresight. It's about seeing patterns before they
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: calcify into crises. It's about punishing unusual behavior. It's about
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: equipping law enforcement with leads, giving them the chance to act.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: When done right, SARS Illuminate networks a crime. When done poorly,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: they bury the truth under the noise. The stakes are high.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Because behind every transaction are real human stories. Drugs smuggled,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: people trafficked, scams played out on the vulnerable. SARS are
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the one few chance the system has to catch those
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: shadows before they spread. Today's article is from Fox News
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: and the headline, Comer requests Epstein suspicious activity reports from
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the Treasury Department. This article was authored by Stephen Sorace.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer sent a letter to
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Treasury Secretary Scott Bassett requesting the suspicious activity reports regarding
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. And when I
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: talk about the Epstein files, this is the kind of
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: shit I'm talking about. Other people are talking about, you know,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: lists and stuff that don't even exist. Not me. Everything
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about, I assure you, exists. The problem is,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: they don't want to hand this shit over. We already
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: know that the banks got cracked for their involvement with Epstein.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: We know that they pay gigantic fines. And we also
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: know that the regulatory departments within the banks, they didn't
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: do their jobs correctly. I mean, we have Epstein out
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: here making all kinds of crazy transactions and none of
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: them are being flagged. These are the kinds of transactions
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that should be sarged, should be flagged, and they should
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: be reported right away. And never mind the fact that
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: we have it on tape, on record, that Darren Indyk
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: was engaging in structuring. And what that means is he
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: was going to the bank and depositing money, but never
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: in the amount of $ 10, 000 or more because he didn't
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: want to trigger the CTR filing reporting mechanism. So he
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: would put money in, but he'd put it in in
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: smaller amounts. And that's called structuring. And it's illegal. You
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: can't do it. It all falls under the Title 31 laws.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Comer sent a letter on Sunday saying his committee is
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government's investigation of
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Epstein and Maxwell, including Epstein's death. Well, hallelujah. Finally, somebody's
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: doing it. I just hope it's not performative, right? I
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: hate to be cynical. I'm not one of these black-pilled
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: people who think everything is bad, right? I'm not that person.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I like to find solutions. But when we've been kicked
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in the bag so many times here for so many years...
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to make pretend that things are going
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: to be different this time around just because I want
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: them to be. One thing that I've learned in my
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: 45 years of life is that the things that I
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: want rarely come my way. So it's great to want something,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: but I just never expect it. The letter set a
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: deadline of September 15th for Treasury to produce relevant SARs.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: It's essential that Treasury produce to the committee certain SARs
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to assist the committee's oversight. of the federal government's enforcement
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically, its handling of
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Glenn Maxwell,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the letter states. Fox News Digital reached out to the
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Treasury Department for comment on the letter, but did not
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: immediately hear back. So they're going to end up getting
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: whatever Treasury has. The question is how much of this
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: has been retained and how much of it has been lost.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: That's one of their favorite moves when it comes to Epstein. Oh,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: we lost that information. It's no longer available. The video
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: was destroyed. Earlier this year, Comer established the task force
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: on the classification of federal secrets, which requested that the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Department of Justice release all Epstein-related records. The DOJ began
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: handing over records to the committee on August 22nd. Comer
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: has also issued deposition subpoenas to several former government officials,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: including former President Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton. Other figures also compelled to appear were former
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Director Robert Mueller, former Director James Comey, and former Attorney
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: General Loretta Lynch. Mueller was set to appear before the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: House Oversight Panel on Tuesday as part of the probe,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: though a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Digital that lawmakers learned that Mr. Mueller has health issues
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: that preclude him from being able to testify. Well, if
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Guy has Parkinson's, probably not a good idea, huh? And furthermore,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: why don't we just call Sarah Kellen Vickers up? How
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: about we do that? The committee intends to withdraw its subpoena,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the source said. Mueller would have been the second witness
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: to appear in person before the committee after former Attorney
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: General Bill Barr did so last month. And we learned
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: a lot there, huh? Mr. Arbiter of Truth himself, Bill Barr.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: But all my cynicism aside, I think that this is
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the right path. When you're going after people like Jeffrey
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and very powerful people, the right
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: way to get them is to follow the money. Because
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: if you think anybody is going to accrue the wealth
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: that these scumbags accrue without stepping over the line, you're crazy.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: And that goes for all of them. I mean, look,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: how did they get Al Capone? Bro was blowing up bars,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: killing people, you name it. And they couldn't get him
