Jeffrey Epstein arrested: Israeli-American pedo ring to be exposed?

Epstein was found injured in his cell today, with marks around his neck. Apparently investigators questioned another inmate, a former cop, regarding the situation. I wonder if it was an attempted take out or if Epstein is looking for a way out of this world himself. Either way, looks like the prison officials aren't keeping too close an eye on the celebrity prisoner.

I wonder, if the "former cop" is actually a Mossad Agent, inserted to monitor Epstein ... and to administer a little TLC, as a warning - for Epstein to keep his mouth SHUT? Strange things do happen in jail to child molesters.

Convicted Florida child molester beaten by another inmate and drowned in jail toilet, reports say
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Convicted Florida child molester beaten, drowned in toilet: reports

August 2, 2019 - A convicted child molester in a Florida jail died after allegedly being attacked by his cellmate and drowned in the jail cell's toilet, according to local news reports.

Paul Dixon, 43, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering David Oseas Ramirez following an incident around 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Duval County Jail in Jacksonville, Newsweek reported.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Dixon, who was serving time for a murder charge he received at 17, killed his cellmate at the pre-trial detention facility after a verbal confrontation became physical. A third cellmate who witnessed the attack has refused to speak.

After the beating, Dixon drowned Ramirez in the jail cell's toilet, First Coast News in Jacksonville reported. Ramirez's official cause of death has yet to be determined by a medical examiner.

The sheriff's office did not identify the victim in its initial statement. However, jail records show Ramirez as having been released from the jail, with the reason for his release listed as "deceased," First Coast News reported.

Ramirez was serving a life sentence after being sentenced in 2013, when he was convicted of lewd or lascivious molestation of an 11-year-old girl. Reports at the time said that it took the jury just 15 minutes to convict him, Newsweek reported.

"When men go to jail accused, convicted of hurting a child, there is no peace in jail," said News4Jax crime and safety analyst Ken Jefferson told Newsweek. "They have to constantly watch over their back. They have to hope they can befriend someone to look out for them. To protect them."

The sheriff's office said that, following the incident, Dixon was arrested for murder.

~~~
An "unattended death" being reported in the Kennedy family ...

Saoirse Kennedy Hill, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, found dead at Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port

Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead on Thursday afternoon at the Kennedy Compound, according to a law enforcement source and people close to the family.

The Kennedy family confirmed the death in a statement.

"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel, who said, 'The world is a little less beautiful today,'" the Kennedy family said in the statement.

Hill, 22, was the daughter of Paul Hill and Courtney Kennedy Hill, the fifth of 11 children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy.

Details around the death are unknown at this time.

Barnstable police were called to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on Thursday afternoon for a report of an "unattended death," the Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said in a statement.

"The matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office," the DA's statement read.

PHOTO: An aerial view of the Kennedy Compound, July 25, 2008, in Hyannisport, Mass. (Tim Gray/Getty Images)

Hill was public about her struggles with depression. In 2016, while still a high school senior at Deerfield Academy, she wrote an op-ed for the school's newspaper mentioning that she left school during her junior year for "treatment for my depression and returned to the valley for my senior year."

Hill went to Boston College, where she was a member of the College Democrats.
 
Jeffrey Epstein became an FBI INFORMANT to secure sweetheart deal and shut down federal probe

Jeffrey Epstein managed to shut down a federal probe into his illicit and illegal activities with underage girls and secure his sweetheart plea deal by providing information’ to the government, FBI reports confirm.

A federal investigation into the pedophile led by the FBI was closed out on September 18, 2008 when Epstein ‘provided information to the FBI as agreed upon’ according to the case agent.

That investigation had been underway for two years at that point, but it was noted in the final report that ‘no prosecution will occur in this matter as long as Epstein continues to uphold his agreement with the State of Florida.’

The investigation had been dormant for seven months by then, with FBI records obtained by DailyMail.com showing that the lead agent had not filed a report since February 11 at the time he closed the case.

That February report notes that ‘that the criminal investigation into activities of Jeffrey Epstein is ongoing,’ and that the case agent had been told the matter was ‘highly sensitive’ by the United States Attorney’s Office.

This was five months after Epstein signed his non-prosecution agreement, but four months before it would be presented in court during his sentencing on two charges related to solicitation of a minor. – READ MORE

One can only guess what sort of information Epstein was providing to the FBI, given all we know about his activities.
