Filthy Rich

Politicians, academicians, and businessmen make for strange bedfellows. But if one goes through the 150-odd names of rich and famous men that have cropped up in the newly released 19 documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex offences case, then it seems this clandestine arrangement worked seamlessly for years. Figures like Britain’s Prince Andrew, former US President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, billionaire Glenn Dubin, physicist Stephen Hawking, singer Michael Jackson, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, law professor Alan Dershowitz, and former US Senator George Mitchell to name a few appear in the documents.

The late Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly lured young women and forced them to offer massages and have sex with these wealthy and powerful men. Attorneys of most of the men have denied the allegations as “false” and “baseless.” However, the question in everyone’s mind is why some rich and powerful people stoop so low for sex, take undue advantage of underage girls and boys, have no fear of the law, and risk their lives and reputations forever.   

Expert Speak

Dr. Surabhi Mitra, a leading psychiatrist, equal human rights activist, writer, and public figure says that the psyche of these sexual offenders is perverted. Dr. Mitra explains, “They do not have the concept of ‘consent’. They rather take pleasure in sadistic activities and only being a sadist brings them sexual pleasure. Moreover, they do not have any sort of remorse or guilt related to what they have done. They do not think of it as a ‘crime’ or an ‘offence’. It’s the way of nature for them and they feel asserting their power is nothing immoral or unethical. Many of them also feel that if they are privileged, using such a privilege for such activities is what their higher power would have allowed and should not be deemed illegal.” Dr. Mitra further adds, “Many a time, they even cite examples of kings or ancient rulers, when questioned, that if all of that wasn’t considered unethical back then, why now?”

Sex, Lies and Parties

The declassified documents came into the public domain after a New York judge unsealed the identities of people associated with the Jeffrey Epstein case. In 2015, victim Virginia Giuffre filed a civil suit alleging she was one of the young girls trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell. Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019. The rags-to-riches, US financer, who rubbed shoulders with the world’s elite was known for his jet-setting lifestyle, topless adventures, private island parties in the Caribbean (now known as paedophile island), and powerful connections. He and a coterie of powerful men who doubled up as slimy sex offenders ran a ‘sex slave’ racket for decades. But an offence always has the habit of leaving a sticky trail.

Mumbai-Goa-based Indu Rao, a renowned Gallup-certified Strengths Coach and a Behavioural Science Practitioner and therapist, who has over 40 years of experience says, “Sometimes people think they are larger than life. They feel they can have sex with anybody. The more you do it, the bolder you get and think you can get away with any offence with your money and power.”  Rao adds that it is a (sic) high that people like Jeffery Epstein and others get by keeping young girls and boys as ‘sex slaves’. This time it got exposed because the main kingpin (Jeffrey Epstein) got caught. “In India, people shy away and don’t want to talk about sex and sexual offences. But you will be surprised by the number of couples who are into open marriages and open relationships in our cities today,” Rao reveals.

A Complex Issue

Many young victims are lured by the idea of earning good side money. They get carried away by the easy money, high-flying lifestyle, and the powerful people they meet. There have been numerous cases of men taking undue advantage of their power and position. However, Dr Mitra points out that it is not just the rich or men in power who are habitual sexual offenders.

"Nevertheless, what money and power can buy, they can buy better. So, they can afford to traffic children (both genders) or women with their resources, without being caught for a long time as they have the ‘say’. But that doesn’t mean that people from the lower class do not have the predatorial mentality. They are also involved in incest, paedophilia, serial raping, molestation, exhibitionism, voyeurism, etc,” Dr. Mitra explains.

Impact on Victims

In the next few days, more documents from the Epstein case files will be unsealed in the court. Millions of people across the world will eagerly read the details of sex crimes, but one also needs to pause and think of the long-term trauma the victims go through. According to Dr Mitra, the victims undergo a lifetime of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) -- flashbacks, nightmares, hyper-vigilance, depressive symptoms, etc. Dr. Mitra explains, “Some of them become so habituated to this that they start normalising abuse and think that’s how their life was supposed to be. So even when they are released or rescued from the shackles of such abuse, they keep repeating the cycle of finding abusive or traumatising partners/people in life.”

She further elucidates that some victims become addicted to drugs so they stop feeling any emotions. Dr Mitra says, “Some, who feel their morality was infringed upon, have self-harming behaviour or they end up committing suicide. Some also start questioning their sexuality and gender identity after such experiences, if early in childhood. Unfortunately for the LGBTQ people so-called ‘curative’ or ‘corrective’ rapes have been normalised and that’s another major problem.”

The Epstein Files

Names of many rich and powerful people – billionaire Glenn Dubin, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Stephen Hawking, Leslie Wexner, Jean-Luc Brunel, Michael Jackson, Bill Richardson, Alan Dershowitz, and George Mitchell appear in the new unsealed Jeffrey Epstein sex crime case documents

“The psyche of sexual offenders is perverted. They do not have the concept of ‘consent’. They rather take pleasure in sadistic activities.” — Dr Surabhi Mitra, Consultant Psychiatrist, Equal Human Rights Activist

“Some people think they are larger than life. They feel they can have sex with anybody and get away with it.”   — Indu Rao, Therapy and Personal Growth Coach, Mumbai.