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: on any of that stuff. They sure did get him
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: on tax evasion though, right? So if you really want
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to go after the powerful and you want it to
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: be effective, my friends, follow the money. All of the
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the description box. What's up everyone and welcome to another
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: episode of the Epstein Chronicles. According to authorities over in
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the UK, they're more than willing to investigate any claims
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that Jeffrey Epstein was committing crimes in the UK. However,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: if you look at the past and you look at
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: their performance when crimes have been brought to their attention,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I don't come away from that feeling confident that they're
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: going to do the right thing and pursue the right people.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Especially when we're finding out that in 2024, there were
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: new Epstein allegations in the UK, but nobody ever followed
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: up on it. No investigation was ever launched. And of course,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: they'll say that it was all because of judicial reviews
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: and all kinds of legal jargon. But the truth is,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: they just didn't have the will. They didn't want to
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: open that can of worms because they understand how bad
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: it is for the monarchy and for the UK itself.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Because as I've said before, and I'll say a million
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: more times, the UK is engaging in an Epstein cover-up
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: just like in America. There are way too many people
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: that can be damaged here. And if you think that
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: doesn't stretch out across the Atlantic to the UK, to France,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: to other places, You're crazy. It most certainly does. And
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: while all these politicians might have different beliefs, one thing
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: that they all share is that they'll do anything when
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: it comes to self-preservation, even if that means covering up
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: heinous crimes like the ones that were committed by Jeffrey
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. So today we have an article
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: from International Business Times and the headline. Fresh Epstein allegations
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: flagged UK crime agency in 2024, but no investigation was opened.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Seneca Cabrera. The UK's National
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Crime Agency was given fresh allegations linked to Jeffrey Epstein
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: in early 2024, but chose not to open a formal investigation.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Officials assessed the information as largely unverified or hearsay and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: did not meet the evidential threshold required to open a
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: full inquiry under UK law. The referral reportedly included material
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: relating to financial links and social associations involving UK-connected individuals.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: So what that means is that these people were too
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: powerful to investigate. That's really what they mean. It didn't
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: meet the threshold. What kind of threshold are you looking for?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Even now they're going to say it doesn't meet the threshold.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Mountains of evidence. Reams of testimony. All that's missing are
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the videos that Epstein obviously took. And my guess is
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: even if those were introduced, you'd still have people out
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: here saying, oh, come on, this is BS. It never happened.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: There was no human trafficking. The decision has since come
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: under renewed scrutiny following a high court decision in April
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: 2026 granting a judicial review into the NCA's handling of
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the referral. Claimants argue the original assessment was procedurally flawed,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: while the agency has said it's now reassessing the material
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: in light Of additional disclosures. Made by the US authorities.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Don't let the authorities in the UK. Take you for
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: a walk. These rotten bastards are just as devious. As
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the people in America. They all operate on the same ground.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: And that ground is. Protect myself. At all costs. No
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: matter what. No matter the situation. It's all about my
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: political life. It's never about what's doing right. It's never
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: about chasing people. That should be chased. For the crimes
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: that they committed. According to reporting by the Financial Times,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: a meeting in spring 2024 brought NCA officials into contact
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: with a U.S.-based activist who said that they had new
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: information concerning Epstein and U.K.-linked figures. Follow-up discussions took place,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: but the agency concluded the material did not justify opening
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a criminal investigation. It never does. But now they're going
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to look at it again because, you know, we have
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: a new perspective. What that really means is that they
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: know that we're going to hold them accountable, so they
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: have to do the right thing. But if you folks
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: weren't up in arms about this, do you really think
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: that they'd be out here talking about, oh, we're going
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: to reopen the investigation? Zero chance. Under standard UK practice,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: the NCA distinguishes between intelligence and evidence. Third-party dossiers are
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: typically treated as intelligence unless supported by corroborated material or
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: direct testimony. Officials said in the 2024 referral that it
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: did not meet the threshold for allocating investigative resources. The
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: NCA has not publicly detailed the contents of the material
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and has said it does not comment on specific intelligence assessments.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: In other words, get screwed. We don't have to tell
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: you anything. We don't have to show you our work.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: And to those of us in America, that sure sounds familiar,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't it? In April of 2026, the High Court granted
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: a judicial review into the NCA's decision-making process. The proceedings
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: will examine whether the agency applied its evidential thresholds appropriately
