Jeffrey Epstein, the Russian Mob, & the Hidden Assets of the Maxwells (w/ Moe Tkacik) | The Chris Hedges Report
6/4/20261 hr 2 min
The release of the Epstein Files has shocked the public with unimaginable stories of the pedophilia, exploitation of women and brash depravity of the ruling class. While these stories have been the major source of public outrage, a deeper dive into the Epstein Files reveals the inside world of how the billionaire class operates to control information and collude with each other - hide their crimes and gain massive wealth at the expense of the working class.
In this episode, Chris Hedges speaks with Maureen Tkacik, an investigative journalist who has studied and written about the Epstein Files for The American Prospect and The Nation. Tkacik exposes the players behind the looting of the Soviet Union after its collapse, the truth about Larry Summers’ abrupt resignation from Harvard, the controversy around the death of the media magnate Robert Maxwell and more.
In addition to providing women for wealthy men, Epstein became their trusted finance manager, funneling money to Israel and other members of the elite class. Epstein was also talented at building friendships with their wives, such as Noam Chomsky’s wife Valeria Wasserman and Woody Allen’s wife Soon-Yi Previn, for example. Tkacik describes Epstein as “a magnet for these sort of ‘much older man with money and younger wife’ combinations,” exploiting these connections to divert the finances of these aging men to his, and the class he represents, preferred causes.
Tkacik concludes the interview with a discussion of the liberal media’s complicity in hiding the crimes of the ruling class and federal law enforcement’s disinterest in holding the powerful to account. “Ponzi schemes, money laundering, intelligence, you see that triumvirate over and over again,” Tkacik explains. Tkacik refers to the current times as “bleak” but also “very illuminating.” In summary, Hedges states, “It’s the depravity, the greed, the hedonism, the lack of empathy, the callousness, the cruelty that has defined all oligarchic classes throughout history.”
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First 90 secondsChris Hedges· Host0:00
[gentle music] Jeffrey Epstein's financial network is often overlooked in the released Epstein files. He was not only a trafficker and abuser of girls and women, but at the epicenter of the ruling billionaire class, which is global. A class that controls not only our economies and politics, but also our systems of information and education. The investigative journalist, Maureen Tausig, has examined the files to knit together the intimate connections between Epstein and our global financial elite. Joining me to discuss this Epstein class is Maureen Tausig, the investigative editor at The American Prospect. So Maureen, there's two articles I want to discuss with you, uh, which focus on how Epstein got his money. Uh, the first was in The Nation, it's called Larry, We Knew You Too Well. The second is in The Prospect, Newspapers Did Not Kill Themselves. But let's start with your article in The Nation, because it goes back to the breakup of the Soviet Union, the seizure of state assets that created the Russian oligarchic, uh, you know, cabal that, uh, Putin comes out of. Uh, and, and Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard,