One Grass Root

[pat_k]

35. The various ties are mind-boggling to me.

The mix of machination and serendipity. Like the role of Melanie S. Walker. I don't know what to make of her, but she seems to be one of those who were touched by the magic wand that elevated unlikely people to rarefied heights in the waters Epstein swam in.

According to a 2021 Rolling Stone piece
https://web.archive.org/web/20210804042059/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates-connection-1206453/

Having finished her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas, she was on a sightseeing trip to New York in 1992. She was having tea in the main dining room of the Plaza Hotel when Jeffrey Epstein approached, because, says a source with knowledge, he thought she was attractive. With him was Donald Trump, who was busy shaking hands with people in the room. (Trump was then the Plaza’s owner.) Trump also introduced himself to Walker.

Epstein then became a mentor to Walker. Walker told the Times that Epstein offered her a modeling opportunity — but the person familiar says Epstein told her not to go into modeling, and he encouraged her to finish medical school, which she did. 

From 1992 to 2000, the time period when she went to medical school in Texas, records show that she listed an address in a New York apartment building that Epstein owned. This was a place she could use for occasional meetings in New York, according to the person familiar with her. But, this person says, she didn’t live there.

And on she goes. Ties to Prince Andrew. Top advisor at the Gates Foundation. Secondment at the World Bank. Heady stuff. A pawn? A player? Where will she turn up next?