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and whether relevant material was given sufficient weight at the time.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: In other words... Did people ignore the actual evidence just
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: to get to the conclusion they got to? Or was
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: an actual investigation launched and people actually gave it a
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: good look and then decided, hey, you know what? There's
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: no there there. Because it seems to me that they
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: just ignored it. And of course, that's going to be
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: a big problem. And in my opinion, more evidence of
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: the grand cover-up that we see. Separately, parliamentary interest has increased.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: The Home Affairs Select Committee has has requested briefings on
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: how referrals involving public figures are assessed, with a focus
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: on ensuring decisions are based solely on evidential standards. Probably
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: a good idea, no? Look at the evidence. If it's
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: good evidence, follow it up, investigate, and if somebody should
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: be indicted, indict them. I thought that was standard procedure.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, has said the public expects
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: maximum transparency in cases involving historical sexual offenses. The Home
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Office has maintained that operational decisions remain a matter for
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: law enforcement agencies. Everybody wants to pass the hot potato.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants to be the one holding it, and nobody
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: wants to be the one to truly investigate this, because
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: they understand the scope, and they know just how dangerous
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: that'll be for them as far as their career goes.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: The issue also intersected with broader political questions following reporting
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: that allegations involving Labour peer Peter Mandelson and Epstein were
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: among those brought to the NCA in 2024. Mandelson has
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: denied wrongdoing. Like Keir Starmer has to go. He knew
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: exactly what Mandelson was. He knew what the relationship between
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Epstein and Mandelson was. And he has to go. According
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: to the FT, Downing Street was informed that year that
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the NCA had reviewed the material and decided not to
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: proceed with an investigation. The episode has prompted questions about
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: what officials knew at the time and how much information
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: is handled within the government. Separately, the Metropolitan Police have
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: launched an investigation into Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: public office, though this is distinct from the NCA's earlier assessment.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: The Met Police and NCA have declined to comment on
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: specific details. They're not going to comment. It's an ongoing investigation.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Or so they say. So they're not going to say anything.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: At least not yet. The NCA has said it's reviewing
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: the 2024 material in light of additional documents released in
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the U.S. It's not indicated whether this reassessment will lead
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to a formal investigation. The judicial review is expected to
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: consider whether procedural standards were applied correctly rather than determining
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the substance of the allegations themselves. In other words, just
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: another bullshit investigation. That's what that means. Oh, we're going
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to look at the system, not the people that were actually,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: you know, involved in this, not the people that actually
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: made the decision not to investigate. It's not their fault.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: It's always the system's fault, right? It's always somebody else's fault.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: And when they pass the buck enough, and when you
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: have a bureaucracy as big as the UK government, pretty
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: easy to pass the buck. And when the fingers are
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: being pointed in every direction, it's easy to throw your
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: hands up and just say, ah, it's systemic. But that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: doesn't cut the rod out, does it? It doesn't get
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to the bottom of it. It doesn't remove the actual infection.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: All it does is provide more excuses and more room
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: for these people to maneuver and lie to us. And
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I'm sick of it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I'm tired of the bullshit, I'm tired of them making
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: pretend they care, and I'm certainly tired of them saying
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: that they're investigating this one or that one, and then
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: just ignoring it, and that's been a common theme over
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: in the UK. Now, I know we want to talk
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: about how the UK is, you know, arresting people, Mandelson, Andrew,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: but where's it going to go from there? Have either
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of them been charged? Has there been other arrests? Has
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the UK government... move towards a point where they're going
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: to try and really shatter what happened here and get
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: to the bottom of it? Because from what I can see,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: that hasn't occurred yet. In fact, all I see is
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the cover-up getting deeper. And when you look at all
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the people involved over in the UK and how powerful
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: they are, that shouldn't shock anybody. It's the same story
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: here in America. When you have these kind of elite
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: circles and these kind of powerful people, do you think
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: they're just going to cede their power? Do you think
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: they're just going to admit to their bullshit? It's never
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: going to happen. The only way that's going to happen
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: is if they're held accountable. And for that to happen,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: these institutions need to do the right thing. But when
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: you have people bringing you evidence back in 2024 and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: you're ignoring it, only to reopen that investigation in 2026,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: how do you think that's going to leave people feeling
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: confident about what you're up to and about the investigation
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: as a whole? Because I'm here to tell you, nobody's confident.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Not in America, not in the UK, not down in
