The ongoing fall-out around the late U.S. financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invokes serious questions about institutional credibility and elite accountability as investigators probe what could prove to be one of the most historic criminal conspiracies ever uncovered, according to a criminal attorney and legal consultant.
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released the remaining batch of the so-called Epstein files, totaling some three million pages, sparking serious scrutiny across the Atlantic and in several other countries, prompting the resignation of several political figures over their ties to Epstein, who died under mysterious circumstances in a maximum-security facility in 2019.
Mindy Gulati, a criminal defense attorney and founder and CEO of Fundamental Advisory, a legal consultancy firm, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that the case is now reaching boiling point as public anger mounts amid accusations of cover-ups and extreme criminal activity.
"I think we're meeting an inflection point where people want answers and they know that they have not been given a transparent story. They know that key figures are being hidden. And the international impact isn't about suddenly discovering that these folks are involved or discovering criminal cases. It's about institutional credibility and elite accountability, and whether it's in the United States, the UK, India, what we're seeing is the public wants answers and they want to know who is really running our institutions. And it seems a lot more complex than any of us have been allowed to know about," she said.
"As more and more information comes around and we're globally connected and we're able to get perspectives from around the world, I do think people are coming together to demand that we get the real answers as to what has been going on, the cover-ups, the schemes, lying to the public, and also really the horrific actions of these men toward children, little girls and little boys, not only in the United States but across the globe," Gulati added.
The sheer scale of the case and the profiles of the people allegedly involved has shocked the world. The handling of the files themselves has been another source of outrage, with numerous redactions raising further questions about who is being protected, while errors by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) exposed a significant amount of victim information, including the names and personal details of nearly 100 victims, causing further fury.
"I think what this is showing is that leaders in the world, they have a high ethical obligation to all of us. And a lot of them use that standing and use their influence to really create a lot of harm in their communities. And I think it's just so shocking how vast this is. It's touching almost every end of the Earth. But what we're seeing is some of the most powerful men in the world have been at least mentioned in the files, if not directly implicated in what was going on with Jeffrey Epstein," said Gulati.
"I think as more and more information gets released, we're going to be able to start to put these pieces of the puzzle together. And I would say in the United States, there's definitely a different tone, I would say, in the last 48 hours as Republicans and Democrats have been allowed to see more of the unredacted files. I would say the feeling in the air is palpable that we are really uncovering probably one of the most historic criminal conspiracies and just incredibly horrific acts done to children and humans, and we should all really be standing up against that," she continued.
Amid a mountain of legal complexities and a growing demand for justice, Gulati stressed the importance of keeping up the public pressure on all those accused to ensure that a true sense of accountability is being upheld, even if the courts cannot intervene for now.
"I think this is a moment in time and in history where we have to figure out as a collective group of people whether we're going to hold people accountable. And we may not be able to hold them accountable through laws, but we may need to hold them accountable through voting, public sentiment. I think lawyers', prosecutors' heads are spinning in terms of how they're going to weave their way through this mess. But what I would say is asking leaders to step down is going to increase both in the United States and abroad, as it should, because not all consequences and accountability can be in the criminal justice system. A lot of it is going to be outside of that in terms of how are these people viewed, and are we going to keep viewing elite folks who use their money, their wealth, power and influence for really truly evil, when so many people could use their wealth, power and resources for good. And I think this is the moment for us to choose what we all believe in and, where we're going to take this as we go forward," she said.
Epstein case raises question of institutional credibility, elite accountability: criminal attorney