 
Celebrities, royals and politicians brace themselves as court orders release of explosive Jeffrey Epstein files

August 3, 2019 - In Room 270, the records management unit, on the second floor of an imposing granite and marble courthouse in lower Manhattan, 167 documents totaling more than 2,000 pages are being kept under lock and key.

But they are about to be unsealed and made public - making a host of important people around the world, including celebrities, politicians and royals, very nervous.

The files contain explosive allegations in the case of Giuffre v Maxwell, in which Virginia Giuffre, a woman who claims to have been Jeffrey Epstein's teenage "sex slave", sued Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and the billionaire's former girlfriend, for defamation.

The case was settled in May 2017 on the eve of the trial but the details were not disclosed and the final judgment and supporting documents were sealed, with the court noting the "highly sensitive nature of the underlying allegations."

According to other court documents that have been published, Ms Giuffre has made allegations of sexual abuse against "numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well‐known Prime Minister, and other world leaders."

An appeal to unseal the rest of the documents was launched by the Miami Herald newspaper, which has spearheaded media investigations into Epstein. It was rejected three times.

But last month the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered their release, ruling that the public's right to know outweighed the privacy rights of the high-profile individuals named.

It what may be an indication of the fame of those individuals, the judges made a striking plea to the media to "exercise restraint" in reporting the allegations about to come to light. They also allowed parties involved to apply for minor redactions, delaying the release.

Another delay is possible as Miss Maxwell has launched an appeal to keep the documents sealed, her lawyers arguing that a full release would trigger a “furious feeding frenzy."

They wrote: "Plaintiff Giuffre made numerous allegations of sexual, if not criminal, conduct against a wide range of third parties. Because of the media no reference to anyone in this case is benign: a reference to any person is toxic and lethal to that person’s reputation. Facts and truth are all but irrelevant."

The legal battle between Ms Giuffre and Miss Maxwell began in late 2014 when Ms Giuffre claimed that Epstein sexually abused her starting in 2000 when she was 16, with the “assistance and participation” of Miss Maxwell. She also made allegations against the Duke of York, which were categorically denied by Buckingham Palace.

Miss Maxwell described the claims as "obvious lies," and Ms Giuffre then sued her for defamation.

In a recent statement Josh Schiller, a lawyer for Ms Giuffre, said the appeal court was unlikely to overturn an unsealing decision, and he believed Miss Maxwell's appeal would cause only a "short delay" in releasing the documents. He added: "There is an overwhelming public interest."

The appeal court's decision to release the documents came just three days before Epstein was arrested last month, charged with sex trafficking. Prosecutors in New York have accused him of assaulting dozens of girls as young as 14.

The case has thrown the Marlborough College and Oxford-educated Miss Maxwell, 57, back into the spotlight. She moved to New York in 1991, the year her father - disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell - died. In New York, herself and Epstein became a fixture on the social scene.

Miss Maxwell was well-connected. Guests including Donald Trump had partied on her father's yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, as far back as 1989.

She is a private helicopter pilot and a deep water submarine pilot. In 2012 she founded the TerraMar Project in New York, aimed at creating a "global ocean community" to protect international waters, and spoke about it at the United Nations.

Last month, six days after Epstein's arrest, the TerraMar Project announced it would "cease all operations."

Miss Maxwell sold her Manhattan townhouse for $15 million in 2016, and her current whereabouts are unclear.
 
Celebrities, royals and politicians brace themselves as court orders release of explosive Jeffrey Epstein files

August 3, 2019 - In Room 270 ... 167 documents totaling more than 2,000 pages are being kept under lock and key.

But they are about to be unsealed and made public ... making a host of important people around the world, including celebrities, politicians and royals, very nervous.

According to other court documents that have been published, Ms Giuffre has made allegations of sexual abuse against "numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well‐known Prime Minister, and other world leaders."

There's a general feeling - a lot of long preparation was involve - prior to Epstein's July 7th arrest? There is also a sense, Trump may be one of the main forces behind this arrest?

It may seem inconceivable at first, and totally unrelated but I think Bradley/Chelsea Manning and WikiLeak's Assange might be called upon, to give testimony in Epstein's trial?


Chelsea Manning
Manning was an Army Intelligence Analysis.

Manning gave WikiLeaks some 482,832 Army reports and 251,287 Diplomatic cables after watching a 2007 video of US helicopter crews indiscriminately killing Iraqi civilians, which was dubbed ‘Collateral Murder.’

Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who leaked documents to WikiLeaks on US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was released from military prison on Wednesday (May 17, 2017). Her 35-year sentence for espionage was commuted by President Barack Obama after seven years served.

Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth in May after President Obama commuted her 35-year sentence. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said the arrest and prosecution of Assange, in connection with these and other documents, is now a "priority" for the Department of Justice.

In regards to Epstein - there might be something pointing to his activities in the 251,287 Diplomatic cables?

Chelsea Manning, who spent more than three years in prison for leaking US military secrets to WikiLeaks, was jailed again on Friday (March 8) for refusing to testify in a grand jury investigation targeting the anti-secrecy group.

Mar 9, 2019 - Chelsea Manning jailed for refusal to testify in WikiLeaks case

Chelsea Manning jailed for refusal to testify in WikiLeaks case

US District Judge Claude Hilton ordered Manning to be held - not as punishment but to force her testimony in the secret case, according to a spokesman for the US attorney in the Alexandria, Virginia federal court.

March 09, 2019 - The Arrest of Chelsea Manning. Unconstitutional US Grand Jury System
The Arrest of Chelsea Manning. Unconstitutional US Grand Jury System - Global Research

Fresh off a 62-day incarceration for defying a grand jury subpoena, Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and anti-secrecy activist, was remanded again Thursday afternoon after a federal judge held her in contempt of court.

May 16, 2019 - Chelsea Manning ordered back to jail for defying grand jury subpoena
Chelsea Manning ordered back to jail for defying grand jury subpoena

United States Marshals took Manning back into custody at the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Thursday afternoon after she refused to cooperate, yet again, with a subpoena to testify before another secret federal grand jury.

Manning was set free last Thursday when the first grand jury's term expired. Upon release, however, prosecutors hit her with a second subpoena to appear Thursday before a separate grand jury.

Since May 16, 2019 - there has been a media black-out on Manning. No current updates?

Onto WikiLeaks/Assange - on April 11, 2019 - Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and arrested. The U.S. Dept. of Justice confirmed that it had Assange arrested on an extradition request. June 14th was the last published report on Assange stating the extradition hearing is set for February 25, 2020. No additional updates on Assange since mid-June.


Assange moved into Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 to avoid arrest over now-dropped Swedish rape charges. He remains over fears he will be extradited to the United States and put on trial for WikiLeaks publishing leaked secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.

April 5, 2019 - Ecuador dismisses reports that WikiLeaks founder will be expelled from embassy soon
Ecuador dismisses reports that WikiLeaks founder will be expelled from embassy soon

Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal
April 11, 2019 - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last seven years. That's after Ecuador's president Moreno withdrew asylum.

U.S. charges WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange with computer hacking
LONDON April 11, 2019 - The Justice Department revealed Thursday that it has charged Julian Assange with computer hacking hours after the fugitive founder of WikiLeaks was arrested in London following a U.S. request to extradite him. Assange faces extradition hearings on May 2 and June 12.

WikiLeaks said in a tweet that Assange's political asylum had been "illegally terminated in violation of international law." The group has repeatedly claimed that the DOJ is building a criminal case centered on the leaking of Democratic emails hacked by the Russians in the 2016 election.

President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a congressional hearing in February that former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone was in contact with Assange before WikiLeaks released leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee. Assange has always maintained that the source of the leaks was not Russia, contrary to the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies.

The White House referred questions about the Assange indictment to the DOJ. In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump appeared to downplay his knowledge of Assange's organization, saying: "I know nothing about WikiLeaks. It's not my thing."

Trump hasn’t always been circumspect when it comes to Assange and WikiLeaks. Less than a month before the 2016 election, he showered praise on the organization. "I love WikiLeaks", he said on Oct. 10.

April 11, 2019 - US Department of Justice confirms Assange arrested on US extradition request
US Department of Justice confirms Assange arrested on US extradition request

The US Department of Justice confirms that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested in relation to a US extradition request, Department Spokeswoman Nicole Navas Oxman told TASS on Thursday.

"I can confirm that Julian Assange was arrested in relation to a provisional extradition request from the United States of America," she said.

Russian diplomat slams Assange’s prosecution as US political elite’s revenge
Prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is the US political elite’s revenge over information that he made public,
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Ecuador holding Swedish programmer linked to Assange in custody
Ecuador said on Friday it is holding a programmer linked to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in custody pending possible charges of interfering in private communications, a day after ending Assange’s seven-year asylum in its London embassy.

