Epstein was not ostracised for his crimes. To some powerful men, he became even more appealing | Moira Donegan

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A new tranche of Epstein files has blasted its way through the worlds of media, politics, tech, academia, finance and Hollywood. High-profile individuals have once again been forced to explain their relationship with the billionaire financier – and why exactly they sent that email, or what they were doing in that photo, in that place, at that time. There have been resignations in Norway, Slovakia, France, the UK and on Wall Street. Each individual scandal matters. But take the files as a whole and a new picture forms: of Jeffrey Epstein as a man who was seen to survive a sexual abuse scandal, and who was then feted as a sexual svengali and a valuable ally in navigating allegations of sexual abuse amid the #MeToo movement.

The 3.5m documents that have thus far been released to the public – out of a reported 6m documents pertaining to Epstein in the US justice department’s possession – paint Epstein as someone for whom elites, and particularly elite men, often felt a sense of camaraderie and affection, maintaining intimate and friendly relationships long after his 2008 conviction on child sexual abuse charges. And their content implies that, in some cases, this was not simply a case of them turning a blind eye to their friend’s sexual crimes: the powerful actively approached Epstein for sexual and romantic advice, and saw him as a thrower of “wild” parties and a listening ear in whom they could confide their anxieties about the excesses of the #MeToo movement.

Elon Musk in a 2012 email to the financier tried to arrange a visit, asking: “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” (having written last September on X, his social media platform, that “Epstein tried to get me to his island and I REFUSED”).

Some went to him for dating advice. Larry Summers, the economist who served as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton and was the president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006, exchanged a series of emails and text messages with Epstein in 2019 about a younger female economist that Summers was aiming to cajole into a sexual relationship. The men refer to the woman, who was born in China, as “Peril” – possibly a reference to “yellow peril”, the racist 19th-century epithet for Asian immigrants.

“Odds of success. I think another encounter at some point one third. Sustained series one fifth. Best shot for me. She gives up on marriage. Finds me invaluable and interesting and get her to conclude she can’t have it without romance/sex without deciding I’m weak or vengeful,” Summers wrote to Epstein, apparently gaming out with the paedophile how to get sex from a woman. “Over time. She is doomed to be with you,” Epstein replied.

Epstein exchanged several emails with Steve Tisch, the scion of the wealthy Tisch family and the owner of the New York Giants football team, in which Tisch asked whether several of the women Epstein had introduced him to were sex workers. Tisch repeatedly asked Epstein to connect him with various women. “Pro or civilian?” Tisch asked of one. In another exchange, Epstein says that he has a “present” for Tisch; the gift turns out to be a woman. She is, “tahitian speaks mostly french, exotic,” Epstein says. When Tisch asks if she is a “working girl”, Epstein replies: “Nwver” [sic]. (Tisch has expressed regret over his “brief” association with Epstein, who he described as “a terrible person” and says he never accepted Epstein’s invitations.)

Epstein believed the #MeToo movement increased his cachet among certain powerful men. “With all these guys getting busted for harassment , i have moved slightly up on the repuation ladder and have been asked everday for advice etc,” Epstein wrote to the Japanese technologist and venture capitalist Joi Ito in November 2017. Lawrence Krauss, a prominent physicist and atheist leader, relied on Epstein for help navigating sexual misconduct allegations against him investigated by the university where he was a professor, along with public reporting about his alleged sexual misconduct. (He denied the allegations, but the university concluded that he had grabbed a woman’s breast at a conference). At one point, Krauss went so far as to ask his lawyer to work with Epstein directly. “Jeffrey is not only friends with most of the famous people from finance, to business, to Hollywood, who have either been brought down during #metoo and he also speaks regularly with people ranging from the awful white house people, who he is friends with, to ken starr etc,” Krauss wrote to his attorney.

Other men, including the writer Michael Wolff, who published Fire and Fury, an explosive book about Donald Trump, wrote to Epstein, the billionaire convicted paedophile, about what they perceived to be the excesses of #MeToo. The linguist Noam Chomsky called the movement “hysteria”. Epstein, for his part, decried the claims of “feminazis” in an email evidently discussing strategies on how to deal with a campus rape case with the former solicitor general and Clinton impeachment prosecutor Ken Starr.

Women, too, sometimes sought out Esptein to decry the supposed injustice of the #MeToo movement. Soon-Yi Previn, wife and former stepdaughter of the film-maker Woody Allen, emailed Epstein repeatedly about #MeToo, and called a 15-year-old girl who made an allegation of sexual abuse against former congressman Anthony Weiner a “despicable and disgusting person who preys on the weak”. The two also discussed the misfortunes of Bill Cosby, the comedian who was alleged to have drugged and raped several dozen women. The publicist Peggy Siegal repeatedly referred to #MeToo as a “witch hunt”. And Kathy Ruemmler, the former Obama White House counsel who is now the general counsel of the financial juggernaut Goldman Sachs, emailed prolifically with Epstein, casting aspersions on women who came forward with allegations of sexual abuse and expressing sympathy with him for having his own abuse discovered and judged by the public.

The sheer number of Epstein’s connections to the rulers of our world is dizzying. So, too, reading the emails, is the willingness of his circle to continue their relationships with him despite his convictions for sex crimes – even, in some cases, to view them as a source of expertise. Seeking his advice and friendship was seemingly far more important than the rape and assault endured by powerless girls. “Just as the MeToo movement has gone too far so has Botox,” Soon-Yi Previn wrote to Epstein. To which one might counter that what has really gone too far is these people’s impunity.