"Six years after his death, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein still makes headlines. He stars in conspiracy theories and falsehoods - about what government files reveal about him, the island where he trafficked girls and women, important men he knew, including Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. Social media users and politicians across the political spectrum engross themselves in stories - true and imagined - about Epstein's world of sex, power, connections and wealth."
"Epstein received lenient treatment from the criminal justice system until the Miami Herald published a 2018 extensive investigation into his case. He was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges for recruiting dozens of underage girls to his New York City mansion and Palm Beach, Florida, estate from 2002 to 2005 to engage in sex acts for money. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, and investigators concluded he died by suicide."
"Trump told reporters in July that the Epstein files "were made up" by former FBI Director James Comey and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. That's Pants on Fire. The files are not "made up" - they collectively represent investigative evidence and findings from law enforcement documents, victims' testimonies and court cases. Neither Obama nor Biden were in office when the FBI investigated Epstein; George W. Bush and Trump were."
Conspiracy theories and falsehoods about Jeffrey Epstein continue to spread across social media and political circles. Epstein received lenient treatment from the criminal justice system until a 2018 Miami Herald investigation. He was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges for recruiting dozens of underage girls to his New York City mansion and Palm Beach estate from 2002 to 2005. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, and investigators concluded he died by suicide. Congress passed a law requiring the Justice Department to release unclassified investigative files. Some public claims that the files were "made up" are demonstrably false.
Read at Poynter
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