Memory Hole Blog Report
Congress and major media rally around “whistleblowers” with certain political import. Yet real whistleblowers receive certain wrath for speaking out. Former Florida cop Mark Dougan, now exiled in Russia, claims to have explosive files linking pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to Prince Andrew. Fearing for his life, he claims to have these attached to a “dead man’s switch.”
Editor’s Note: In 2018 MHB addressed the unusual story of Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy and emigre-to-Russia Mark Dougan. Mr. Dougan now reveals via his blog that during his tenure in South Florida law enforcement he came in to the possession of files he claims document the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew. As a result of having such information he has been routinely harassed by the FBI, which despite his move to Russia “has tried to arrest me twice since I’ve been in Moscow by pushing Interpol via a sealed indictment,” Dougan asserts.
“Both times they failed. Last year, the FBI sent 10 agents and Federal Marshals to a U.S. company that I do contract work for, unsuccessfully trying to intimidate them. I will not be divulging any of the information I may know of or possess, because the secrecy of the data I have access ensures the safety of me and my loved ones. “
If Dougan’s experiences and testimony are true, what is especially noteworthy about the overall story is the extent to which law enforcement and intelligence agencies will go to protect elite figures implicated in deep criminal networks and behavior, including protecting known .
John Mark Dougan backgrounder from 2018
The Daily Mail reports:
The former cop who MI6 fears has leaked damning secrets about Prince Andrew’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein to the Russians has broken his silence to say he has hours of footage taken from the billionaire paedophile’s Florida mansion.
John Mark Dougan, a former US deputy police chief, had access to the investigation into the billionaire paedophile before he fled the FBI and is now living in Moscow.
And asked by MailOnline about what information he has, Dougan said: ‘Do I have dirt on Prince Andrew? I have lots of things.
‘But I’m not a Kremlin agent and I did not share any materials with the Russian Government. I don’t intend to blackmail anyone with my information. It’s against my principles.’
In a statement, Dougan said the Epstein files are encrypted. The codes to open them are held by friends all over the world ‘as an insurance policy’.
A system has been put in place to open the files only if he dies or goes missing for a significant period.
‘The Epstein files will stay secure and unreadable to everyone, he said. ‘I do not have a physical copy in my immediate possession, because of security reasons.
Via John Mark Dougan:
September 21, 2019 London Times story under the headline, “MI6 fears Russia can link Prince Andrew to Jeffrey Epstein abuse,” carries this statement:
MI6 is understood to be concerned about the activities of a former Florida police officer who had access to the investigation into the billionaire pedophile and then moved to Russia.
My name is John Dougan, and I am a former U.S. Marine and Palm Beach County Florida Deputy Sheriff, now living in Moscow. I was granted political asylum here in 2016. I fled to Russia after American intelligence agencies raided my home because I had exposed the rampant corruption and racism within the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Part of my story was broadcast in a 2018 special Russian TV documentary, “Breaking Bad Wolf: One Crazy Journey from Palm Beach Cop to Russian Exile,” broadcast worldwide in several languages.
Because of the intense media interest and oftentimes inaccurate Internet speculation, I am giving further information to help put some of what I know in perspective.
Although we worked in different law enforcement agencies, former Town of Palm Beach Police Department Detective Joe Recarey, who was the lead detective on the solicitation-of-minors case against billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, was a friend. I was shocked, as were family and friends, to learn of his unexpected death at age 50 just over a year ago.
Joe Recarey was very aware of my efforts to uncover the breaches of public trust by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office via my award-winning investigative website. In late 2009 or early 2010, Joe asked me to scan all the documents as well as copy hundreds of DVD disks he had on the Jeffrey Epstein case to keep them safe. He had lost faith in Barry Krischer, the Palm Beach County state’s attorney at the time of the investigation. I would meet with him occasionally to get more documents to store, the last time being in 2015.
I have never looked at what was given to me by Joe Recarey, other than the file names, types, and sizes. The FBI seized my computers in 2016 which had everything Recarey gave me. The FBI and other intelligence agencies may be surprised to have discovered that I kept an off-site backup that was sent to me in 2017, after I was safely established in Russia.