Ecuadorean judge orders Swedish citizen close to Assange jailed pending trial
Bini, a 36-year-old software developer, works at the Quito-based Center for Digital Autonomy, an organization focusing on cybersecurity and data privacy. Bini had visited Assange at the embassy some 12 times in recent years, interior minister Maria Paulo Romo said in a local television interview on Friday.

UK court sets Assange U.S. extradition hearing for February 2020
June 14, 2019 - Judge Emma Arbuthnot said the full extradition case would be heard in the week starting Feb. 25 next year.

Epstein was arrested on July 7, 2019 and has since been denied Bail. No "sweetheart deals" this time.
So, for a recap of a timeline:

* March 9, 2019 - Chelsea Manning jailed for refusal to testify in WikiLeaks case
* April 11, 2019 - US Department of Justice confirms Assange arrested on US extradition request
* May 16, 2019
- Chelsea Manning ordered back to jail for defying grand jury subpoena
* June 14, 2019 - Assange's full extradition case would be heard in the week starting Feb. 25 next year.
* July 7, 2019 - Jeff Epstein arrested - no Bail set.


This next article compliments these two recent articles previously Posted:

July 29, 2019 - http://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-john-mccain-jeffrey-epstein-and-pizzagate/
The article starts out with going into John McCain's background and connections. It was his wife's Father who actually financially supported John's rise in Politics, yet John was very abusive to his wife.

In this link from above:
Government by Blackmail: Jeffrey Epstein, Trump’s Mentor and the Dark Secrets of the Reagan Era there are these statements: "Gray, who had previously been a close adviser to both Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, was a very successful Republican fundraiser who “collects money in six-figure globs,” according to a 1974 report in the Washingtonian."

"
Gray would go on to co-chair Reagan’s Inauguration Committee and afterwards would return to the PR business, taking on several clients including Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and hedge fund manager Marc Rich. Both Khashoggi and Rich will be discussed more in detail in Part III of this report — particularly Rich, who was an asset of Israeli intelligence outfit Mossad, and whose later criminal pardon by Bill Clinton was largely orchestrated by members of the Mega Group like Michael Steinhardt and Israeli politicians like Ehud Barak."

How is Adnan Khashoggi related to - Jamal Khashoggi who was assassinated and dismembered on October 2, 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey? Was it the Saudi's or was it a Mossad hit? And why? Are there any ties to the Epstein network?
A Saudi 'Night of the Long Knives'? Prince Salman's crackdown
 
According to Zev Shalev (a Israeli journalist born in Tel Aviv and who worked for CBS News during his 30 years long career), Epstein was indeed a Mossad asset. However, in the commentary section of his article, Shalev refuses to reveal the identity of the informant thanks to whom he made his statement. Here is a link to Shalev's article.

Zev Shalev also conducted with Tracie McElroy an investigation titled "The secret life of Jeffrey Epstein" about the secret links between Epstein and Israel, some Russian oligarchs, Trump entourage, Blackwater and some cybersecurity startups.

 
I missed her prior show on Conrad Black, so will have to find that.

Well okay, had a look. It might be better to watch this one first and the above posted by herondancer next (probably matters not though).

So, it starts with Black's wife, Babara, as she celebrated her 60th with a who's who in attendance - all the usual people, with Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell among them (and Black had quite a Board of Directors at the time with Hollinger who later went on to abandoned him, even using Black's very papers against him).

The discussion also hits on on Laura Jereski, who seems to have been instrumental in kicking off the media football against Black (now she is the Assistant District Attorney in NY) and Polly spends time connecting people like this and their actions together.

Black is a hometown character for me, so to speak, so grew up with him being often in the news - or buying news (his first paper was bought not far from home). And just as others had been during those days in Canada, the press lead people around by the nose during all of Black's troubles (his dethroning of 'title'). The usual court of public opinion came to bear against him (and I've shared opinions too).

These were broader games that were being played out without much awareness of its nature that people see more opening up today. Yet back then, as now told below, it starts to become more clear that at a particular point in time someone decided to pull the trigger on Black's business, and pull it they did.

It is interesting to note (and had missed it), that Trump happened to have pardoned Conrad Black back in May of this year.

I'm not well aware of who Polly is, and noted also that at the end of this segment she finishes with statements punctuated by the letter Q, so I'm guessing that is the Q that gets written about here (have not followed that well either) - thought to mention it.

