Would Epstein's files, and the "client list", will ever be made public in-full?
I
can put a wager: No. And it has nothing to do with President
Donald J. Trump.
Epstein's "crime enterprise" was international multi-agency blackmailing operation ran by, at least, three "friendly" services: CIA (USA), MI6 (Great Britain), Mossad/IMI (Israel)... And it was so visible that other "friendly", and not so friendly, services may had hand in it. Who am I to know this? Nobody... who just occasionally read public news pages...
Jeffrey Epstein life story on the outset is a fabulous rag-to-riches fairy-tale: a son of a New York City Park Service groundskeeper father and a homemaker mother rise to brushing shoulders and associating with Who-Is-Who of the world in business and politics; owning a private island in Caribbean and listing net worth of over $500M. I don't know where the "seed money" came from. And this is not critical, even still legitimate, question. The critical is the few already publicly known Epstein associates:
Bill Clinton - former, 42nd, President of The United States of America
Prince Andrew - (at the time, active) member of the British Royal family.
Ehud Barak - at different times commander of Israeli General Staff special operations unit, Israeli Chief of General Staff, Israel Defense Minister, and Israel Prime Minister.
Prince Andrew, as the active royal at the time, had publicly funded police protection. He visited Epstein and flew on his plane to stay on his private island a few times at least. The same questions apply to Prince Andrew police security details as to Bill Clinton Secret Service details. This makes involvement of MI6 anything, but unlikely... Especially when Ghislaine Maxwell, who is the British subject and a daughter of Sir Robert Maxwell, who worked for British intelligence from WWII and later became member of parliament, became Epstein close associate, girlfriend, and — according to case against her and conviction — the co-conspirator and the main recruiting agent and groomer of underage girls... But about Ghislaine Maxwell is a bit later.
According to Jeffrey Epstein Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein) in 2015 Epstein invested in Israeli startup company Reporty Homeland Security that was headed by Ehud Barak. It was after the first set of financial crimes and sex crimes criminal cases already been added to Epstein’s Curriculum Vitae. It is a bit strange choice for the former Prime Minister who is still active in political opposition with future political aspirations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak). It is also strange that Epstein (the American civilian) visited Israeli military bases back in 2008 (yes, young American Jews can serve in IDF, but to show military bases to 56 year old civilian with a fresh criminal record looks a bit odd; especially taking into account the story of Meir Lansky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_Lansky ). When, by number of personal accounts and close analyses of his public interviews, Ehud Barak is not the smartest man in the room (which takes nothing away from his illustrious military career) he has smart people advising him... And he has his security details… Just like Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. If anyone would ask me, it looks like he "handled" and "cultivated" Jeffrey Epstein.
Now lets step back to Ghislaine Maxwell who is currently (July 2025) serving her 20 year service in the low security federal prison in the Sunny State of Florida... When her father’s naked body was found drown in the Atlantic after he failed overboard out of his own luxury yacht “Lady Ghislaine” (yes, named after her) in 1991, she was less than two months shy of her 30 birthday. Did Sir Robert Maxwell failed overboard on his own volition (suicide), negligence (things happen), or did he had “help”? Ari Ben-Menashe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Ben-Menashe ) saying that it was helped one way or another (https://www.amazon.com/Profits-War-Inside-U-S-Israeli-Network/dp/1634240499/; I do not have affiliate program and I do not care how you will buy it, if at all) and that Maxwell’s fault was that he renegaded on some of his obligations in the shadow world of international espionage. Regardless of what “help” it was... was it physical “assistance” or just “moral encouragement”… it sure was devastating to Ghislaine Maxwell who apparently had closer relations with her father than with her mother: Robert Maxwell named his superyacht after his daughter, Ghislaine, and not his wife Elisabeth, and after his death on 5 November, 1991, Ghislaine didn’t stay with her mom to console her, but ran to America before year end.
Robert Maxwell never had any formal allegiance Israeli armed or security forces, but his body was requested by the State of Israel and he was interned with highest honors on the Mount of Olives with seating Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir giving eulogy and Israeli President Chaim Herzog reciting kaddish (both spend time in the world of espionage). Ghislaine Maxwell was know to be go-between for her father and his contacts, but, apparently, not chin-deep in the business dealing details (unlike her brothers, she was not indited on financial misdeeds of her father’s dealings; she appear to be “innocent” messenger carefully kept by her father out of the harms way, but in protective social celebrity spotlight). But world of espionage is ruthless and she already was part of it, even she may not understood it. I’m sure it was no pure chance that she met Jeffrey Epstein. And it was no accident that she was smitten by his charm (look at their pictures together; by all that is known, Jeffrey Epstein was master manipulator). She became a part of Epstein ran “honey trap” blackmailing operation. Why underage girls? Because it is a crime in the United States of America for a grownup man (or woman; but global business and politics still dominated by man) to engage in sexual activities with person under 18 years old regardless of consent. For a target catched in a honey trap with consenting adult, it could be survivable embarrassment. For target cached with minor under-18: It is possible financial ruins and imprisonment. When majority of people that pass through Epstein’s enterprise been just background (his lawyers, general financial and business contacts the true "client" list should be explosive.