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: South America, not over in Bulgaria. Nobody's confident that the
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: people in charge are going to get to the bottom
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: of what Jeffrey Epstein was up to and hold the
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: people that were helping him accountable. Nobody believes that. At
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: least not if we leave you to your own devices.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: We have to pressure you. And the only way we're
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: going to get any kind of justice, the only way
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: we're ever going to get any kind of resolution is
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: if we keep pressing for it. Because unfortunately, we can't
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: rely on the institutions that have already shown that they're
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: either inept or corrupt. And it doesn't matter if it's
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: in America or the UK. They're all cut from the
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: same cloth. And they all look at you with the
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: same kind of contempt. The only thing that's different is
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: the accent. All the information that goes with this episode
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: can be found in the description box. What's up everyone
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles. In this Look
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Back episode, we're going to hear from former police chief
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Michael Ryder of the Palm Beach Police Department. This article
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: was published by NBC News and it was published on
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: September 20th of 2019. The authors of this piece, Sarah
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick and Rich Shapiro. Former Palm Beach police chief Michael
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Ryder spent years trying to convince state and federal prosecutors
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: in Florida to bring serious charges against Jeffrey Epstein. Now,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: the retired lawman wants to tackle a new mission to
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: persuade lawmakers to take action to prevent the next Jeffrey
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Epstein from perverting the criminal justice system. Now, Michael Ryder
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: was one of the only good guys, if there were
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: any good guys, if you will, in the whole entire
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Epstein saga. This guy listened to what these girls said,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: compiled a whole bunch of evidence, and then turned that
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: evidence over to the prosecutors. Now, once the prosecutors have
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that evidence, it's up to them to do the right
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: thing with it, right? It's up to them to make
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: sure that they get indictments. And then after they get
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the indictment, it's up to them to make sure that
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: these people are convicted. So they failed. The prosecutors in
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Florida failed. The police officers in Palm Beach who worked
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: this case originally, they did great work. The investigators were
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: all over this. They compiled all kinds of evidence. When
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, it was the prosecutors, once again,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: who decided not to pursue it. Epstein found every loophole,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Ryder told NBC News as part of a months-long Dateline investigation.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I want some system in the future that this can't
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: happen again. He's not wrong. One of the... ongoing conversations
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: we've had about these people, all of them, is how
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: they navigate loopholes, how they navigate technicalities, and somehow harness
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: them always to work in their favor. Now, I guess
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: that's what they were put into these laws for. in
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: the first place, right? So the rich people can navigate
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: them and not get in trouble when they're the ones
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: who get slapped with them. Like we said previously several times,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: it's like when you have a computer programmer who creates software,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: they leave themselves a little back door so they can
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: access it, right? Same thing here. They know that the
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: small folk, us, are going to be the ones who
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: have to live up to these laws. Not them, not
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: their friends. Reiter said he believes the state and federal
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: prosecutors handling of the Epstein case amounts to the worst
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: failure of the criminal justice system in modern times. Look,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: he's not wrong. It's the reason we're still talking about
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: this right now. It's that impactful. It's that important about
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: how the criminal justice system is conducted moving forward. We
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: need something that provides equitable law for everybody. If you're
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: a girl from the quote-unquote other side of the tracks
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and you say you were abused by a rich and
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: powerful man and there's evidence to back that up, you
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: should be listened to. And for way too long, these
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: guys had all of their loopholes, all of their technicalities,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: and they were able to navigate the criminal justice system
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: by using those and harnessing the relationships that they built
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: with the other so-called elite. And it amounted to get-out-of-jail-free cards.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: The story begins in March of 2005. when the Palm
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Beach Police Department received a call from the distraught mother
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: of a 14-year-old girl. Now, imagine being the cop on
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the other end of that phone call. Uh, yeah, this
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: is the Palm Beach Police Department. Sergeant Stanton speaking. Oh,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: my God, my daughter has been abused by... Okay, hold on, ma'am,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: slow down. And then you start processing the details and
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: the name that's being dropped, and all of a sudden,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: you know right away, you have yourself a big problem.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Because when rich people are accused of stuff like this,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: they automatically strike back. And there's, you know, problems for
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: the people who bring this stuff up. So I'm sure
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: the cops weren't too happy to hear the name Jeffrey Epstein.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: But what I will say about the Palm Beach Police Department,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: they didn't shy away from it. They did their job.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: They did their duty. The woman, Ryder recalled, said her
