12 years ago, billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, long accused of molesting dozens of underage girls, was arrested for soliciting sex from an underage girl for money. It was a small charge compared to what he was being accused of — actually trafficking the girls themselves, according to the testimonies of several girls and their mothers — but thanks to some rather shady proceedings, he only got 13 months in prison on a work release program.

Last night, as first reported by The Daily Beast, Epstein was arrested and indicted on the far more serious (and accurate!) charge of sex trafficking:

The new indictment—which, according to two sources, will be unsealed Monday in Manhattan federal court—will reportedly allege that Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage girls in a now-familiar scheme: paying them cash for "massages" and then molesting or sexually abusing them in his Upper East Side mansion or his palatial residence in Palm Beach. Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors—which could put him away for a maximum of 45 years. The case is being handled by the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York, with assistance from the district's human-trafficking officials and the FBI.

It sure would be nice if he actually did go to jail for all of the horrific crimes he committed against young girls, but frankly I'm gonna hold my "at last!" until he actually gets convicted. Our justice system does tend to be pretty lenient on rich white dudes.

Epstein, quite famously, was good pals with both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, the latter of whom once gushed:

"I've known Jeff for fifteen years," Trump admitted. "Terrific guy."

"He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,"

On the younger side, indeed.

This has naturally led to a lot of speculation on both sides of the aisle about how the other side will react if either of them, or some other partisan figures, are implicated in Epstein's grossness. Of course, we all already know exactly how this would play out, either way. We'd decide they were dead to us forever, as we are wont to do (because seriously, fuck anyone involved with something like that), and they will figure out a way to defend it or attack the victims. Just like they do literally every other time a Republican is accused of sexual assault of some kind. There will be no surprises here.

[The Daily Beast]

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