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The Justice Department’s newly released Epstein files have named two more elite figures as clients: real estate tycoon Mortimer Zuckerman and Ariane de Rothschild, who by marriage is tied to the Rothschild banking dynasty. These revelations land like a hammer on the narrative that Epstein’s fortune was a mystery; the documents show contracts and payment records that place these billionaires squarely in his financial orbit. Ordinary Americans should be alarmed that men and women with such power could be paying grotesquely outsized sums to a convicted sex offender.
Forbes’ reporting shows that the Rothschild side wired what appears to be $25 million to Epstein’s Southern Trust in late 2015, with one contract listing $10 million and another $15 million for vaguely described “strategic business matters” and estate planning. The timeline is especially damning: those payments coincided with a DOJ settlement involving Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse), and earlier drafts even tied Epstein’s pay to the outcome of that government deal. When huge, opaque sums move between private banks and shadowy intermediaries, Americans have every right to demand to know what services were actually rendered.
The files also include drafts of a 2013 estate-planning contract for Mortimer Zuckerman that show Epstein initially asking for $30 million and ultimately listing $20 million plus $1 million to a third party. Whether Zuckerman actually paid that full fee remains unclear from the records, but the presence of the contract itself undercuts any suggestion that Epstein’s business was merely a modest boutique. This isn’t just a story about one corrupt man; it’s a portrait of how a network of wealth can insulate itself with legalese and secrecy.
Remember that Epstein was neither a lawyer nor an accountant and had a 2008 felony prostitution conviction on his record, yet these documents show him acting as an architect of multimillion-dollar estate and “strategic” arrangements. Experts Forbes spoke to call the fees “insane” and note that licensed professionals would never bill at such levels for the services described. Conservatives who value the rule of law should be furious that credentialed windows into wealth and power can be bypassed for the benefit of predatory actors.
This latest trove came amid a broader and messy DOJ disclosure process that critics say remains heavily redacted and incomplete, prompting watchdog complaints and calls for further oversight. Multiple outlets have reported that more than three million pages were released, but victims’ advocates and lawmakers argue that crucial communications and evidence remain withheld. If the Justice Department thinks a half-measure release satisfies public demand for accountability, it should be prepared for a political backlash across the aisle.
Americans accustomed to elites protecting one another should see in these documents a familiar pattern: extraordinary privilege, extraordinary secrecy, and extraordinary costs passed off as legitimate fees. The conservative response is clear — demand full transparency, ensure victims are protected, and pursue any illegality without fear or favor. If institutions like banks, law firms, and government offices enabled this system, they must answer to the people they were meant to serve.
Lawmakers must stop treating these revelations as mere headlines and start treating them as grounds for subpoenas, oversight, and reform of the cozy arrangements that let the powerful dodge scrutiny. Justice for victims and accountability for enablers aren’t partisan wishes — they’re the bedrock of a society that rewards hard work, not hidden influence. The American people deserve nothing less than a full airing of the facts and the kind of consequences that restore faith in our institutions.
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