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: underage daughter was having sex with an adult who lives
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: in a mansion in Palm Beach. Palm Beach police detectives
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: immediately launched an investigation. Yeah, that's probably the right thing
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: to do. You got some guy living in a mansion
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and he's having a relationship with a 14-year-old girl. It's
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: probably a good idea to launch an investigation. And I
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: don't care who that person is in the mansion. I
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: don't care if it is the most famous person in
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the world. You can't be abusing children, okay? So the
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Palm Beach Police Department, they started going hard. And if
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: you know the story, well, you know that they really
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: were kicking in some doors and asking some very uncomfortable questions.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's just a shock, just a coincidence
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: that this got kicked away to the feds and then
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: back down to the state level? They wanted it to
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: look like, oh, yeah, we're going to take action. We're
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: going to kick it up to the feds. But really,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: they never had any intention of the feds prosecuting this case.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: They said this is credible. This is believable, said Ryder,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: speaking in his first in-depth TV interview. Our sense just
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: from sitting in the room with the first survivor was
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: that this is something we've absolutely got to get on.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: So right from Jump Street, the Palm Beach Police Department
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: knew that this was something way bigger. And Michael Ryder,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: the chief here, he didn't spare any expenses, right? He
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: was all over this. He had his investigators looking into it,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: chasing down leads, and what they uncovered, what they found,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: was terrifying. The interview with the initial young girl led
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: to another and another. I have no problem telling you
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: everything that I know, one of the girls told the
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: police in a videotaped interview obtained by NBC News. Another
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: told police that Epstein pulled out this vibrator thing and
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: he pulled down my panties. Now remember, they only listened
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: to had one girl speak in front of the grand jury. Why?
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: If all of these girls came forward with all of
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: these credible allegations, why only have the one girl speak
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: in front of the grand jury? That does not make sense.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: The investigators were immediately struck by the consistency of the accounts,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Reiter said. The stories were all the same, he said.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: They all could describe the house in detail. They could
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: describe what happened. And they didn't know each other. It
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't like all these girls got together and said, all right,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: we're going to take down Jeffrey Epstein, the guy who
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: lives in the mansion down the block. Nobody even knew
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: who Epstein really was at this point. He wasn't a celebrity.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: So that whole line of thinking has always been garbage
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: to me. These were just young kids, high school kids,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: younger in some cases. But the detectives also observed that
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: the accounts weren't perfectly aligned. That would have been a
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: red flag that the stories were coordinated, Ryder said. The
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: investigators also noted something else of significance. Many of the
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: survivors didn't know each other, so there was little chance
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: that they would have come together to concoct false allegations.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: And that, of course, was the bedrock of Epstein's defense, right?
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: This is all fake. Everyone's looking for a payday. I'm
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: like a piggy bank, blah, blah, blah, blah. Within those
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: first few weeks, the investigation was already bearing fruit. We
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: realized this was basically a way of life for Epstein,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Reiter said. And it didn't take long to realize that
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: a lot of people were involved in this. This was
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: a very prolific sexual predator. Now, listen to what the
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: chief of police is saying here, okay? And this is
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: what I always tell you to do. Don't listen to me.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Don't listen to Joe Schmoe who has the other podcast.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Listen to what these policemen say. Listen to what these
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: investigators say. Listen to what the survivors say. There were
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: a lot of people that were involved in this. This
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: was a very prolific sexual predator. That's not someone making
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: up a story. That's not some guy who just got
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: involved in the case yesterday. That's Michael Ryder, the man
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: who investigated this as the police chief in Palm Beach,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: who blew this shit open. He even knows how much
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: more and how deeper this goes. Detectives picked through Epstein's
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: trash and discovered incriminating messages on scraps of paper documenting
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: phone calls. She is wondering if 230 is okay. She
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: needs to stay in school, read one. Imagine. And whoever
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: took that note down is another piece of shit. What
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: do you mean she needs to stay in school? Why
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: are any school-age girls calling Jeffrey Epstein in the first place?
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: The note, it was clear to police, were about massages
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and sex, Ryder said. And it just wasn't phone messages,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Ryder said. Epstein had flowers delivered to one of the
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: survivors who was in a performance at her high school,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: congratulating her at the end of the performance. Now imagine
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: how brazen you must be. This high school age girl
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: that you're sexually abusing. She has this high school performance
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: and you send her flowers? Now, I know if I
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: was the dad of that girl, there would be problems.