According to news reports, U.S. intelligence agencies apparently analyzed the files and communicated with British authorities. If Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, has concerns about any ties between Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, they got it from their Washington counterparts, not me.
H/t Cryptogon.com
Charles Hughes Smith
OfTwoMinds
(September 8, 2019)
Either we root out every last source of rot by investigating, indicting and jailing every wrong-doer and everyone who conspired to protect the guilty in the Epstein case, or America will have sealed its final fall.
When you discover rot in an apparently sound structure, the first question is: how far has the rot penetrated? If the rot has reached the foundation and turned it to mush, the structure is one wind-storm from collapse.
How deep has the rot of corruption, fraud, abuse of power, betrayal of the public trust, blatant criminality and insiders protecting the guilty penetrated America’s key public and private institutions? It’s difficult to tell, as the law-enforcement and security agencies are themselves hopelessly compromised.
If you doubt this, then please explain how 1) the NSA, CIA and FBI didn’t know what Jeffrey Epstein was up to, and with whom; 2) Epstein was free to pursue his sexual exploitation of minors for years prior to his wrist-slap conviction and for years afterward; 3) Epstein, the highest profile and most at-risk prisoner in the nation, was left alone and the security cameras recording his cell and surroundings were “broken.
“If this all strikes you as evidence that America’s security and law-enforcement institutions are functioning at a level that’s above reproach, then 1) you’re a well-paid shill who’s protecting the guilty lest your own misdeeds come to light or 2) your consumption of mind-bending meds is off the charts.
How deep has the rot gone in America’s ruling elite? One way to measure the depth of the rot is to ask how whistleblowers who’ve exposed the ugly realities of insider dealing, malfeasance, tax evasion, cover-ups, etc. have fared.
America’s ruling class has crucified whistleblowers, especially those uncovering fraud in the defense (military-industrial-security) and financial (tax evasion) sectors and blatant violations of public trust, civil liberties and privacy.
MintPress has published an excellent three-part series by journalist Whitney Webb on the history of Jeffrey Epstein that seeks to document his ties to organized crime and intelligence networks . This brief interview provides an overview of Webb’s findings.
Associated Press
NEW YORK — He testified for O.J. Simpson’s defense, helped investigate the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., hosted an HBO show and brought his pathology expertise to bear on celebrity deaths and police killings.
Now Dr. Michael Baden is enmeshed in another high-stakes case, as the private pathologist who observed Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy on his lawyers’ behalf.
The death of the well-connected financier in a jail cell muddied a closely watched sex-trafficking conspiracy case and trained scrutiny on the federal prison system. Epstein’s accusers, the attorney general, politicians and others are demanding answers. But if Baden is stepping into a maelstrom, it’s a familiar spot for a scientist accustomed to the spotlight.
“Even when an autopsy is done, the speculation doesn’t stop” when the well-known die, Baden wrote in his 1990 book “Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner.” But an autopsy, he wrote, is “part of the process of finding the truth.”
Neither Baden nor the New York City medical examiner’s office has released any findings from Epstein’s autopsy, conducted Sunday. Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson, whose office Baden led decades ago, called it “routine practice” for private pathologists to be allowed to observe, if requested.
By Vivian Lee
The new political thriller, The President Is Missing, co-written by James Patterson and former President Bill Clinton, has debuted at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list for fiction in both the print/hardcover and e-book categories. Reviewed in the New York Times Book Review section for June 24, 2018, the novel is touted as “ambitious and wildly readable,” a story of “a president who ditches his handlers and goes rogue from the White House, convinced he is the only one who can foil a huge cyberterror plot.”
While the book “unspools smoothly,” it reportedly gets a bit bogged down at the end, with “a few too many unsubtle messages about the current state of our politics.” Nonetheless, the reviewer admires the novel, in its realistic depiction of “the selfless and often nameless people who work in government” who are willing even to lose their lives “because they are compelled to serve their nation,” in its exploration of the thin line between loyalty/duty and resentment/temptation, and in its shining of “a spotlight on the deep commitment of America’s adversaries to tear us apart and weaken our standing in the world.”