 
Word - must be out - that Epstein is taking the fall and will be indicted on numerous previous sealed indictments? Stories all over the Internet of business partners in various Institutions and banking interests trying to distance themselves and their direct involvement with Epstein (and his financial contributions).

Epstein was dealing directly with the "
Edmond de Rothschild Group" and former Israeli Prime Minster Barak.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Endgame: One Last Shot to Stay in Wall Street’s Favor

One of several prominent scientists known to have associated with Jeffrey Epstein has apologized for his contact with the convicted pedophile, saying he didn’t realize the seriousness of his conviction at the time.
Harvard Biologist Apologizes For Associating With Jeffrey Epstein
 
Whitney Webb who writes for MintPress has an article called “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Shocking Origins of the Jeffrey Epstein Case,” which covers the history of sexual blackmail, its connections to organized crime, intelligence services, and the uncanny parallels between historical blackmail rings and the Jeffrey Epstein case.

An excellent documented article!!! The date on the above article is July 18th ... this link is to the second installment - dated July 25th, 2019, also by Whitney Webb.

Government by Blackmail: Jeffrey Epstein, Trump’s Mentor and the Dark Secrets of the Reagan Era

This is the third installment, dated August 7, 2019 - with a forth and final installment to be published soon, revealing the ties developed between this web and the Clintons.

Mega Group, Maxwells, and Mossad: The Spy Story at the Heart of the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal
 

In this quote, is it reasonable to assume - that Wexner went through the motions of setting up a massive "sting operation" by renovating the Manhattan townhouse with electronic/video equipment and then handed the operation over to Epstein to manage for the Mega Group?

Leslie “Les” Wexner, the other Mega Group co-founder, also has ties to organized crime. Wexner’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein have come under scrutiny following the latter’s recent arrest, as Wexner was the only publicly acknowledged client of Epstein’s suspicious hedge fund, the source of much of this wealth, and the previous owner of Epstein’s $56 million Manhattan townhouse, which Wexner transferred to an Epstein-controlled entity for free.

Before Epstein received the townhouse, Wexner appears to have used the residence for some unconventional purposes, noted in a 1996 New York Times article on the then-Wexner-owned residence, which included “a bathroom reminiscent of James Bond movies: hidden beneath a stairway, lined with lead to provide shelter from attack and supplied with closed-circuit television screens and a telephone, both concealed in a cabinet beneath the sink.” The Times article does not speculate as to the purpose of this equipment, though the allusion to famous fictional superspy James Bond suggests that it may have been used to snoop on guests or conduct electronic surveillance.

The 1996 Times article also noted that, after Wexner bought the residence for $13.2 million in 1989, he spent millions more decorating and furnishing the home, including the addition of the electronic equipment in the “James Bond” bathroom, only to apparently never live in it.

Could this be one of the main reasons why the U.S. is against and banning the Chinese telecom firm "Huawei" - that 5G would be a foundation technology for critical infrastructure that neither U.S. intelligence or Israel have "a back-door" to?

According to author and former BBC investigative journalist Gordon Thomas, Brian was angry that the U.S. Department of Justice was successfully using Promis to go after organized crime and money-laundering activities and Rafi Eitan (Israeli super-spy)
felt that the program could aid Israel. At the time, Eitan was the director of the now defunct Israeli military intelligence agency Lekem, which gathered scientific and technical intelligence abroad from both public and covert sources, especially in relation to Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

A plan was hatched to install a “trapdoor” into the software and then market Promis throughout the world, providing the Mossad with invaluable intelligence on the operations of its enemies and allies while also providing Eitan and Brian with copious amounts of cash. According to the testimony of ex-Mossad official Ari Ben-Menashe, Brian provided a copy of Promis to Israel’s military intelligence, which contacted an Israeli American programmer living in California who then planted the “trapdoor” in the software. The CIA was later said to have installed its own trapdoor in the software but it is unknown if they did so with a version of the already bugged software and how widely it was adopted relative to the version bugged by Israeli intelligence.

After the trapdoor was inserted, the problem became selling the bugged version of the software to governments, as well as, private companies around the World, particularly in areas of interest. Brian first attempted to buy out Inslaw and Promis and then use that same company to sell the bugged version.

