Congress Uses Unanimous Consent to Hold Leon Black in Contempt (9/17/26)

Two women identified in court papers as Jane Doe and Amy filed a proposed federal class-action lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, alleging that their photographs were among a large collection of child sexual abuse material found in Epstein’s possession. The lawsuit claims Epstein and unnamed co-conspirators maintained a “modeling book” containing nude or partially nude sexualized images of children and that the collection formed part of a broader, decades-long pattern of possessing, transporting, producing and distributing illegal material. Jane Doe alleged that Epstein obtained partially nude photographs of her when she was about 12 years old, while Amy alleged that pornographic images of her, known as the “Misty” series, were also found among materials seized from Epstein’s properties. No CSAM charges were ever brought against Epstein, and the estate’s co-executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, were named as defendants in their roles administering the estate.The lawsuit also accused authorities and the estate of failing to identify and notify many of the women and girls whose images were found in Epstein’s files. The plaintiffs said “few if any” of the people depicted were told that federal investigators possessed their photographs and asked the court to establish a coordinated, supervised process to identify and notify other potential victims. Their attorneys argued that the issue represented a largely unresolved part of the Epstein scandal, separate from the trafficking charges that received most of the public attention. The suit sought class-action status, unspecified damages and a formal accounting and preservation of the materials, with lawyers saying survivors deserved to know whether their images were in Epstein’s collection and to have an opportunity to seek legal redress.to contact me:[email protected]:Women sue Epstein’s estate, saying their photos were found in his vast child porn collectionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Congress escalated its confrontation with Leon Black on September 16, 2026, when the House voted by unanimous consent to hold the billionaire former Apollo CEO in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The House Oversight Committee had demanded that Black produce nondisclosure agreements in his possession, including any that referenced Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, and sit for a sworn deposition. Black had earlier walked out of a voluntary interview after refusing to answer questions about NDAs, then sued the committee rather than comply with the subpoenas. Black has said he knew nothing about Epstein’s sexual abuse and has argued that Congress is overreaching and lacks a valid legislative purpose for seeking such sweeping private records. His attorneys also contend the committee is demanding information that does not exist and is trying to pry into NDAs unrelated to Epstein.At the same time, Oversight Chairman James Comer introduced the Survivor’s Voice Protection Act, legislation aimed directly at the use of NDAs in sexual-abuse cases. The bill would void confidentiality provisions that prevent survivors from speaking about abuse and would also allow other people with relevant information to disclose facts about that abuse. The move came after reporting that some Epstein accusers had signed confidential settlements with associates of Epstein whom they had also accused of misconduct. Comer said the investigation had shown how powerful men could use NDAs to silence survivors, making Black’s refusal to produce his agreements part of a larger congressional fight over secrecy in the Epstein network. The contempt vote now allows House Speaker Mike Johnson to send a criminal referral to the Justice Department, while Black’s lawsuit against the committee continues separately in federal court.to contact me:[email protected]:Congress Battles Jeffrey Epstein Patron Leon Black Over NDAs - Business InsiderBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

British investigators were continuing to expand their examination of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein by reaching out to current and former royal protection officers who may have witnessed relevant conduct while assigned to him. The Metropolitan Police said officers were being asked to consider whether anything they “saw or heard” during their service could assist ongoing reviews, while Thames Valley Police said it was working through a “significant amount of information” connected to its separate investigation. The renewed focus followed claims from former protection officer Paul Page, who alleged that Andrew repeatedly bypassed normal Buckingham Palace security procedures to bring women into the royal residence without properly recording their names. Page said he eventually sent a dossier to the FBI after becoming frustrated with what he viewed as a lack of attention from British authorities. His claims remained uncorroborated, and Andrew continued to deny wrongdoing.Investigators were expected to examine the credibility of Page’s account, compare it against other officers’ recollections and available security records, and determine whether the alleged visitor-log practices formed part of a wider pattern connected to Andrew’s association with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The scrutiny went beyond palace visitors: British police were also reviewing material concerning Andrew’s travel, his official role as a trade envoy, allegations that confidential government information may have been shared with Epstein, and whether UK airports or royal security arrangements intersected with Epstein-linked trafficking activity. Three forces were conducting live Epstein-related inquiries, while a national police review was assessing whether newly released U.S. files pointed to broader violence, exploitation or trafficking in Britain. The central question was therefore shifting from Andrew’s personal relationship with Epstein to what people around him, including sworn protection officers, may have witnessed and whether those observations were ever properly recorded or acted upon.to contact me:[email protected]:What Andrew-Epstein police will examine next as they appeal to protection officersBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

