via:The Daily Beast
Behind Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's Sweetheart Deal
The U.S. attorney who oversaw the hedge fund mogul pedophile's prosecution reveals exclusively to The Daily Beast how Jeffrey Epstein got off with a slap on the wrist.
It is proving difficult for hedge fund manager and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to avoid the glare of media scrutiny – British tabloids most recently cried foul over the shabby royal comportment of Prince Andrew in agreeing to be the guest of an acknowledged pedophile. But the larger mystery surrounding Epstein, who completed a 13-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2010, has remained unsolved: How did the hedge fund mogul manage to finesse the kinds of sex-crime allegations typically associated with a hefty prison sentence?...Some of the most shocking allegations against Epstein surfaced only after the conclusion of an FBI probe, in civil suits brought by his victims: for example, the claim that three 12-year-old French girls were delivered to him as a birthday present.
But the feds did identify roughly 40 young women, most of them underage at the time, who described being lured to Epstein’s Palm Beach home on the pretense of giving a “massage” for money, then pressured into various sex acts, as well as the “Balkan sex slave” Epstein allegedly boasted of purchasing from her family when she was just 14...This victim, Virginia Roberts, produced a photo of herself with Prince Andrew in 2001 and reported that Epstein paid her $15,000 to meet the prince. Then 17 years old, she claims that she was abused by Epstein and “loaned” to his friends from the age of 15...Sex crimes of the kind Roberts alleges took place typically carry a term of 10 to 20 years in federal prison. Yet when all was said and done, Epstein served his scant year-plus-one-month in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail and was granted a 16-hour-per-day free pass to leave the premises for work. more...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Jeffrey Epstein: Billionaire Pimp Kept Secret Journal Which Listed Under-Aged Victims, Celebrity Guests He ‘Entertained’
Source:Cryptogon, via The Daily Mail
The FBI is to reopen its investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein following Mail on Sunday revelations about his sexual exploitation of teenage girls and his links with high-profile individuals, including Prince Andrew.The Bureau wants to interview Esptein’s former personal ‘masseuse’, Virginia Roberts, after she revealed last week that she was recruited as Epstein’s sex slave when she was just 15.
Last night, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Virginia confirmed she will fully co-operate with the new investigation, which could have serious implications for Epstein and embarrass Prince Andrew, who she met on three occasions...Virginia alleged that her services were offered to a number of politicians, businessmen and international statesmen...Epstein’s palatial houses were secretly covered by a network of hidden video cameras, raising concerns that compromising footage exists of a number of rich and powerful individuals useful to Epstein’s work as a money manager...After the case, more than 20 other girls launched legal actions against Epstein. At least 17 have been settled out of court...The financier’s ‘little black book’ of contacts encompasses every conceivable sphere of influence, from politics and showbusiness to business and royalty. It lists numbers for former presidents, government Ministers, state senators, rock stars, actors and members of the British aristocracy...Bill Clinton, a known associate of Epstein’s, is listed under the name of one of his aides, Doug Bands. There are 21 contact numbers as well as fax numbers and email addresses.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363431/Prince-Andrew-quizzed-FBI-reopen-Jeffrey-Epstein-sex-case.html#ixzz1VznU0N6z
The FBI is to reopen its investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein following Mail on Sunday revelations about his sexual exploitation of teenage girls and his links with high-profile individuals, including Prince Andrew.The Bureau wants to interview Esptein’s former personal ‘masseuse’, Virginia Roberts, after she revealed last week that she was recruited as Epstein’s sex slave when she was just 15.
Last night, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Virginia confirmed she will fully co-operate with the new investigation, which could have serious implications for Epstein and embarrass Prince Andrew, who she met on three occasions...Virginia alleged that her services were offered to a number of politicians, businessmen and international statesmen...Epstein’s palatial houses were secretly covered by a network of hidden video cameras, raising concerns that compromising footage exists of a number of rich and powerful individuals useful to Epstein’s work as a money manager...After the case, more than 20 other girls launched legal actions against Epstein. At least 17 have been settled out of court...The financier’s ‘little black book’ of contacts encompasses every conceivable sphere of influence, from politics and showbusiness to business and royalty. It lists numbers for former presidents, government Ministers, state senators, rock stars, actors and members of the British aristocracy...Bill Clinton, a known associate of Epstein’s, is listed under the name of one of his aides, Doug Bands. There are 21 contact numbers as well as fax numbers and email addresses.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363431/Prince-Andrew-quizzed-FBI-reopen-Jeffrey-Epstein-sex-case.html#ixzz1VznU0N6z
Friday, August 19, 2011
Dreams, updated...
