In my book, Epstein's #1 crime was that he was a spy for CIA, Mossad, and many uber Zionists. He ran a honeypot, as well as a friendly concierge service (always willing to help out friends as only a billionaire could do) to help friends of Israel and keep them in the fold. He was originally set up by an uber Zionist billionaire, Les Wexner, precisely for this purpose. There was nobody better better than Epstein at being the favorite dial of everyone important. He'd get you one way or another, and with the photos to prove he did. This was most criminal because Israel is a state of genocide, endless war, and endless global manipulation. It doesn't get worse than that. Of course Epstein could never be charged with such a crime in the West which is firmly in the grasp of Zionism. It would never be a media sensation here. Well, it got some notice, except they claim he was a Russian Spy. Anything but CIA and Mossad. Law Enforcement doesn't step on CIA and Mossad.
But when I suggest such things, some people rise up and shout, "But what about the sex crimes!"
I think exaggeration of the sex crimes is key to obscuring Epstein's true role.
Consistently calling him a pedophile*, which has a very well defined meaning which does not apply to Epstein, makes him sound like a out-of-control pervert. In reality, he was a very much in-control pimp of teenage minor girls for "massages", as he would have to be to run a honeypot entrapping powerful men over the longest possible period of time. It is quite possible over time it evolved, and NYTimes describes it, into a concierge service. one way or another, he was a high powered fixer for the friends of Israel.
In 2008, Epstein accepted a plea bargain in which he confessed to having sex with a 17 year old girl on the eve of her 18th birthday. She had been giving him $200 massages while he masturbated himself for almost a year. His conviction was for Soliciting an Underage Prostitute. In the light of that one particular crime (many others had been alleged but the government chose not to prosecute) his light sentencing doesn't seem that out of line. This is the only sex crime Epstein has ever been convicted of. It's an offensive offense, but it's not incredibly deviant or destructive. As Noam Chomsky observed, he served time for his offense and has been returned to society a free man.
(Epstein's widely documented as claimed preference was for 14-18 year olds. Pedophilia is technically attraction to the pre-pubescent. This is the kind of crime that priests are often accused of. Epstein's attraction is better described as Ephibophilia. Attraction to post-pubescent minors 14-19 is called ephibophila, and 13-14 is called Hebephilia, though the latter term is most rarely used. These could be considered less "deviant," even "normal," in fact there is no mental disorder classification for them. Meanwhile the Age of Consent is socially defined, and it determines legality of sex with minors. US States range from 14-18. In the world at large, 14-16 is the most common range. In China, it's 14. In Cuba, it's 12. This is not to say that what works in Cuba would necessarily work in Florida, where the Age of Consent is 18. It both is and should be socially defined. French Existentialists including one Feminist signed a petition to eliminate the Age of Consent entirely in the 1970's. In principle, for the greatest personal freedom, the age of consent should be as low as possible. That isn't the only consideration however. Epstein personally argued it should be 14, which he felt had a historical basis, as it actually does.)
However, unlike Tracy, I have absolutely no problem at all with the final charge that the US Attorney had given Epstein in 2019 and for which he was awaiting prosecution in federal jail. It fits my model of him (above) completely.* And it fits completely all the Epstein files we've been allowed to see. And what was that charge? Minor Sex Trafficking.
(*Of course the FBI also "found" that no other men were involved. In effect, denying it was a honeypot, or could even be. Well, since the honeypot involved CIA and Mossad, of course they would do that. I take the FBI denial, amidst all the circumstantial evidence to believe he was doing just that, as proof. This is how I differ from Michael Tracy above, he lacks imagination to see how CIA and Mossad would operate, and the FBI will steer clear of anything involving them, and the mainstream media would forward the FBI denials unquestioned. We can see in the Epstein Files at least one Confidential Human Source who concluded precisely that Epstein was operating an intelligence honeypot. Tracy also denies hidden cameras, and virtually everything Virginia Giuffre said--indeed FBI concluded she was unreliable and never relied on her and she has herself had even officially retracted some stories. But there is much more evidence of hidden cameras than just the words of at least occasionally perjurious Giuffre. And the fact that there is no evidence of the Kompromat...of course, that would always be whisked away immediately to its sponsors, and even if some did fall into FBI hands they could be demanded to disavow it by CIA. Tracy just doesn't seem to get how it works.)
There is no evidence that Epstein used physical force. His primary tool was offers of money and modeling jobs. There is perhaps only one claim, never heard in court, that Epstein made a threat (Jane Doe # 2). But since minors are involved, any transportation with the intent of doing prostitution automatically becomes Trafficking even without physical force or threats.
Now, this is not to say at all what it was like with other men Epstein and Maxwell provided to other mean for "massages." This whole enterprise wasn't merely to gratify Epstein, he was generally masturbating himself anyway, but to entrap other rich and powerful men, and it was exactly at the right level of criminality to be extremely embarrassing, but beyond the pale (admittedly large) of the people on top.
Most sources say he and his assistants (mostly Ghislaine Maxwell) recruited girls as young as 14, which is consistent with Epstein's stated beliefs that sex with teenage girls 14 and up was not immoral.