Touted as an “Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller,” the book already has nearly 700 amazon reviews, although its official release date was June 4. According to amazon, James Patterson “holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers, and his books have sold more than 375 million copies worldwide.” He has written 202 books to date and contributed to many philanthropic causes, receiving the National Book Foundation’s 2015 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.
Were you wondering about this instant bestseller that seemingly appeared out of nowhere to take the reading world by storm? Not mere happenstance, the book resulted from a political deal between pseudo-author James Patterson (who writes 202 books?) and ageing lothario Bill Clinton, in the service of big bucks and Hillary’s 2016 bid for the presidency. The President Is Missing is tribute to the selfless and often nameless people who work in the publishing industry, compelled to serve the interests of the media stars who bring in the profits. [1]
Patterson not only writes novels, but also non-fiction, such as his 2016 book, Filthy Rich, another New York Times bestseller – “the shocking true story of Jeffrey Epstein,” the billionaire socialite, sometime scientist, and registered sex offender. Although Patterson gets author’s credit, he collaborated with investigative reporters John Connolly and Tim Malloy, who were responsible for much of the research and writing.
Until recently, Epstein has flown mostly below the radar (and I do mean flown), coming into view from time to time and recently exposed, partly, by Patterson’s semi-pornographic bio. Filthy Rich details the downfall of Epstein, relatively speaking, who was arrested after a complaint in 2005 and incarcerated in 2008, serving 13 months of an 18-month sentence.
Jeffrey Epstein – Filthy Rich
Born in Brooklyn, Epstein is now a billionaire and major donor to the Democratic Party, with residences in Palm Beach, New York City (“reputedly the largest private residence in Manhattan”), New Mexico, Paris, and the island of Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands, which he owns. Although Epstein worked on Wall Street, eventually founding his own financial management firm, no one has quite been able to explain the source of his purported vast wealth. [2] This funded a lavish lifestyle and allowed him to dole out piles of C-notes to underage girls solicited to give him erotic “massages,” as detailed in graphic fashion by Patterson in Filthy Rich.
Sexual encounters occurred at Epstein’s residences and on his Boeing 727, dubbed the “Lolita Express,” which was outfitted with a bed for “orgies” with his guests and groups of young girls. Flight logs released in 2015-2016 list such luminaries as Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Naomi Campbell, Woody Allen, Alan Dershowitz, and Bill Clinton. The ex-president took 26 trips on the Lolita Express, notably an excursion to Africa in 2002 to tour AIDS projects, and Epstein credits himself as “part of the original group that conceived the Clinton Global Initiative.” Yet Patterson’s Filthy Rich has little to say about Clinton, summing up the relationship as follows:
“Bill Clinton got the use of a jet out of Epstein – a trip to Africa. But he and Epstein weren’t bosom buddies.” [3]
Although Clinton was an obvious star of the show, and his role should have been investigated, The President Is Missing from Patterson’s 2016 book about Epstein.
Epstein’s pals include heads of state, entrepreneurs, academics and research scientists, celebrities, and numerous beautiful women, notably Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of media mogul Robert Maxwell (né Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch). Robert Maxwell, head of the Mirror Group Newspapers, was alleged to be a Mossad agent by Seymour Hersh in his 1991 book on Israel’s nuclear program, The Samson Option. Maxwell denied the charge and sued Hersh for libel, but he died in November 1991, and the suit died with him. Hersh countersued and eventually received an apology and a settlement.[4]
This has led to the speculation that Ghislaine Maxwell has Mossad connections as well. She was instrumental in procuring young girls for Epstein, in a constant supply for his use, her own use, and for loans to others. According to the testimony of several of the girls involved, they not only serviced Epstein and Maxwell but also their associates, including Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, and other powerful players. The girls were asked to bring back reports on their liaisons, which were sometimes filmed with hidden cameras. [5] These look like high-end blackmail operations, with Epstein and Maxwell skimming sex off the top for their own sick pleasure. [6]
Virginia Roberts, now married and using the name Virginia Giuffre, filed an affidavit in 2015 claiming that Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her in 1999 at age 15 while she had a summer job at Mar-a-Lago. Giuffre spent four years as Epstein’s “sex slave” and was also pimped out to Prince Andrew and Dershowitz (although both have strenuously denied the charges). Giuffre claims that she never slept with Bill Clinton but met him twice at Little Saint James, and was sure “Bill must have known about Jeffrey’s girls.” At the very least, Clinton knew what Epstein was up to. [7]
Justice Not Served
Things started to slide in 2005, when the parent of a 14-year-old contacted the Palm Beach Police, saying she believed her stepdaughter had been molested by a wealthy man. The girl had shown up at school with $300 in her purse, and soon she was describing Epstein’s mansion at 358 El Brillo Way and the “massage” she had given him. Palm Beach detectives began to investigate and turned up more girls involved both as participants and solicitors. The girls were interviewed, and a search of the premises netted ”sex toys,” erotic art, and nude photos of underage victims, as well as secret cameras.
