Media interest in Jeffrey Epstein, the sexual deviant and Democratic donor who was most likely murdered in his jail cell in 2019, has ticked up amid scrutiny of the late pedophile's environmental record.
CNN reports that a U.S. Virgin Islands lawsuit against the multimillionaire pervert's estate accuses Epstein of having "potentially damaged the delicate environment with illegal construction projects and brushed aside fines and other efforts to curb his behavior." These alleged environmental offenses, according to the lawsuit, were "part of a pattern of behavior in flouting the laws of the Virgin Islands and holding [Epstein] above the law."
Perhaps if American journalists had known of Epstein's environmental crimes much earlier, they might have been compelled to report on the massive international sex-trafficking ring Epstein allegedly oversaw. The U.S. media took credit for Epstein's arrest in July 2019—credit it certainly did not deserve.
The increased public scrutiny on Epstein's egregious criminal activity, coming more than a decade after the financier negotiated a sweetheart plea deal with federal prosecutors in Florida, was the result of a local newspaper (the Miami Herald) pursuing a Donald Trump-related angle to the story. Trump's former secretary of labor, Alexander Acosta, signed off on Epstein's plea deal while serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Indeed, in the absence of a connection linking Epstein to Trump, the U.S. media was for years reluctant to publish credible allegations against the wealthy pedophile. As early as 2002, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter killed a story on Epstein's inappropriate relationships with underage girls after Epstein objected. In 2019, leaked video showed ABC News anchor Amy Robach complaining that she "had this [Epstein] story for three years" and criticizing the network for repeatedly refusing to air her interview with one of Epstein's alleged victims.
If only Greta Thunberg had been around to put him on blast for polluting the sea.