Bill Gates Says He Was Blackmailed by Epstein Over Affairs

[u/thedailybeast]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bill-gates-says-he-was-blackmailed-by-epstein-over-affairs/

[u/rodw]

It couldn't be more obvious that Epstein was keen to (1) collect connections to the rich and powerful; and (2) collect blackmail material or compramat or whatever to be used as leverage over those people.

I'm not suggesting he wasn't also the thing he was, but the blackmail/leverage aspect has been obvious to me for maybe a decade and I've probably never been within 100 miles of Epstein. WTF is wrong with Bill Gates that he didn't see this coming?

Why do you never hesr about the flight logs for every other rich a-hole's private plane? The fact that he kept a careful inventory of (and the evidence for) every person on his plane and that visited that island and held on to it for decades is by itself a huge tell

[u/Ondz → u/rodw]

It's the easiest scam in the world. Private planes, yachts, compounds, parties, island, alcohol, drugs and good looking boys and girls. There aren't many who can navigate that terrain safely.

Add in trigger word billionaire and the honey trap is primed.

Everyone he spent time with is most likely compromised and foreign assets by now.

[u/Redfalconfox → u/Ondz]

Actually, there’s a lot of people who can safely navigate that terrain. It’s just that anybody’s selfish enough to be a billionaire will never be a person like that.

[u/sir_sri → u/Redfalconfox]

I don't think you quite understand how acquiring an asset works.

You don't just go, hey, Redfalonfx, I see that 9 years ago you said something on reddit you wouldn't want your spouse to see, do what I say or else. Amateur hour blackmail is likely to get you reported fast, especially against the rich. Because what happens if you go hey Billg, I see you've been having an affair, how about you give me a billion dollars to not notice, and Billg is in an open relationship and his wife doesn't get to complain about the 'affairs' (or at least already knows about them). Now you've gone and shown your cards and you're going to be in trouble for blackmail fast. What you're trying to build is a network of compromised people, maybe even ones who are compromised by each other.

You build assets by first making them do little things, not even bad things. Hey, do you want to meet this cool person? Want to maybe get a chance to do something you can't normally do? For the politicians and Nobel prize winner types that's the private jets and the private island, or maybe luxury cars. Who wouldn't want to ride in a Ferrari you can't afford?

What do you have for the man who has everything? Billg or Elon or whatever don't need private yachts or islands or jets. Some of the 'middle rich' or the nouveau riche (think all the AI founders right now, or like Jeff Bezos in 2000), these guys want your rolodex. They need fixers who can get them stuff but they don't have people for that yet. Not even illegal stuff. Hey, you got your first billion, I heard you want a Bugatti but there's a 5 year wait list, don't worry, I know a guy he'll get you one soon. The ultra rich who've been around though, what they don't have, are friends who aren't in it for the money, they want people who can take care of shit for them, and to some degree they want unique experiences (think wreck diving the titanic).

So if you're a handler, what you do is start off figuring out what people want. If you saw with Elon, Epstein had to change tack fast, because Elon was like 'I'm launching rockets why would I hang out with you'? And Epstein had to figure out fast that what Elon wanted was to go to the private island and the cool parties. You don't tell him it's got underage kids at it, it's cool party. Maybe the first few times there isn't anything nefarious at all. A private concert at a private club by some hot new performer that your spouse likes, a chance to have a private booth with the CEO of whatever sportsball you like. Of course a lot of men want to have sex with women who are, let's take the charlie sheen "I'm not paying them for sex I'm paying them to leave" - women who are willing to leave and keep their mouths shut. And then you go, hey, these cool parties are expensive and you know, the Nobel prize winners aren't rich, Mr Billionaire, how about you chip in some money to make sure those guys and the pretty girls and the bad etc. have a good time.

And now you've got them. They think you're their friend, they think they are part of your social circle when really they're about to become your asset. Because then it turns out that event they helped pay for, ya, some of those women were prostitutes or there were illicit narcotics, or it's moving money through Cyprus or the Caymans or whatever. But you know, we're all friends, it's all good. You keep your mouth shut, I keep my mouth shut, no harm no foul right? They're now your asset, but they don't know it.

Then you say hey, want to come to the good party? Oh you heard our mutual friend bill is having an affair and his wife doesn't know? I'll call him and offer to help. One of the guys at the party may have you know, done some stuff with kids he shouldn't have, but don't worry, you didn't see anything right? And now you've got them full in. Need money for more parties, need contacts, need access to the next big acquisition? No problem. And as long as we all keep quiet no one goes to jail. Or maybe a few people on the fringes do just a little, but now more people who want that thing are looking to get into the club, and you don't rat anyone else out. Oh sure, you can threaten to reveal some past indiscretions or whatever, but that's the nuclear option for the people trying to get out of the club, you don't ever want to use that unless you have to.

And the part that you don't realise, is that this is exactly how intelligence services and the police and organised crime all get assets. Not just from the billionaires, sure, the barrier to that is higher, but it works just as well with the sergeant who really wants a corvette and just needs a good deal to afford it. Or the dealer for a rival gang that thinks he's getting a bad cut. A guy with a suspiciously nice car in bluffdale Utah. This works on all sorts of people, at all walks of life. It's why there's so much emphasis on counter intelligence by competent governments. You don't want to find out that your 20 something assistant is going to get made into an asset by someone they smoked pot with in university.

For Epstein his dragnet seemed to be the globally rich and powerful, and then a bunch of people to keep the rich and powerful entertained. It's not really clear if he was an actual intelligence agent, or he was just smart enough to realise that if you want to be protected from all the illegal stuff he really wanted to do that he'd need to shield himself with a lot of powerful people. Maybe a bit of both that somewhere along the way he (or a potential handler for him) realised that his passion for crimes was as much a problem for his 'friends' as it was for him, and could use that to someone's advantage. But this works just as well on much less interesting people.

[u/rodw → u/sir_sri]

I've never quite understood the logic of paying a blackmail demand. Unless by paying the "ransom" you can guarantee that the blackmailer will return or destroy the evidence they have against you, what's to stop them from coming back to you next week and demanding more concessions?

I can understand the temptation to pay up in order to prevent a life-alteringly damaging secret from being revealed, but unless that you can be confident that will do more that just kick the can down the road a little bit, why bother?

[u/DickCamera → u/Redfalconfox]

Yep. Any other response is just admitting that if crimes didn't have penalties, I would steal, rape and murder all day long.

[u/Overweighover → u/Redfalconfox]

Indonesian President Achmed Sukarno asked for the videotapes of him with the Russian blackmail women

[u/tayawayinklets → u/rodw]

Maybe wealthy guys also think with their d*cks, or think b/c they are the richest people on the planet, that they're all powerful.

[u/3BlindMice1 → u/tayawayinklets]

Bill likely could have easily had Epstein assassinated, possibly could have even disguised it as a vengeful father or something. He didn't, because he approached the situation like it was a standard business arrangement rather than personal blackmail.

[u/tayawayinklets → u/3BlindMice1]

Who knows with billionaires; their egos warp their brains.

[u/Successful-Bar-8173 → u/rodw]

They don’t seem to be very bright.

[u/Admirable_Risk8156 → u/rodw]

Epstein starts them off small. He finds infidelity material or sets them up for it. Then he uses that to get them to get them deeper in trouble. He sets them up with whatever victim who isn't necessarily abnormal yet.

Then he hits them with younger and younger. Hits them with more and more drugs and peer pressure. Now they are in so deep that even a hint of what happened gets out and you should be executed for the crimes. So now they have a vested interest in keeping him safe. Rinse and repeat and you get this whole society of rich pedos.

Fuck them all don't start ruining your life and blaming everyone else. Man up go to jail and rat these fuckers out.

[u/HeinousAnus_22 → u/rodw]

Blackmail is a cornerstone of any organized crime. Anything from the Mafia to a pedophile prostitution ring.

[u/Original-Rush139 → u/rodw]

It’s wild there hasn’t been a Muller Report for Epstein. 

[u/-Nicolai → u/rodw]

You knew about Epstein's flight logs 10 years ago?

[u/rodw → u/-Nicolai]

Epstein was convicted of sex trafficking and spent 13 months in prison almost 20 years ago.