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: Conversations would be had. This dirty son of a bitch
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: was so brazen in his behavior, so brazen in his activity,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: that he would send flowers to a girl after her performance.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: NBC News has spoken with nearly two dozen women who
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: allege that Epstein didn't operate alone. Ryder said the investigation
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: identified adult women who had sexual contact with underage girls and,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: in some cases, performed sexual battery on children. This was
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: a financially successful, smart, capable, well-networked, and well-financed individual who
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: built an organization around him that supported his criminal enterprise,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Ryder said. Now, if you're wondering why I always talk
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: about RICO and how this isn't a RICO case, folks,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: what more do you need? I mean, honestly. And again,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: this is another reason why I've chosen the format that
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I have chosen to follow along with these articles. That
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: way everything is uniformed. It's not me making this stuff up, right? Or, oh,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: this is just a guess by me. This is from
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: curating all of these articles and following all of this
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: evidence and listening to what the key players had to say.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: For me, survivors, lawyers, and the law enforcement agents on
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the ground, not the jerk-offs in the back room, not
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: the Acostas of the world, guys like Michael Ryder. And
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: when you listen to what they have to say, It
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: is rather obvious that this was a criminal enterprise that
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: should have been recode and everybody involved should have seen
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: a prison cell. but as the months wore on with
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: police building their case odd things began to happen when
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: detectives armed with a search warrant entered his home with
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: a video camera what they found made them suspect he
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: had been tipped off The place had been cleaned up,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Ryder said. It wasn't completely devoid of evidence, but a
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: computer that contained all of the home surveillance camera footage
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: was gone. And all the wires were left hanging there,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: Ryder said. So they did a dump and pump. Came in,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: ripped everything out real quick, all of the monitoring equipment,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: because somebody in the government tipped them off. One of
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: their buddies. But nah, Jeffrey Epstein wasn't connected. He wasn't
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: an asset. After six months of investigation, Ryder said, the
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: local police department noticed a shift in attitude from the
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: state prosecutors. Ryder said the prosecutors told him the witnesses
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: were not credible. The prosecutors, Ryder said, suddenly seemed dismissive
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: of the case and were uncooperative in approving critical investigative
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: techniques that hindered the Palm Beach Police Department's investigation. No shit.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: No shit they were. These guys were working behind the
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: scenes with Epstein's lawyers to make sure this went nowhere,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: or at the very least, make sure Epstein got just
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: a little smack on the ass. No real jail time.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Thirteen months in a stockade? Are you kidding me right now?
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: I've had punishments from my parents that were worse than that. Epstein,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: who had a massive bankroll and extensive connections, had assembled
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: a high-powered team of lawyers, including Kenneth Starr, Alan Dershowitz,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Jack Goldberger, and Jay Lefkowitz. Around this time, Ryder said,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: the investigation took another strange turn. Epstein's defense team seemed
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: to know details about the probe before they were made public. Whoa,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: what do you know? Just take your pick from Ken Starr,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Alan Dershowitz, Jack Goldberger, or Jay Lefkowitz about who could
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: have manipulated their influence, their relationships behind the scenes to
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: turn it into something like this. Folks, we talk about
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: it all the time. When you go to Harvard... and
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: you get your law degree, and then you're practicing law,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: people aren't really paying you because you went to Harvard,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: per se. They're paying you because now you have access
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: to all of the other scoundrels who went to Harvard.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: So you have inside connections. You have access. And that's
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: what you're paying for when you get a high-profile lawyer.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Your lawyers are going out to eat and dinner and
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: who knows what else with these prosecutors, down here in Florida,
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: at least. And at the federal level, when we're talking
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: about Mukasey and the others... And then we wonder why
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Epstein doesn't get punished like the rest of us would.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: How many of you gotten an invite to go play
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: around the 18 with insert federal official here? We believe
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: that the content of our probable cause affidavit eventually, sometime
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: after we presented it to the state's attorney's office, ended
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: up with the defense attorney's, Ryder said, because minute details
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: that nobody else knew that were in those documents were
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: being refuted and contrary information provided by the defense. This,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: Ryder said, never happened to me before in my career.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: And this is a guy, again, he's in Palm Beach
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: dealing with rich, powerful people. Never in his life has
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: he dealt with something like this, however. But no, continue
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: to tell me that Epstein wasn't getting hooked up, that
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: nobody was there helping him make sure that the walls
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: don't fall in, and then tell me that this wasn't
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: a RICO case. Ryder was so frustrated that he took
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the unusual step of asking the state attorney, Barry Krischer,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: to remove himself from the case, citing the office's highly
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: unusual treatment of the investigation. When that didn't work, the
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: police chief turned his evidence over to the FBI. And
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: you would think, right, the G-men are coming. This is awesome.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: All right, perfect. The FBI, they're going to save the day.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: And look, don't get it twisted again, folks. I'm not
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: talking about your average agent that's working his tail off
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: or her tail off to try and keep us safe.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of those people that are going after
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: some horrible fucking criminals. My problem isn't with them. My
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: problem is with the command structure, the bureaucracy that runs
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: this whole entire monolith. They look at us like we're
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: just numbers, like we don't matter as far as, you know,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: the citizens of this country. And they feel like they've
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: been given the the charter to do as they wish.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: And how many times do we see good agents like,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: or good cops in this instance, like Mike Ryder, get
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: screwed by prosecutors and these federal minions at the Department
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: of Justice? Those are the people I have a problem with,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: not the rank and file. And they said, this is
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: an easy case. This is a horrific situation. We'll put
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: him away for the rest of his life, Ryder recalled.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: That's what the U.S. attorney, assistant U.S. attorney, told us
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: as well. But Ryder's renewed enthusiasm didn't last long. In time,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: it became clear that the federal probe was stalling, though
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: he believes the FBI agents were invested in the case.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: Ryder arranged to meet face-to-face with the prosecutor in charge
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: of the case, U.S. Attorney Alex I-Have-No-Spine Bitch-Ass Acosta. Acosta
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: would go on to be named U.S. Labor Secretary under
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump, another brilliant move by old Trumpy, huh?
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Alex Acosta. I mean, you don't have this conversation with him.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: And then even if you do, you still go through
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: with it. There's not a better person in the whole
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: entire country that could have been labor secretary, huh? But
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: I have to say this, I'm thankful that Trump in
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: a weird way put him there, because if Alex Acosta
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: wasn't in this position and there weren't, you know, a
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: bit of politicism happening around this, we probably would have
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: never had the second arrest of Epstein, because would Julie
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Brown really been as interested? If this didn't have the
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: political bend to it, if it wasn't a Trump appointee. Again, maybe.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know. We can't tell one way or the other.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: The future was what it was. But I have a
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: funny feeling that if it wasn't for Trump appointing Alex
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Acosta as labor secretary, in a weird way, we would
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: have never been at the point we are now. The conversation,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: Ryder said, did not get off to a promising start.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: He basically said in a very measured manner that the
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: defense in the case has successfully delayed and frustrated their
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: investigation and their prosecution of the case, Ryder said. So
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: when's the last time the federal government has been frustrated
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: and had their case delayed? Zero chance. It doesn't happen
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: unless they want it to happen. But Ryder left Acosta's
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: office hoping for the best, after the prosecutor told him
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: they were moving forward with the investigation. I left that
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: meeting thinking, this guy hopefully is going to do his job,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Ryder said. It didn't turn out the way Ryder had hoped.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: In 2007, Acosta made the decision not to charge Epstein
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: in federal court. Instead, he sent the case back to
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: the local prosecutors. Now, again, I don't think this was
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: Acosta on his own. You can't make this decision as
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: a mid-level bureaucrat. This was a decision that was made
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: on high, and Acosta was just the trigger man. Ryder
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: was crushed. The same office that seemingly refused to pursue
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Epstein aggressively was now back in charge. And again, you
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: could say, oh, this is a coincidence. It's just, you know,
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: the way things happen sometimes. But there sure are a
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: lot of coincidences around Jeffrey Epstein, isn't there? The cameras,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: the missing emails, all of this nonsense. At what point
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: is it not coincidence? And is it just what it is?
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Acosta agreed to sign a non-prosecution deal that ended the
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: federal sex crimes investigation. and spared Epstein the prospect of
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: serving several years in prison. Instead, Epstein pleaded guilty to
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: state charges for soliciting a minor for prostitution and served
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: 13 months at Palm Beach County Jail. Epstein was also
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: required to register as a sex offender and pay his
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: restitution to his survivors. Eh, didn't have to register in
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: New Mexico, huh? I've never seen anything like it, Ryder said.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: It was extremely unusual and disappointing. Ryder said he believes
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: the result would have been different had the victims been
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: underage boys. That would have shocked the senses more, Ryder said. Somehow,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: this hits in a different place, that they were young women,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: on the way to being women. And he's not really
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: wrong about that. How many people have set these girls
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: up as prostitutes, or why do they keep coming back?
