Lack of Accountability with the Powerful

Jeffery Epstein, a convicted sex offender and a wealthy financier with powerful connections in the political and economic world including former President, Bill Clinton, President Trump and Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, was found dead in his cell.

It was ruled as suicide but there is a sense foul play.

Ironically, he was convicted for soliciting underage prostitutes in 2005 but accepted a plea deal of 18 months which is seen as too lenient.

Consequently, he continued with his demeaning actions which led to dozens of more victims but was arrested again in 2019 for sex trafficking underage girls. He was on suicide watch after attempting to take his own life yet he was taken off the list which led to him dead. As a result, this sprouted conspiracy theories across all political factions.

Epstein had the knowledge to implicate many powerful people which proved to be favourable to them if he died but this is just a theory without evidence.

Yet, how was it possible for a sex offender to continue doing criminal activities without any consequences for many years?

This has been the case in democratic liberal nations with powerful people or entities avoiding any repercussions after knowing what they are doing is either illegal or unethical.

Another case is the 2007/08 global financial crisis where the blame was shifted away from Wall Street’s CEOs and none of them faced any legal repercussions. Additionally, the Panama Papers exposed many powerful people and companies using offshore accounts to dodge taxes.

The problem is they use their power and influence to convince the public the problem resides somewhere else, for example, the mass shootings in the United States was not due to President Trump’s consequential comments on the Hispanic community and dangerous rhetoric, but it was due to violent video games, social media and mental health.

Unfortunately, nothing much will change as long as they have the power to influence politicians and media. With the death of Epstein, it will be interesting to see if any powerful person will be implicated but there is already a long list of alleged people.

Photo by Matthew Ansley on Unsplash