[ithinkinstereo]

The details around his relationship with Les Wexner (billionaire owner of L Brands; Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, etc.) are especially bizarre. Wexner gave Epstein power of attorney; basically granting control of all of his financial assets!

[rowrowrow]

Epstein was good at what he did plus he had lots of money from the ponzi scheme he was involved with.

Wexner is also widely believed to be gay. In his case, I don’t think blackmail is probable considering the power of a smart, rich, confidence artist.

I’m sure there’s no doubt that a variety of intelligence agencies and private groups targeted Epstein for information. But I’m skeptical that this all originated as anything more than ego and confidence skills.

[BubRoss]

You think someone who built multiple retail empires would give someone power of attorney because they seemed skilled? Power of attorney transfer is for people who are dying or mentally disabled.

[londons_explore]

Power of attorney can be used for some international tax dodging schemes - laws are inconsistent on which of the two people must pay/report the tax, and by doing that across a country border, you can avoid the tax without anyone breaking the law.

[jjeaff]

There are also lots of levels of power of attorney. It can be as limited in scope as to a single bank account with limitations. So I question whether this was full on power of attorney or some limited scope that we are lacking details of.

[AndrewBissell]

There's been some recent reporting by ABC News that Wexner also handed Epstein billions of dollars in stock in L Brands with essentially no strings attached. It is crazy that Wexner is not being investigated. There should have been a no-knock raid on his Albany mansion months ago.

[claudeganon]

Wexner is a long time, major financier of Republicans at the state and national level. He’ll never see any investigation, outside maybe some investor suits because L Brands stock is tanking.

[solarhoma]

This is not a partisan issue. This goes well beyond those lines.

[claudeganon]

Of course it does, but those are still the interests that protect Wexner and I don’t think it’s controversial to say as much. I’m sure no shortage of Democrats would rush to protect Bill Gates if his ties to Epstein were more fully exposed.

[ars]

So what you are saying is that the party is irrelevant, because both would do the same thing?

Which means that calling out one party is making something into a partisan issue when it isn't.

The only purpose in calling out a party is to imply something different about that party.

[tsimionescu]

The relevant but of of information was that Wexner is in close ties with a major political party, in this case, the Republicans, and that major political parties are known to protect their wealthiest friends.

You got stuck on the mention of the Republicans, but GP was trying to say something about Wexner, not singling them out. If GP had said 'a political party' instead of 'the Republicans', it would have sounded more hand-wavy.

[claudeganon]

Describing reality is not a partisan issue and I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican.

[taneq]

What about Epstein's black book? Does that go beyond party lines?

[AndrewBissell]

Actually yeah it does, tons of people tied to both major parties along with big name CEOs and famous celebrites and media figures are in it.

[peteretep]

Don’t Democrats control Albany?

[claudeganon]

Wexner lives in New Albany, Ohio, Ohio’s 12th congressional district, which, barring voting for Obama in 2008, has been solidly Republican for a long time:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio's_12th_congressional_di...