In his August 2021 interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Bill Gates described his association with Jeffrey Epstein as a serious mistake and said the relationship grew out of Epstein’s claims that he could help raise enormous sums of money for global-health philanthropy. Gates said he had “several dinners” with Epstein after first meeting him in 2011, despite Epstein already having been convicted of soliciting a minor. Gates told Cooper that once it became clear Epstein’s promised philanthropic connections were not producing anything, he ended the relationship. He acknowledged that simply spending time with Epstein had given the convicted sex offender credibility and called that decision a “huge mistake.” Cooper raised the issue in the context of reports that Melinda French Gates had been deeply troubled by her husband’s dealings with Epstein and that the relationship had become one of several issues surrounding the Gates marriage. Gates did not offer a detailed explanation for why repeated meetings were necessary beyond the proposed philanthropy and instead emphasized regret over having associated with Epstein at all.Gates gave a similar but noticeably terse account during a September 2021 PBS NewsHour interview with Judy Woodruff. When Woodruff asked what Gates knew about Epstein’s criminal background while meeting with him, Gates said Epstein claimed to know wealthy people who might contribute to global health initiatives and again characterized the meetings as a mistake that produced nothing. Woodruff pressed him on reports that the relationship involved multiple meetings over several years and specifically asked what Gates did after learning about Epstein’s background. Gates largely repeated that he regretted the dinners and said there was “absolutely nothing new” to add. When Woodruff asked what lesson he took from the experience, Gates responded that Epstein was dead and said people generally had to be careful before pivoting back to the accomplishments of the Gates Foundation. Taken together, the Cooper and PBS interviews presented the same basic explanation: Gates said Epstein was useful to him only as a potential conduit to philanthropic money, admitted that associating with him was a major error, but offered relatively little detail about why the relationship continued as long as it did after Epstein’s sex-offense conviction was already public.to contact me:[email protected] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Jeffrey Epstein’s empire was not only built on money and connections but on silence. Alongside Jean-Luc Brunel, he deliberately targeted vulnerable girls from Eastern Europe and South America, knowing cultural shame, disbelief, and poverty would keep them voiceless. Promised modeling careers, housekeeping jobs, or education, these young women instead found themselves trapped, their passports taken, their dignity stolen, and their futures erased. Epstein weaponized entire societies against them, understanding that in many cultures, speaking out meant exile, ridicule, or dishonor. Their silence was not incidental—it was the very architecture of his abuse.Even in death, Epstein’s greatest weapon endures. While some survivors bravely stepped forward, countless nameless victims remain erased from the story, still carrying the silence he engineered. Their absence is not a void—it is evidence of crimes too vast to ever be fully told. Justice has been partial, selective, sanitized, and until the world acknowledges the invisible victims, Epstein’s legacy of silence still shields him. The loudest scream in this story is the one we cannot hear, and if we forget it, then Epstein wins again.to contact me:[email protected] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Palm Beach Police Detective Michelle Pagan’s interview with the 14-year-old girl who became the first known complainant in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation provided the account that effectively opened the case. The teenager told Pagan that an older girl had offered her an easy way to make a few hundred dollars by giving a massage to a wealthy man in Palm Beach. She was taken to Epstein’s mansion, led upstairs and shown into a room containing a massage table. According to the girl, Epstein entered wearing only a towel, removed it and lay naked on the table while giving her instructions. She told Pagan that she became frightened and uncomfortable as the encounter escalated far beyond an ordinary massage. Epstein allegedly directed her to remove clothing, straddle his back and continue massaging him while he was naked, before masturbating and introducing a vibrator into the encounter. The girl said she was paid several hundred dollars before leaving and later identified Epstein from a photograph.The interview was especially important because it quickly gave investigators reason to believe they were dealing with something larger than an isolated incident. The girl explained that she herself had been recruited through another teenager and that Epstein had asked for her name and telephone number, while the payment structure created an incentive for girls to bring additional girls to the house. After she told a friend at school about receiving money for the massage, word spread, a dispute followed and adults eventually contacted police, setting off the Palm Beach investigation. Pagan’s report documented the girl becoming emotional and crying while describing what happened, and within days investigators began hearing similar accounts from other teenagers. What started with one 14-year-old describing a paid “massage” therefore gave police their first clear view of the recruitment system that would become central to the entire Epstein case: teenage girls were brought to the mansion for money, sexual activity was introduced during the massage and some were encouraged to recruit the next girl.to contact me:[email protected] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Jeffrey Epstein had a deeply unsettling fascination with transhumanism, a fringe scientific ideology focused on using advanced technologies like genetic engineering and artificial intelligence to “improve” or even transcend the human species. For years, Epstein cultivated relationships with prominent scientists, funding research and hosting intellectual salons to promote his own bizarre vision of the future. One of his most disturbing ambitions was to “seed the human race with his DNA” by impregnating multiple women—reportedly as many as 20—at his Zorro Ranch property in New Mexico. Epstein described this vision to scientists and guests during private dinners and conferences, presenting it as part of a eugenics-inspired project to propagate his genes across humanity. He also expressed a desire to have his head and genitals cryogenically frozen in hopes of being revived later—a grotesque extension of his obsession with immortality.Epstein’s involvement in the scientific world wasn’t just casual philanthropy—it was a calculated attempt to embed himself within elite circles and launder his public image through academic legitimacy. He courted renowned figures like Stephen Hawking, George Church, and Murray Gell-Mann, using his money and influence to insert himself into high-level conversations on AI, neuroscience, and biology. Several of these scientists would later admit they were unaware of the depth of his criminal behavior during their interactions. Still, Epstein's promotion of transhumanist goals—particularly ones steeped in eugenicist thinking—raised red flags about the type of future he envisioned: one dominated by elite control, genetic manipulation, and the erasure of moral constraints in pursuit of technological supremacy.