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Comment by dwpdwpdwpdwpdwp | Hacker News Reader

I think this headline is subtlety misleading. From the article:

>>> “William Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 2021, had three meetings scheduled with Epstein in 2014, when he was deputy secretary of state, the documents show. They first met in Washington and then Mr. Burns visited Epstein’s townhouse in Manhattan.”

It implies Epstein was meeting with the CIA chief, when the actual revelation was that he was meeting with the Secretary of State (which is probably equally noteworthy)

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> It implies Epstein was meeting with the CIA chief, when the actual revelation was that he was meeting with the Secretary of State (which is probably equally noteworthy)

No, this isn't right. Burns was the Deputy Secretary of State. At the time, John Kerry was Secretary of State.

FWIW, when I first read the headline, I interpreted it to mean the current CIA director, as news headlines usually refer to former officials as "former" or "ex-".

Deputy Secretary of State. Almost as noteworthy, but still

They also met for lunch when he was a well-connected financier. He didn't exactly go to his island

The "well-connected financier" storyline generally falls apart on closer inspection. Of what is actually known and documented about how Epstein obtained his money, it was mostly through stock and real estate gifted to him by Les Wexner.

Exactly. Nobody really knows exactly what kind of "business" Epstein was doing. It is true that he presented himself like a financier, but the source of his money is actually unknown, other than the money that was provided by Les Wexner.

> It is true that he presented himself like a financier,

Which is why these people were meeting with him like he was a well-connected financier.

The people who were meeting with him weren't checking his bank account balances to see if he was really a billionaire or how he got his money.

The point of the story is not why they were meeting is as a well-connected financier. Its why were they meeting him, when it was easy to find out he was not.

Do you really think billionaires don't know what kind of business people are in, when they start to talk to them? Even if he could fool a few of them, they would quickly figure out he was just show and no business. The fact that some of the most powerful people continued to visit him for so many years, and even after his crimes started to be discussed, is very strange.

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