Police Chief Michael Reiter and Detectives Joseph Recarey and Michael Dawson began to build a case, culminating in Recarey’s probable-cause affidavit in 2006. This found sufficient cause to charge Epstein with four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor as well as lewd and lascivious molestation, both second degree felonies. These would have put him behind bars for years if convicted. However, things went south when the case was handed off to Palm Beach state attorney Barry Krischer, who had a different plan for Epstein. Instead of having him arrested, he convened a grand jury.
The fix was clearly in, as the Palm Beach Police were not informed of the time and date of the grand jury meeting, and witnesses including the victims were not notified regarding their testimony. Recarey eventually learned that Krischer’s office had made an offer to Epstein and his attorneys, Guy Fronstin and Alan Dershowitz. Despite all the evidence amassed, the offer was for one count of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, regarding only a single victim (although 47 were eventually identified), and a sentence of five years probation. This was due to the efforts of Dershowitz, who had proceeded to attack and smear the victims.
The many interesting details that followed cannot be recounted here (you can read Filthy Rich), but the outcome was a plea deal in 2007, an NPA (“non-prosecution agreement”). By this time, Epstein’s legal team also included Ken Starr, Roy Black, and Jay Lefkowitz. The NPA allowed Epstein to plead guilty to two state felony charges, for solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution. He would register as a level 3 sex offender but not be prosecuted for felony offenses involving the sexual abuse of underage girls. The victims were allowed to sue him in civil court, but any potential co-conspirators were immune from prosecution.
In 2008, Epstein pled guilty to the charges proposed. He received a 30-month sentence, including 18 months of jail time (of which he served 13 months), with six days off per week for “work release” (requiring him only to spend his nights in jail), and 12 months of house arrest (but allowing him to fly to his various residences). In what has been termed “a slap on the wrist,” he did his stint in the Palm Beach County Central Detention Center, not far from his home on El Brillo. Epstein enjoyed a single cell, in his own wing, with his own security guard, and unlimited visitors. According to the sheriff, “He was astonished that he had to go to prison at all.” [8]
The Art of the Book Deal
None of Epstein’s victims was consulted before the NPA was drafted, and this gave rise to a complex series of lawsuits, followed by numbers of settlements. In 2008, victims’ rights attorney Bradley Edwards filed a suit citing the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, stipulating that victims of federal crimes have the right to be heard in court and not to be precluded from court proceedings. This is winding through the courts, and new allegations have appeared, keeping the case in view, at least intermittently. This caused a problem for some of Epstein’s associates, including Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
By early 2015, Roger Stone, Ken Silverstein, and others began to ask whether the Epstein affair might drag in Bill Clinton, creating a liability for Hillary in her bid for the presidency. Enter James Patterson, who was working on Filthy Rich with his investigative reporters. By the end of 2015, detective John Connolly announced that he was ready to turn over his manuscript to Patterson, so that the book could appear before the 2016 election. Why the rush, unless Patterson was working with the Clintons to establish a narrative – a narrative in which The President Is Missing from the Epstein saga? In return, Patterson got a lucrative book deal with co-author Bill Clinton, elevating his literary status considerably (his 202 books notwithstanding). However, this move did not help Hillary achieve her objective.