Over the past month or so, to my great annoyance, the use of homeopathy seems to have removed any pleasurable effects of smoking weed, and this means I've been sober except for a few unsuccessful attempts. One of the effects of marijuana is to block memories of dreaming, so as a result of sobriety I've been experiencing a sudden flood of extremely vivid dreams. Since childhood I've had a recurring dream of being pursued by a serial killer. For a long while this dream usually involved me being in slow motion and, later, the lone killer became a team of them, sometimes seeming to be mercenaries or military of some variety. Over the past few years the slow motion sensation has gone away and there have also been people in the dream who are assisting me. At times, there has also been a vague goal of getting the team shut down somehow or even prosecuted. The dreams have gone from being horrific nightmares to being exhilarating, with a lingering sense of accomplishment, although there are still exceptions to that rule.
A few weeks ago was one of those exceptions, a nightmare I had while staying over at a friend's house. This particular friend has been through some extreme situations, so my dream may have come about as a result of absorbing any ambient detritus that may have been floating around in her house. I dreamed that I was living in the apartment of a mercenary soldier who had been decorated with many awards, and had a very well-respected position in his community. I was staying there with a young guy and it was expected that we were to stay out of sight as we would not be welcomed in the community. The soldier wasn't home very often and when he was he rarely interacted with us. One day, while he was gone, the younger guy took a parcel out of the closet and unwrapped it for me to see. It contained a sizable collection of brightly-dyed leather masks, which he claimed were made from the skin of civilians the soldier had murdered in cold blood. The soldier came home in the middle of our intrusion and quickly explained that the masks had come from a South American tribe that practiced cannibalism. By his demeanor I knew he was lying, and indeed the masks had been the culmination of his ritualistic killing spree.
Doing my best to generate exuberance, I said that he should take the masks to a museum or an anthropologist to ensure their preservation. He returned my distrust with a penetrating gaze and I believed I was not safe in his house, or even outside of it, since the surrounding community was hostile to strangers. He left shortly afterwards and I resolved to catch him by surprise before he could murder me. The soldier returned home in the middle of the night and, waiting in the shadows of the hallway, I approached him, wrapped my hands around his throat and strangled him until he stopped breathing. When I awoke in the morning, I was disgusted and queasy about what I had done and there was no feeling of success as there has been in other dreams. I also realized I had not come prepared with the proper clothing since the area my friend lives in is fairly chilly compared to the climate I'm used to. When I left, she gave me a bright red leather jacket to keep warm. It wasn't until I was almost home that I realized exactly what the dream had been trying to tell me.
Putting aside the obvious meaning, a simple verification of non-violence as the most ideal response in any situation, and certainly the one in my dream given that it would have been far easier to just leave the house, I looked up an online dream dictionary which had this to say: "To dream that you have committed a murder, indicates that you are putting an end to an old habit and a former way of thinking. This could also refer to an end to an addiction". A possible reference to quitting smoking weed, or maybe also the ethos of fear-based survival? Hopefully I'm not boring people with the dream analysis, because this kind of analytic thinking can really gloss over less academically acceptable possibilities, such as external influence, not to be discounted in the overall scheme of things.
Then last night I had yet another serial killer dream and it was better, in the sense that I was not doing something which directly contradicts my personal ethics, even if the plot development is a bit lacking. This time, I was working at a mall that was owned by a family which was, again, very prominent and influential in their community. Most of the franchises at the mall were also owned by said family and, like the way that many Chinese corporations have their own police forces, the entire place was run like a prison, with tall fences surrounding it and armed guards at every entrance. One of the girls I worked with, who was an accountant for the family, had also been given access to a walk-in freezer which was off-limits to other employees. She brought me there one day and showed off what appeared to be rows of human bodies in cold storage. I convinced her that this was not a place where we should be working and that knowledge of the freezer was, in itself, a liability. We rounded up another guy who worked with us and decided to try and escape. In the parking lot, we found an older biker couple who agreed to give us a ride in their pick up truck. Along with the couple's giant mastiff, we all jumped in the back of the truck and they covered us with a tarp, before successfully driving out of the compound.
A few weeks ago was one of those exceptions, a nightmare I had while staying over at a friend's house. This particular friend has been through some extreme situations, so my dream may have come about as a result of absorbing any ambient detritus that may have been floating around in her house. I dreamed that I was living in the apartment of a mercenary soldier who had been decorated with many awards, and had a very well-respected position in his community. I was staying there with a young guy and it was expected that we were to stay out of sight as we would not be welcomed in the community. The soldier wasn't home very often and when he was he rarely interacted with us. One day, while he was gone, the younger guy took a parcel out of the closet and unwrapped it for me to see. It contained a sizable collection of brightly-dyed leather masks, which he claimed were made from the skin of civilians the soldier had murdered in cold blood. The soldier came home in the middle of our intrusion and quickly explained that the masks had come from a South American tribe that practiced cannibalism. By his demeanor I knew he was lying, and indeed the masks had been the culmination of his ritualistic killing spree.