How Jeffrey Epstein succeeded to hang himself in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in NYC; the feat that no one was able to achieve in its over 40 years before 2019? He made the similar mistake as Robert Maxwell did back in 1991: He overplayed his hand. The most likely is that he threatened to “tell-all” on his court trial. His handlers, most likely at CIA as it is on American soil, calculated that dealing with his “suicide” when in federal custody will be “cheaper” than any other available option.
As for Ghislaine Maxwell… She knows little and, I would guess, understands even less. She can give some names to scalp-hunters of the Department of Justice. It can give some embarrassment to some passers-by (such operation will just collect product to be used as needed for future contact cultivation or to “influence” decision-making) and, possibly (at prosecutorial discretion) even some criminal referrals. Ghislaine Maxwell committed crime by participating in the scheme, no question there, but she herself also is a victim of this criminal enterprise as well. By cooperating with DOJ under the limited immunity she may gather some good will toward commutation of her sentence, or by reverting DOJ stance and honoring co-conspirator clause in old Jeffrey Epstein agreement, or just by conditional supervised release that will allow here to spend her older years outside of the prison compound.
As for CIA, MI6, Mossad… The “product” is collected and can be used as needed for some years to come... as long as it stays secret. This is why the full “Epstein files” will not be released in our lifetime. And for our kids and our grand-kids… It will be like Kennedy assassination files, but this is completely different story…
OK now… Would you call all this “conspiracy theory”? You could. Nothing wrong with it. But in the world of scientific research (it is where I started my working life) it commonly calls “working theory” and used to explain things until it’s proven wrong (by not matching facts) or a better explanation of the base facts became available.
And on keeping Epstein files secret… If the choice there between satisfying public curiosity and jeopardizing some other country stability and putting in question trade and military agreements that can benefit ours, United States of America, I’m all for prioritizing United States of America national security interests. Crime perpetrators who are Americans, need to face justice (there is no national security ground excuses), but without the full release we’ll never know what is left hidden. And we’ll need to live with it.
Would keeping Epstein's files secret will erode public trust in our judicatory, law enforcement institutions, and in our intelligence community? Yes. This minefield needs to be navigated very carefully. But also need to remember that this damage already done: Even if absolutely everything will be released, it is impossible to confirm that nothing was hold back. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” On the other hand, if the completely full release could jeopardize our national security… When President Jimmy Carter prohibited CIA from use of “humint” (human intelligence – recruiting and running agents) on the moral ground (“lying is bad”) it resulted in major humiliation to the United States and took years to recover. We, like it or not, should allow our national security community to keep its secrets. Our supervision should go over its goals much more than over its “methods and sources”… Yes, it could be slippery-slop, “Russia-gate” could be the latest reminder, but I see no way out of giving it some trust.
And, at the end, a little bit more about Ghislaine Maxwell… For the first 30 years of her life she was in the protective bobble created for her by her father, all powerful Robert Maxwell… On 5 November, 1991, she found herself alone against the World. But her father’s power lived a bit longer than his mortal body did, and his friends arranged for Ghislaine a new protector. Unluckily to Ghislaine him became Jeffrey Epstein. A charming and manipulative man created to Ghislaine plush leaving environment, but with some new obligations. And she became good at those. She was “good girl” and had to to keep her “protector” happy. Did people that make this arrangement happen wanted Ghislaine to become a part of Epstein's criminal enterprise? This I don’t know. But Ghislaine couldn’t leave, even if she understood the wrong – and I don’t know if she did, as she already was nose deep in it, and because she didn’t know how to live on her own. And when this bobble burst, Ghislaine found herself serving 20 year sentence in the low security female Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida. And – according to media reports – she is the model inmate doing all the right things and cooperating with the Department of Justice continues investigation into Epstein's files. She again found protector – this time it is administration and staff of the correctional facility. She again, as before, just “good girl” that doing “right things”. She always been the “good girl” doing “right things”. Just requirement on what it takes to be a “good girl” and definition of the “right things” have changed...
As Ghislaine Maxwell, according to the news (as of 31 July, 2025), will be issued Congressional subpoena to testify, would President Clinton’s Secret Service protection details agents, from the time when Bill Clinton fly to Epstein's privet island on Epstein's privet plane, would be called to testify as well?
Update:
As of 1st of August, 2025, Ghislaine Maxwell was moved by Federal Bureau of Prison from low security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Tallahassee, Florida, to the minimum security Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan, Texas. On surface it looks like improvement of her conditions. It may be OK by the rules as with credit for good behavior Ghislaine Maxwell may have left less than 10 years to serve out of her 20 years sentence. But with notoriety of of Epstein's case and his death when in federal custody... FPC Bryan, Texas, reportedly has no secure external perimeter fencing, easy outside access, and low prison security staffing. Ghislaine Maxwell knows little, but what she knows may have explosive bits in it. She has no insensitives to "dissappear" and it is now widely expected that she will testify before Congress (after she already been interviewed by DOJ; and it is, apparently, after she was throughoutly interrogated during her trial). Would we see if her testimony to Congress will tell us what we not yet know?
We will live to see. Would she will?
