Remember, the island (probably his other properties as well) had lots of hidden cameras. I don't know if he was actively black mailing people to get them to invest in his financial services company but, at the very least, he viewed those videos as insurance to push wealthy/powerful people to protect his interests.
The island was being run as a networking/recruiting tool for his financial services. Behind the scenes that business was the cover for him running the under age sex ring. As I see it, there were 4 categories of visitor there.
1. The legit finance customer who was looking into his financial services and enjoying a free junket to a tropical island resort in the process. Nothing illegal here.
2. Legit finance customer who gets caught doing something he doesn't want to be public. Think some high net worth guy like Bezos caught in a hot tub with someone other than his wife. She is of legal age and everything on the video is between consenting adults. Nothing illegal here either, just something Bezos wouldn't want to be public. He already went through one expensive divorce. Epstein has leverage here if he wants to use it.
3. This is where things take a dark turn. These people are using the financial services as cover too. They are there to prey on children. This is where the rumors swirling around Prince Andrew would place him. Epstein has a motive to protect them and they have a motive to protect him. Those tapes are Mutually Assured Destruction. Trump was likely in this group at the least. If Maxwell has video proving this, she has immense leverage over him
4. This is the worst of the lot. These people are recruiting/scouting new victims. Remember pedophiles have a victim profile. Once that minor is too old for them, they lose interest. Epstein needed a stream of new victims to replace the ones who outgrew his operation. Maxwell was certainly doing this for him, she probably wasn't the only one. Trump may have been as well. His association with beauty pageants, some of them for under 18s, would make him an ideal connection for Epstein.
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