Jeffrey Epstein‘s surveillance cameras were part of a ‘blackmail scheme’ meant to extort his powerful friends, a major new documentary about the pedophile claims.
Netflix‘s Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich makes the bombshell claim that will add to the intrigue surrounding his death last August while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
There has long been speculation that Epstein had all his properties under surveillance but Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre), one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, revealed in the four-part documentary it was used as an insurance policy.
She said ‘when Epstein told me “people owe me favors and I’ll never get caught and I can get away with it,” he meant it’.
Chauntae Davies, who was a flight attendant on Epstein’s jet and was abused by him too, said he had ‘a lot of information on people, a lot of blackmail videos’.
Sarah Ransome, another Epstein victim, said if the pedophile had lived, he would have taken ‘a lot of people down’.
The documentary also includes other revelations about Epstein, including making light of the allegations against him in 2009 in an interview by saying it was the same as ‘jaywalking’.
The financier claims he should have just been given a $100 fine and any underage girl who came to his house was there to ‘earn money’.
Davies reveals her sister was attacked by Harvey Weinstein at Epstein’s Paris apartment after apparently being introduced to the disgraced film producer by the pedophile.
Epstein’s victims have spoken in depth about his camera system and artist Maria Farmer has described how he had a room at the front of his $75 million Upper East Side mansion full of screens.
Court documents show that other victims told officials that Epstein had his private island in the Caribbean wired up too, as well as his mansion in Palm Beach.
Some have speculated that Epstein could have made his $650 million fortune by blackmailing his powerful friends, such as Prince Andrew and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Among the others who Epstein knew were former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, magicians David Blaine and David Copperfield, former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and Michael Jackson.
And in an interview with New York Times journalist James B. Stewart, Epstein claimed to know a ‘great deal’ about his powerful friends, some of his knowledge was ‘potentially damaging or embarrassing, including details about their supposed sexual proclivities and recreational drug use’.
In the documentary Filthy Rich, which is based off the James Patterson book of the same name, director Lisa Bryant describes how Epstein used a secret computer server and kept all footage under lock and key.
The film shows Farmer returning to Epstein’s New York mansion where she worked as a receptionist and an art consultant for a few months in the mid 1990s.
She said the camera room is just by the front door and is lined with lead, a precaution normally associated with nuclear fallout shelters.
Roberts, who now lives in Australia and goes by her martial name Virginia Giuffre, said she saw the room as well during the two years she was under Epstein’s power.
She said: ‘I’m looking at the monitors, I’m like that’s my room, that’s the massage room, that’s my shower, that’s my toilet. That’s everyone else’s toilet in the house, that’s everyone else’s shower in the house.
‘Every single corner of that house was monitored. He was watching everybody all the time. This was a blackmail scheme. All those powerful people abusing underage girls.
‘When he told me ”people owe me favors and I’ll never get caught and I can get away with it”, he meant it’.
Davies told the film: ‘I’m sure many people wanted him dead. He had a lot of information on a lot of people. A lot of black mail videos’.
In an interview Ransome said: ‘I think he would take a lot of people down. This wasn’t just a ring for Jeffrey….this reached all over the world. He’s a very small piece in a huge network.’
Epstein was aged 66 when he was found dead in his cell while facing 45 years behind bars if he was found guilty of the charges against him.
His death fueled conspiracy theories and Epstein didn’t kill himself became a meme because some believe the failings at the prison where he was being held didn’t add up.
At the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, the prison guards allegedly failed to check on him the night before they found him dead.
Instead they are said to have spent the night surfing the Internet and shopping for furniture.
In the Netflix film, Epstein’s former lawyer Alan Dershowitz said Epstein thought his controversial sweetheart plea deal in 2009 was not great.
Dershowitz said he was ‘pretty upset’ with his legal team and ‘thought we could have done better’.
Shortly after Epstein did an interview with former New York Daily News journalist George Rush who asked him to comment on reports of his ‘secret backroom deal’.
Epstein said it was ‘total bulls**t’ even though the FBI had identified dozens of underage victims who had been abused by him.
In an extraordinary outburst Epstein said: ‘You’ll find my penalty was harsher than anyone else who has been charged with solicitation of prostitution.
‘Any girl came to my house was coming to my house to get money, to earn money.
In New York, for the same charge it’s a $100 fine. That’s the charge in New York City for this behavior’.
Epstein admitted to soliciting a prostitute and solicitation of a minor for prostitution and was sentenced to 18 months, of which he served just 13 – most of which he was allowed to work from his office and regularly had visitors there.
It was an extraordinarily lenient deal, which a judge later ruled broke the law because the victims were not notified before it was finalized.
Epstein told Rush: ‘Neither of the charges nor allegations alleged sexual intercourse of any types. The state charge is simply a procurement charge, it has nothing to do with sex.
Up until six months ago soliciting a 16-year-old prostitution was a class D misdemeanor which was a $100 fine, which is similar to jaywalking’.
In another part of the film, Davies recounted the episode with Weinstein and her sister Teala, who she introduced to Epstein.
She said: ‘My sister thought Jeffrey was the most powerful man she’d ever meet and knew he was friends with celebrities.
‘There was an altercation which took place in Jeffrey’s Paris apartment with Harvey Weinstein.
‘My sister came running from the room freaked out at whatever he said and did in there and immediately Harvey Weinstein’s assistant got involved trying to remedy the situation by sending flowers and apology notes.’
Davies said Epstein and Weinstein were ‘both very disgusting people who used their power to manipulate and abuse’.
The two men were photographed at the 18th birthday party of Prince Andrew’s daughter Princess Beatrice in Windsor Castle, one of the British Royal family’s residences, in 2006.