Opinion | Why The Epstein Files Don’t Matter To India

Who didn’t party with Jeffrey Epstein? That is the main question that should strike anyone reading sections of the 3 million bits and pieces of information—collectively called the Epstein Files—dumped in the public domain this month by the US Department of Justice. They show that rich, famous or influential (preferably all three) men were his main targets. Women need not have been any of the above, but beauty and youth were the key to an Epstein overture. Much of the lakhs of emails and other communications merely verify that he was a smooth-talking influence peddler who used rich/famous people to access other rich/famous people, in order to facilitate mutually lucrative business deals. Pretty girls, the younger the better, were mainly a business aide,

to tempt powerful men to “help” him. Exploiting teenage girls was not the main agenda—he only got caught for it like Al Capone was for tax evasion—they were his USP. A shockingly effective USP too, judging by the list of powerful men, especially Americans, who were drawn into being “friends” with Epstein for this under-age inducement. These were men who seemingly had everything—billions in the bank, spouses, children, properties, yachts, planes, supercars and even adulation—and yet they still got lured by him. Just to indulge their darkest desires without fear of discovery? What does that reveal about human nature? Many in India familiar with the corridors of power, would recall desi variants of Epstein, minus the paedophilia, of course. At the dawn of the age of “Page 3” and social media, inviting (or tempting) key people to a party, publicising photos with them to indicate proximity and using those to solicit business from those who need “access” was the modus operandi. Boasting about connections and their ability to get ‘work’ done was also common, as sundry ‘tapes’ revealed. Indeed, networking with influential people (some of whom were not necessarily known to the aam janta) and pandering to their often less-than-savoury demands had been a leitmotif of life in the national and state capitals during the licence-permit raj. These fixers were well known, as was what they could deliver— in terms of business and gratification. Their reach made them sought-after regulars in high social circles as government favour often flowed through them. The era of super-fixers is over in India but there is no reason for Indians—and all others not in denial about the give-and-take of realpolitik—to be surprised at the extent of Epstein’s tentacles. After he reached a certain level of accessibility, Epstein did not have to shill for business—business(men) sought him out. Powerful people, such as the now disgraced Lord Mandelson, fawned on him so much that it begs the question what Epstein did to warrant such flattery. Epstein’s boasts about getting world leaders to do his bidding is typical for a man who built his fortune on the perception of high contacts. Given his formidable list of friends, there were many who would readily believe he could get presidents and prime ministers to dance to his tune. Who would be able to confirm or deny such assertions anyway? Claiming credit for what follows such supposed displays of influence is easy and there are enough rich gullible people to fall for it! Epstein, however, was also prone to believing apparently well-connected strangers who met him promising high accessibility, including some who claimed proximity to the then new dispensation in India. That he took their claims at face value shows he had little actual information about the inner dynamics of the new regime in India which had effected a break from the processes and systems of the past. His goal was obviously to establish useful links to a new market. India came onto his radar only after 2014, indicating either that it was an unimportant country for Epstein up till then or that there were existing US networks with the previous regime in India, obviating chances of him muscling in. Even then Epstein’s interest in India was hardly intense. Indeed, he barely knew anyone of consequence at all in India, in stark contrast to his wide range of business and political contacts in the US and most of its western allies. He cultivated Hardeep Puri (who was still three years away from joining the Modi government) in 2014 only to facilitate the India visit of his friend LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. In an email to a Qatari official, Epstein also appears to take credit for making Modi’s 2017 visit to Israel happen, a very unlikely boast as his closest Israeli political friend, former PM Ehud Barak is daggers drawn with Modi’s host in Israel, the incumbent PM Benjamin Netanyahu! In the years since his political exit in 2013, Barak and Epstein collaborated in business deals and even made some Israeli-Arab backchannel efforts but none of that presupposes Epstein gained any leverage over Netanyahu or advisory access to Modi to catalyse that historic 2017 visit. Like every shyster, though, Epstein would obviously try to claim credit in anticipation of garnering him more clients. India, however, remained mostly on the periphery of his murky world. Influence peddling is not per se a criminal activity. Illegal gratification–bribing—to pull off deals is a crime. But by the time he was found dead in jail Epstein had not been accused of any crimes other than grooming and trafficking minor girls for sex rackets. His simultaneous proximity to powerful men simply presupposes that any or all of them could have taken advantage of his supply of underage girls and therefore been complicit but there is no hard evidence to support that. He was essentially a grifter who smooth-talked his way into powerful circles and offered to fix deals for men—as well as take “care” of any other predilections they may have, as apparently in the case of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Now that documents show there were arguably far richer men also involved in the same Epstein game, it is odd that abused young women only made revelations about a comparatively pauperish prince rather than all those other billionaires. The only aspect of Epstein that the smart and successful people who partied with him and whose names are now immortalised in the files did not realise is that he was a digital magpie. He retained thousands of emails, texts, photos and videos, archiving even the most mundane interactions. As a man who built a career on tall tales, maybe he needed to record everything so that he did not get stories confused or wires crossed. That has proved to be a damning bonanza now. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.