Epstein Arrest Leaves Top Technology Figures Racing to Distance Themselves

Question to ask is why they're only distancing themselves now?

Probably because Epstein thought he was in the clear after his sweetheart non-prosecution agreement.

Let's be very clear here: anyone trying to distance themselves from him now isn't doing it out of principle, as numerous allegations against him have been rumored for many years. They're doing it for self-preservation.

There weren't rumors, there were convictions, a jail sentence, and numerous known victims.

Honestly, while I feel there's probably a lot of foul play there's probably a lot of non-foul-play going on, too.

I'm sure the billionaire's club is small. I mean, I imagine if someone in my local improv community (which I used to participate in) came out as a sex offender I could probably say, "Yeah, I met the guy, went to a few parties at his house. There were some rumors about him but I didn't pay much attention at the time."

Not saying everything is squeakly clean, but many of these stories are at least plausible.

It’s sounding and looking like the plot from “The Firm”, but here to compromise and blackmail some wealthy of powerful figures...

To give the most sympathetic explanation, Epstein's clearly shows sociopathic tendencies, or at least extreme talent as a conman, and probably lulled his billionaire buddies into a misguided sense of trust. it's very hard to justify remaining close to him after his first conviction, but there are plenty of examples of people remaining connected after other celebrities committed similarly heinous crimes, R Kelly for example.

It may very well be that some people were complicit with Epstein, but none of us are in any way qualified to speculate on that end

What are you talking about? Is there some registry out there whereby you announce at some point that you have had interactions with someone but renounce what they have done (or might have been convicted of?)?

Or did you expect these people upon reading the recent story to issue some kind of statement saying that they had interactions with someone (I might add accused at this point) and therefore wanted to get out front with the disclosure of association?

> but there are plenty of examples of people remaining connected after other celebrities committed similarly heinous crimes, R Kelly for example

Which is exactly the problem. This entire culture of "well if you're rich and powerful enough you get to play by a different set of rules, whatreyougonnado" needs to be torn out by its roots. If they associated with Epstein with knowledge of his prior convictions then none of these people is entitled to any sympathy or benefit of the doubt whatsoever -- rather, they should be expected to explain themselves and drummed out of polite society if their answers are found lacking.