With Inslaw out of the way, Brian sold the software all over the world. Eitan later recruited Robert Maxwell to become another Promis salesman, which he did remarkably well, even succeeding in selling the software to Soviet intelligence and conspiring with Republican Texas Senator John Tower to have the software adopted by the U.S. government laboratory at Los Alamos. Dozens of countries used the software on their most carefully guarded computer systems, unaware that Mossad now had access to everything Promis touched.

Promis’ backdoor and adoption by intelligence agencies all over the world essentially provided the Mossad with access to troves of blackmail that the CIA and FBI had acquired on their friends and foes for over half a century.
 
I don't know if this report has any connection to Epstein and his Wall Street dealings but the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in big trouble:

Malaysia files criminal charges against 17 Goldman Sachs executives
FILE PHOTO - Men walk past a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the fund's flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur March 1, 2015. REUTERS/Olivia Harris/File Photo

Malaysia filed criminal charges on Friday against 17 current and former directors at subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group Inc <GS.N> following an investigation into a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal that led to the demise of state fund 1MDB.

The U.S. bank has been under scrutiny for its role in helping to raise $6.5 billion through bond offerings for 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the subject of corruption and money laundering investigations in at least six countries.

But Malaysian prosecutors have said $2.7 billion of the proceeds were diverted and the offering statements filed with the regulators contained statements that were false, misleading or involved material omissions.

Friday’s charges were brought under a section of the Malaysian Capital Markets and Services Act that holds certain senior executives responsible for offences that may have been committed by the firm, Attorney General Tommy Thomas said.

“Custodial sentences and criminal fines will be sought against the accused ... given the severity of the scheme to defraud and fraudulent misappropriation of billions in bond proceeds,” Thomas said in a statement.

Goldman Sachs said the charges were misdirected.

“We believe the charges announced today, along with those against three Goldman Sachs entities announced in December last year, are misdirected and will be vigorously defended,” a Goldman Sachs spokesman in Hong Kong said.

“Under the Malaysian legal process, the firm and the individual entity directors were not afforded an opportunity to be heard prior to the filing of these charges, which do not affect our ability to conduct our current business globally.”

Those charged on Friday include Richard Gnodde, chief executive of Goldman Sachs International, Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and a former director at Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, and Michael Sherwood, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group.

An Alibaba spokeswoman said the company was aware of the charges against Evans and would continue to monitor the situation.

Each charge carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and a penalty of at least 1 million ringgit ($239,000).

The charges say the Goldman Sachs units omitted material facts in the bond offerings, among them that Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho was the operator and key intermediary for 1MDB.

Low has been described by Malaysian and U.S. authorities as the central player in the 1MDB scandal. He has denied wrongdoing and his whereabouts are unknown.

Goldman on Friday said 1MDB provided written assurances to the bank for each transaction that no intermediaries were involved.

Last year, Malaysia filed criminal charges against three Goldman Sachs subsidiaries and two of the U.S. bank’s former employees in connection with 1MDB.

Goldman Sachs has consistently denied wrongdoing and said certain members of the former Malaysian government and 1MDB lied to Goldman Sachs, outside counsel and others about the use of transaction proceeds.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the bank for its role as underwriter and arranger of the bond offer.

An estimated $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by fund officials and their associates between 2009 and 2014, according to the Justice Department.

Tim Leissner, a former partner of Goldman Sachs in Asia, pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to forfeit $43.7 million.

Malaysia has said it was seeking up to $7.5 billion in reparations from Goldman over its dealings with 1MDB, set up in 2009 by then prime minister Najib Razak.

Najib, ousted in an election last year, is facing dozens of criminal charges related to 1MDB. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
 
According to Zev Shalev (a Israeli journalist born in Tel Aviv and who worked for CBS News during his 30 years long career), Epstein was indeed a Mossad asset. However, in the commentary section of his article, Shalev refuses to reveal the identity of the informant thanks to whom he made his statement. Here is a link to Shalev's article.

I find it interesting how Shalev is trying to 'steer' the focus away from other non-convicted Epstein associates and possible mentors, Israel and the Mossad and directly towards the financial goings on of Epstein and, of course..... Trump. Huh.... How strange. Does anyone else think that is what occurred?
 
And now this, not a lot of details but it just popped on my newsfeed:


Jeffrey Epstein has committed suicide in his cell – reports

Millionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein has died in a Manhattan jail, with law enforcement sources saying he killed himself. Epstein was being pending trial for child sex trafficking and conspiracy.

 
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