Doing my best to generate exuberance, I said that he should take the masks to a museum or an anthropologist to ensure their preservation. He returned my distrust with a penetrating gaze and I believed I was not safe in his house, or even outside of it, since the surrounding community was hostile to strangers. He left shortly afterwards and I resolved to catch him by surprise before he could murder me. The soldier returned home in the middle of the night and, waiting in the shadows of the hallway, I approached him, wrapped my hands around his throat and strangled him until he stopped breathing. When I awoke in the morning, I was disgusted and queasy about what I had done and there was no feeling of success as there has been in other dreams. I also realized I had not come prepared with the proper clothing since the area my friend lives in is fairly chilly compared to the climate I'm used to. When I left, she gave me a bright red leather jacket to keep warm. It wasn't until I was almost home that I realized exactly what the dream had been trying to tell me.
Putting aside the obvious meaning, a simple verification of non-violence as the most ideal response in any situation, and certainly the one in my dream given that it would have been far easier to just leave the house, I looked up an online dream dictionary which had this to say: "To dream that you have committed a murder, indicates that you are putting an end to an old habit and a former way of thinking. This could also refer to an end to an addiction". A possible reference to quitting smoking weed, or maybe also the ethos of fear-based survival? Hopefully I'm not boring people with the dream analysis, because this kind of analytic thinking can really gloss over less academically acceptable possibilities, such as external influence, not to be discounted in the overall scheme of things.
Then last night I had yet another serial killer dream and it was better, in the sense that I was not doing something which directly contradicts my personal ethics, even if the plot development is a bit lacking. This time, I was working at a mall that was owned by a family which was, again, very prominent and influential in their community. Most of the franchises at the mall were also owned by said family and, like the way that many Chinese corporations have their own police forces, the entire place was run like a prison, with tall fences surrounding it and armed guards at every entrance. One of the girls I worked with, who was an accountant for the family, had also been given access to a walk-in freezer which was off-limits to other employees. She brought me there one day and showed off what appeared to be rows of human bodies in cold storage. I convinced her that this was not a place where we should be working and that knowledge of the freezer was, in itself, a liability. We rounded up another guy who worked with us and decided to try and escape. In the parking lot, we found an older biker couple who agreed to give us a ride in their pick up truck. Along with the couple's giant mastiff, we all jumped in the back of the truck and they covered us with a tarp, before successfully driving out of the compound.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Actor Corey Feldman Says Pedophilia No. 1 Problem for Child Stars, Contributed to Demise of Corey Haim
source:ABC News
Corey Feldman has no idea what it's like not to be famous. After all, he starred in a McDonald's ad when he was just 3 years old."I literally was famous before I knew my own name," he said in an interview with ABC News' "Nightline." The ad led to roles in films such as "Stand By Me," "Goonies" and "License to Drive." He was a household name before he could read...But being famous and underage, he said, caused serious damage to him and his friends, including loss of innocence and a lost childhood. .."I can tell you that the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia. That's the biggest problem for children in this industry. ... It's the big secret," Feldman said.
The "casting couch," which is the old Hollywood reference to actors being expected to offer sex for roles, applied to children, Feldman said. "Oh, yeah. Not in the same way. It's all done under the radar," he said...The trauma of pedophilia contributed to the 2010 death of his closest friend and "The Lost Boys" co-star, Corey Haim, Feldman said...."There's one person to blame in the death of Corey Haim. And that person happens to be a Hollywood mogul. And that person needs to be exposed, but, unfortunately, I can't be the one to do it," Feldman said, adding that he, too, had been sexually abused by men in show business...Feldman said his realization followed the discovery of what some adults around him had allegedly done to other children. "There was a circle of older men … around this group of kids. And they all had either their own power or connections to great power in the entertainment industry," he said. more...
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Government officials tight-lipped on bank scandal investigation
via:The Tribune
Published On:Tuesday, August 09, 2011
GOVERNMENT officials remain tightlipped over why the Bahamas government has failed to co-operate with a longstanding, multi-million dollar bank scandal investigation.