News of Bill’s 26 trips on the Lolita Express came out in May 2016, and in early November, just days before the election, highly-placed sources within the NYPD reported that both Bill and Hillary had frequented Little Saint James (“Orgy Island”), citing the contents of Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Forget James Comey and Hillary’s email server… The evidence from Weiner’s laptop, “enough evidence to put Hillary and her crew away for life,” was likely responsible for Donald Trump’s victory. [9] The details have not been released, although rumors abound on the internet, and photos have appeared allegedly showing tunnels and underground rooms on Little Saint James with disturbing images of children.
Not that Trump gets a pass. Although he is said to have barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago over Ghislaine Maxwell’s solicitation of young girls at his club, he was formerly an associate of the two and even an admirer of Epstein:
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. 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. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” [10]
A woman using the pseudonym Katie Johnson has accused Trump and Epstein of raping her in 1994 when she was 13 years old, saying she realized only years later that one of her attackers was Donald Trump, after seeing him on “The Apprentice.” She filed suit in April 2016, but the suit was dismissed due to filing errors (the address given was a foreclosed home that had been vacant since the death of the owner). The suit was filed a second time but dropped on November 4 just before the election; no supporting evidence has appeared. The claims of Ms. Johnson have been deemed not credible by the Daily Mail, that most trustworthy of sources.
Meanwhile, Epstein is again in the news. In April, a fire allegedly broke out on Little Saint James. The lawsuit filed by Bradley Edwards against Epstein was scheduled to go to trial in March in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, but it has been further delayed by an appeal from Epstein’s attorneys. In May, the FBI released nine groups of files on Epstein, many of which are heavily redacted. One of the memos includes the sentence, “Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon.” Some are speculating that the information he provided may explain the extreme leniency of his sentence. Former Palm Beach detective Joseph Recarey died in May, “after a brief illness,” at age 50. Recarey, mentioned above, was one of the lead investigators in the case against Epstein. “No other information about the cause of death was released.”
The case has been summarized in a recent Daily Beast article, and protesters have disrupted a Patterson-Clinton book tour event and a Trump rally voicing concerns over the Epstein connection. The story continues to unfold, with no end yet in sight, while Epstein presumably pursues his sybaritic lifestyle – and enjoys his freedom.
Vivian Lee is the nom de plume of a tenured professor at an east coast university.
Notes:
[1] According to a 2016 piece on Patterson in The New Yorker, “most often he farms out the word processing to co-authors, who receive detailed outlines and send back work that ranges in quality from vibrant schlock to hectic dreck.”
[2] Vicky Ward, “The Talented Mr. Epstein,” Vanity Fair, March 2003. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303. Landon Thomas Jr., “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery,” New York Magazine, October 28, 2002. http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/
[3] James Patterson, et al., Filthy Rich, 270.
[4] Seymour Hersh, The Samson Option (New York: Random House, 1991), 312 ff. Hersh also asserted the charge at a news conference in London in October 1991 following the book’s publication.
[5] Adam Withnall, “FBI Has Videos of Underage Sex with Epstein and ‘Powerful friends’ – Virginia Roberts Claims,” Independent, February 9, 2015. https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/fbi-has-videos-of-underage-sex-with-epstein-and-powerful-friends-virginia-roberts-claims-30976109.html
[6] According to her 2015 affidavit, “Epstein required me to describe the sexual events that I had with these men presumably so that he could potentially blackmail them,” Giuffre said, adding, “I am still very fearful of these men today.” Virginia Roberts Affidavit, section 58, p. 13. https://www.scribd.com/doc/267173868/Virginia-Roberts-Affidavit
[7] “When I was with him, Epstein had sex with underage girls on a daily basis. His interest in this kind of sex was obvious to the people around him. The activities were so obvious and bold that anyone spending any significant time at one of Epstein’s residences would have clearly been aware of what was going on.” Virginia Roberts Affidavit, section 17, pp. 5-6. https://www.scribd.com/doc/267173868/Virginia-Roberts-Affidavit
[8] Patterson, et al., Filthy Rich, 82-85, 161-189, 199-200.
[9] Vivian Lee, “President Donald Trump: The Art of the Deal.” Memory Hole Blog, November 10, 2016. http://memoryholeblog.org/2016/11/10/president-donald-trump-the-art-of-the-deal/
[10] Landon Thomas Jr., “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery,” New York Magazine, October 28, 2002. http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/n_7912/
