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“People who are involved in the case have called it similar to a pyramid scheme. Several of the victims that are public even now, they have admitted that they also recruited and brought in other girls, you know, into his scheme.”
— Khadeeja Safdar

#2

APR 3, 2026The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

The Adult Women Caught in Epstein’s Web of Abuse

EXPOSE TRAFFICKINGPROTECT VICTIMSREFORM IMMIGRATIONSTRENGTHEN ACCOUNTABILITY

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Epstein pivoted to trafficking adult women to evade law enforcement - After his 2008 conviction, Epstein deliberately targeted legal-age women to avoid the same level of scrutiny he received for crimes against minors.
“As long as they're of legal age, he felt that that would mean that the authorities wouldn't come after him. And unfortunately, he was right that he didn't get as much scrutiny because he was sex trafficking adults.”
— Khadeeja Safdar
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Victims were trapped through institutional and personal leverage - Epstein maintained control by funding modeling agencies to manage women's work visas while simultaneously using compromising photos and financial dependency as 'kompromat.'
“Svetlana was trapped, not just because she worked for Epstein or because he had these compromising images of her, but also because he controlled her visa and immigration status through the modeling agency that he funded.”
— Jessica Mendoza
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The operation functioned like a psychological pyramid scheme - Epstein coerced his victims into recruiting other women, using the resulting feelings of complicity and shame to ensure the original victims wouldn't go to the authorities.
“People who are involved in the case have called it similar to a pyramid scheme. Several of the victims that are public even now, they have admitted that they also recruited and brought in other girls, you know, into his scheme.”
— Khadeeja Safdar

#1

APR 2, 2026The Wall Street Journal & Spotify Studios

How Do You Refund $166 Billion?

CLAIM REFUNDSUPGRADE SYSTEMSWATCH COURTSFIGHT TARIFFS

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The U.S. government faces an unprecedented $166 billion refund bill - following a Supreme Court ruling that declared Trump-era tariffs illegal, the administration now faces the largest collective reimbursement in federal history.
“It is $166 billion. So you know, the federal government has never been told that it has to give back that much money before.”
— Lydia Wheeler
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A semi-retired judge in an obscure trade court is now the gatekeeper for billions - 77-year-old Judge Richard Eaton of the Court of International Trade is single-handedly managing over 3,000 lawsuits from companies seeking their money back.
“The chief judge has indicated to me that he's going to assign all 2,000 cases to me.”
— Judge Richard K. Eaton
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Bureaucratic inefficiency is the primary bottleneck for corporate payouts - the government claims its systems are incapable of mass automation, while the court insists that manual review of millions of entries is unacceptable in the computer age.
“We live in the age of computers. It must be possible for the custom service to program its computer, so it doesn't need a manual review.”
— Judge Richard K. Eaton

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