Since tracing several hundred million of missing funds to accounts in the Bahamas in 2005, sources claim that local authorities have ignored official requests for assistance - the most recent of which was sent in 2008...The tale of murder, Mafia plots, international money laundering schemes, and clandestine Masonic sects, placed the Bahamas branch of the bank, Banco Ambrosiano Overseas Limited, at the very centre of the scandal.
According to the press in Italy and the UK, Italian prosecutors are looking for funds allegedly squirreled away by former bank chairman Roberto Calvi, known as "God's banker" because the Vatican Bank was the largest shareholder. more:
Published On:Tuesday, August 09, 2011
GOVERNMENT officials remain tightlipped over why the Bahamas government has failed to co-operate with a longstanding, multi-million dollar bank scandal investigation.
Since tracing several hundred million of missing funds to accounts in the Bahamas in 2005, sources claim that local authorities have ignored official requests for assistance - the most recent of which was sent in 2008...The tale of murder, Mafia plots, international money laundering schemes, and clandestine Masonic sects, placed the Bahamas branch of the bank, Banco Ambrosiano Overseas Limited, at the very centre of the scandal.
According to the press in Italy and the UK, Italian prosecutors are looking for funds allegedly squirreled away by former bank chairman Roberto Calvi, known as "God's banker" because the Vatican Bank was the largest shareholder. more:
Vatican Bank hit by financial scandal... again
I'm a bit late on this post but it's better late than never.
Investigators are closing in on the Pope's bank, dissatisfied by claims that it will change its ways
By Victor Simpson and Nicole Winfield
Sunday, 19 December 2010
This is no ordinary bank. The ATMs are in Latin, priests use a private entrance, and a life-sized portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall. Nevertheless, l'Istituto per le Opere di Religione (the Institute for Religious Works) is a bank, and it is under harsh new scrutiny, including money-laundering allegations that led police to seize €23m (£19.5m) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Bank" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.
The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism that it will be cleared up quickly. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws "with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital". The documents also reveal investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and the Mafia. The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew €650,000 from an Italian bank account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed. more...
Investigators are closing in on the Pope's bank, dissatisfied by claims that it will change its ways
By Victor Simpson and Nicole Winfield
Sunday, 19 December 2010
This is no ordinary bank. The ATMs are in Latin, priests use a private entrance, and a life-sized portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall. Nevertheless, l'Istituto per le Opere di Religione (the Institute for Religious Works) is a bank, and it is under harsh new scrutiny, including money-laundering allegations that led police to seize €23m (£19.5m) in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Bank" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.
The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a "misunderstanding" and expresses optimism that it will be cleared up quickly. But court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws "with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital". The documents also reveal investigators' suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and the Mafia. The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew €650,000 from an Italian bank account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed. more...
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Catholic leaders shirked duty in sex abuse cases
via:The American Statesman
Here is an excerpt from a powerful article about clergy abuse written by a Catholic and former seminarian, documenting his own history of abuse which was handled in the typical pattern of collective denial and victim blaming by Church hierarchy ...
Whenever priest abuse happened in the seminary, it was covered up. One professor was a serial abuser. He just disappeared one night. Rumor had it he was transferred to New Mexico for therapy and then to a parish, as was the custom. Perhaps. The point is, the authorities never told us anything, never counseled us, never worked with us to understand the enormity of the transgression and its effects on victims. Nor did they ever tell us of any adverse consequences to the priest. We assumed there were none.
This was the same when I finally had the courage to report my abuser, who even stalked me. It was frightening, but I feared I would pay a price for reporting him. Others had experiences much worse than mine, but the officials' reaction was always the same and typical. The message they telegraphed was not the message they should have taught: Don't do it, and, if you do, there are consequences for the abuser and for the victim.
more...
Here is an excerpt from a powerful article about clergy abuse written by a Catholic and former seminarian, documenting his own history of abuse which was handled in the typical pattern of collective denial and victim blaming by Church hierarchy ...
Whenever priest abuse happened in the seminary, it was covered up. One professor was a serial abuser. He just disappeared one night. Rumor had it he was transferred to New Mexico for therapy and then to a parish, as was the custom. Perhaps. The point is, the authorities never told us anything, never counseled us, never worked with us to understand the enormity of the transgression and its effects on victims. Nor did they ever tell us of any adverse consequences to the priest. We assumed there were none.
This was the same when I finally had the courage to report my abuser, who even stalked me. It was frightening, but I feared I would pay a price for reporting him. Others had experiences much worse than mine, but the officials' reaction was always the same and typical. The message they telegraphed was not the message they should have taught: Don't do it, and, if you do, there are consequences for the abuser and for the victim.
more...
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