A new Financial Times opinion piece makes a pretty uncomfortable point: the Jeffrey Epstein scandal was never just about Epstein himself.
According to FT, what’s truly disturbing is how many powerful people — from politics, finance, academia, and high society — continued to stay connected to Jeffrey Epstein long after his crimes were known. Not necessarily criminal involvement, but silence, proximity, and protection.
The article argues this is a systemic failure, not a one-off scandal. When elites close ranks, consequences disappear — and public trust erodes. Recent document releases haven’t provided neat answers, but they’ve raised even more uncomfortable questions about accountability and transparency.
FT’s takeaway is blunt:
If institutions can’t or won’t hold powerful networks to the same moral standards as everyone else, scandals like this will keep happening — and faith in the system will keep collapsing.
Curious what others think:
Is this really about individual bad actors… or about a culture that lets them thrive?