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to the world of science were not accidental — they were strategic. He courted some of the most brilliant minds at Harvard, MIT, and other elite institutions, presenting himself as a patron of innovation and philanthropy. Epstein used his fortune to endow programs, fund research, and host lavish dinners that mixed Nobel laureates with billionaires. Many of these “men with the pocket protectors” — physicists, geneticists, and computer scientists — were enticed by his charm and his promise of funding. They justified their proximity to him as a necessary evil for the sake of their research, conveniently ignoring the whispers about his criminal past. Even after his 2008 conviction, Epstein’s Rolodex of scientists remained active, his money still circulating through institutions that should have known better.In truth, Epstein exploited the intellectual vanity of academia. He loved surrounding himself with geniuses because it elevated his own image — transforming a convicted sex offender into a “visionary benefactor.” Meanwhile, many of those scientists turned a blind eye, preferring the security of his checks to the discomfort of their conscience. Harvard, for instance, accepted millions from Epstein even after his conviction, and prominent figures like Martin Nowak and George Church maintained ties long past the point of plausible ignorance. The relationship was mutually parasitic: Epstein gained legitimacy and access to powerful networks, while the scientists gained funding and proximity to his wealth. It was the perfect marriage of intellect and moral cowardice, wrapped in the language of progress.to contact me:[email protected] a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Charlie Kirk’s family took the first formal step toward a wrongful-death lawsuit against Utah officials, alleging that a series of security failures at Utah Valley University left him vulnerable to the rooftop gunman who killed him on September 10, 2025. The notice of claim, filed by Kirk’s widow Erika and his parents, accused UVU, its former president Astrid Tuminez, campus police chief Jeffrey Long and the state of Utah of making “reckless decisions” before the event. The family’s attorneys pointed to the lack of rooftop surveillance, bag checks, metal detectors and a secure perimeter, as well as what they described as inadequate police staffing and poor coordination with outside law enforcement. Only six campus officers were assigned to an event attended by roughly 3,000 people, and the family also alleged that officials failed to conduct an adequate risk assessment despite the obvious vulnerability created by surrounding buildings and rooftops.The claim also alleged that there were no first responders immediately positioned to treat Kirk after he was shot, forcing him to be taken to a hospital in a private vehicle rather than an ambulance. Kirk’s attorneys argued that the danger of a rooftop attack should have been especially apparent after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump by a rooftop gunman the previous year. UVU said it would respond through its established procedures and noted that it had since begun expanding its police force, while the Utah Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on potential litigation. The filing did not specify how much money the family might ultimately seek, but under Utah law the notice was a prerequisite to bringing a formal negligence or wrongful-death lawsuit. The criminal case against Tyler Robinson remained separate, with Robinson charged with aggravated murder and facing the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.to contact me:[email protected]:Charlie Kirk's family says security failures by Utah officials led to his assassinationBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

North Idaho investigators said they were “deeply troubled” after true-crime content creators claimed they had obtained unredacted crime-scene photographs showing the bodies and wounds of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin and were preparing to publish them online. A YouTube creator from the BronxTails True Crime channel said she had access to unredacted images and suggested more could soon be released. In response, the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office, Idaho State Police and Moscow Police Department issued a joint statement condemning any publication of the material, calling it an invasion of the victims’ privacy and saying whoever supplied the images had violated the trust and professional obligations that came with access to them. The agencies said the source of the photographs remained unknown and stressed that releasing graphic images of the victims served no legitimate purpose of transparency or accountability.The threatened release also reopened longstanding anger from the victims’ families over crime-scene imagery appearing online. Some redacted photographs had already been released through public-records requests in 2025, reportedly without the families being warned beforehand, and the controversy helped spur a new Idaho law exempting photographs of deceased victims from public disclosure. Ethan Chapin’s mother, Stacy Chapin, publicly pleaded for people to stop circulating the images, saying they had nothing to do with transparency and only inflicted more pain. Criminal-justice professor Danielle Slakoff said the episode illustrated the darker side of online true crime, where sensational material and unsupported speculation can generate clicks while retraumatizing families and shifting attention toward the killer rather than the victims.to contact me:[email protected]:North Idaho investigators 'deeply troubled' as content creators prepare to release unredacted photos of Moscow crime sceneBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.