Documentary Jeffrey Epstein is now online: what you need to know

I called it a must-see about two weeks ago and I stand by that. Maybe not the first thing you think of when you turn on Netflix on this sunny Wednesday, but believe me: you want to see this. The docu about Jeffrey Epstein, Filthy Rich, has been online since this morning. If you’re thinking ‘preferably not, I really hate that Epstein’? Great. So do I. The creators do too. Everyone with more than one brain cell does as well. The docu provides a detailed picture of how Epstein operated, how bizarrely he recruited his victims, and how that went on for years. But the most important thing: the victims themselves have the leading role in this four-part docuseries. They finally get a face and a platform to truly tell their story. So watch it.

Of course, some things were already known: Jeffrey Epstein recruited underage girls. He mainly used BFF Ghislaine Maxwell for that. But how cunning and dirty he really approached all of this was not yet known. Netflix dives fully into that: Epstein lived in Florida at the time where he had underage girls give him massages and many of them he abused. They were then pressured to recruit new girls for him and they received two hundred euros for that.

That can’t be right, can it? Definitely not. The police thought so too, who gathered enough evidence to convict him. Life sentence? No way, in 2008 he only had to serve 18 months and was then a free bird who continued with the same practices. A telling detail: he made a deal with the prosecutor (Alex Acosta) which allowed him to get off easy. That same prosecutor later became a minister under the current POTUS Trump. Birds of a feather?

The docuseries also clearly shows how much you can get away with in America (though this likely applies worldwide) as long as you have money. And Epstein certainly had that. But having the right connections will get you far: you might already know that Trump was one of his buddies. But did you also know that Bill Clinton was among his intimates? Both men were quick to say they knew nothing of his practices. No, of course… Clinton knew him well enough that they took trips together to Epstein's private island, but he knew nothing about that. This docuseries has made my trust in famous America drop below zero.

And well, I’m really a sucker for conspiracy theories, and the big question around Epstein also belongs here: was it suicide or not? Call me airy-fairy and dumb, but I really believe there’s much more behind this. His victims see his suicide as the last middle finger he can give them. Escaping his punishment, never taking responsibility for his actions, and taking a cowardly way out. Whether it was suicide or perhaps there was some help involved or not, this man deserved to rot behind bars for a very long time.

Sorry, not the most uplifting tip today, but definitely the tip that I can really get worked up about and one that will definitely stick in your head. With a lot of frustration and anger, I can already tell you. Long story short: watch it.