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: The brain-dead narrative that they wanted this to happen. You know,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the same folks that will say, oh, well, she was
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: wearing a miniskirt, so... Way more nuanced than that. When
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: you have all of the different things that went in
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: to grooming these girls and normalizing all of this, it's
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: a whole different ballgame. But he's not wrong. Boys would
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: have really shocked the emotions and shocked the senses. Epstein
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: was released from jail in the summer of 2009. The
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: case seemed behind him until 2018 when the Miami Herald
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: published an expose highlighting the government's kid glove treating of
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: a man accused of preying on dozens of underage girls.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: Acosta defended the way his office handled what he described
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: as a complicated case. We believe we proceeded appropriately, Acosta
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: said during a July 2019 press conference. We did what
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: we did because we wanted to see Epstein go to jail.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: So you mean to tell me the federal government couldn't
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: have done that? If you really wanted to... And again,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: let me back up. You might want to see him
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: go to jail. We want to see him go to prison, okay?
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: and you not running the federal charges, you and your
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: bosses taking the step back, that made sure that Epstein
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: was never going to federal prison. But Acosta resigned as
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: li- Oh, excuse me. Acosta defended the way his office
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: handled what he described as a complicated case. We believed
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: we proceeded appropriately, Acosta said during a July 2019 press conference.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: We did what we did because we wanted to see
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: Epstein go to jail. But Acosta resigned as Labor Secretary
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: two days later amid mounting criticism. Krischer, the former state attorney,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: didn't return a request for comment from MDC News, but
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: he released a statement in July defending his office and
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: pushing back against Acosta, suggesting that state prosecutors were driving
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: the case. Nobody wants to take responsibility ever, right? It's
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: always somebody else's fault. It's always someone else who did
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: something wrong. In reality, the feds fucked up and the
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: state fucked up. If Mr. Acosta was truly concerned with
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: the state's case and felt he had to rescue the matter,
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: he would have moved forward with the 53 page indictment
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: that his own office once drafted. Krischer said Epstein was
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: arrested on fresh charges in July. New York federal prosecutors
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: charged him with sex trafficking and conspiracy in a case
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: that featured similar allegations to those a decade earlier. Never
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: far enough, right? How, again, how isn't this Rico, considering
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: not what I said to you, but what Michael Ryder
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: laid out to you just previously in this article? Epstein
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: pleaded not guilty, but he committed suicide in his federal
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: jail cell last month. The death left Ryder thinking about
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: the survivors, and their lost chance to see him held accountable.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: I feel so badly for the survivors, Ryder said. I
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: realize that there's a catharsis in confronting Epstein, and they'll
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: never have that opportunity. but he hopes that the entirety
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: of the case will lead to systemic change. The criminal
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: justice system needs to learn from this and make sure
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: it can't happen again, said Ryder, who still lives in
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: Palm Beach where he runs a security consulting firm. Ryder
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: wants to see legislation that bars minors from being labeled
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: as prostitutes in the justice system. He also called on
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: Florida lawmakers to close loopholes that allow people like Epstein
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: to get away with misdemeanors for child sex crimes. I mean,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: is he wrong? Does a cop, a former cop, have
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: to call for this? Why wouldn't our politicians, the ones
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: who make the laws, do it themselves? Oh, they're the
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: ones who put this law in the books? Oh, that's right.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: If you look at the first dozen victims and their
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: accounts of what happened to them, it's clear to me
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: he was coached by a lawyer on how to only
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: commit a misdemeanor, Ryder said. If you're a member of
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: the legislature and you're listening to this right now, fix this.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: It needs to be fixed. And I'm guessing that lawyer,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: I don't have proof of this, but I'm guessing it
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: was Darren Indyke. Ryder also delivered a message to all
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: of those girls whose lives were upended by a middle-aged
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: sexual predator with endless resources available to him. I don't
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: have any contact with the survivors, and if they're listening now,
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: I'm embarrassed for the way the criminal justice system treated
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: them back then in Florida, Ryder said. But I want
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: them to know that not every part of the system
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: failed them. We did our job in Palm Beach. At
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: the Palm Beach Police Department. And everything that happens here
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: should lead to, in the future, if any of these
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: things happen again to some other victim, that the system
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: won't fail them. And I'd like to believe that, but man,
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: I have a hard time believing it, folks. I am
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: very cynical about our justice system, as you all know.
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: And the more I see, the more cynical I become.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: So while I hope that Michael Ryder's plea will find
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: its way to the ears of our legislators, for some reason,
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: I still have my doubts. If you'd like to contact me,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: you can do that at bobbycappucci at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: at protonmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter at
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I. The link that we discussed can be
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: found in the description box.