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Comment by stickfigure | Hacker News Reader

Eh? He was convicted of giving money to children in exchange for sex.

There have been accusations that he got his start by embezzling from Wexner, but as far as anyone can tell so far, the bulk of Epstein's wealth is "legitimate".

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As far as I know, no-one has any real explanation for where Epstein's wealth comes from. Apparently real hedge fund guys were baffled as to where his money comes from and the suggestion that the whole thing was an elaborate blackmail operation isn't beyond credibility.

It pushes the extreme limits of credibility. It would be a decades-long-running blackmail scheme, involving hundreds of millions of dollars. With dozens of people involved. Overseen by accountants.

It's just a bit too "made for TV movie". This story is under a microscope. If there was a conspiracy that elaborate, it would have come out by now.

I could be proven wrong, but I'm betting on "rich creep who thinks he can buy everything" rather than secret-society mastermind pulling puppet-strings.

Well, a lot of things about this push the limits of credibility - if you were an author who told me about Epstein in a novel ('private sex island', 'hangs around with royalty and famous scientists') I'd say you're overdoing it. Have a look at:

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/hedge-funders-have-so...

Anyone with enough money and libido can buy property and staff it with prostitutes. Anyone offering enough grant money can hang out with famous scientists. I don't see why that is hard to believe.

That article can be summarized as: "We don't know where he got his money from, therefore let's speculate". It's good entertainment, but reality is usually pretty mundane. It's easier to believe Hoffenberg's claim that Epstein made off with the proceeds of the Tower Financial ponzi scheme. But that too seems heavily investigated already.

Your theory requires a explanation of how he became rich without any explicable business dealings or inheritance.

> the bulk of Epstein's wealth is "legitimate"

OK, how did he earn it? He didn't invest anywhere despite his claims to be running a hedge fund. Most of his assets were transfers from Wexler, or donations from leveraged associates laundered through charities. I've not seen any path through which he had any legitimate income or earnings at all.

I figured he took money from other people to let them abuse the girls.

I really hope you re-evaluate this comment. You italicized “giving”, I assume to imply something. This man was clearly a monster, and I don’t need a court to tell me that.

The implication I assume is that his money including this donation was not earned via child prostitution and was not as such inherently dirty or tainted.

It'd be an even worse look if MIT was directly using money earned from child abuse.

…what you just mentioned is still very illegal.

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