Series Review: "Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich" (2020).

"Money. Power. Corruption." This is Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich. This documentary miniseries directed by Lisa Bryant, written by John Connolly and Tim Malloy, and based on the 2016 book of the same name by James Patterson. Leading up to his 2019 arrest, mysterious tycoon Jeffrey Epstein was accused of abusing women and underage girls for decades, assembling a network of enablers to help carry out and cover up his crimes. Epstein came from humble beginnings yet managed to lie and manipulate his way to the top of the financial world. He eventually gained tremendous wealth and power while running an international sex trafficking ring. The serial sex abuser made a secret plea deal with the government in 2008 avoiding a potential life sentence and continued to abuse women.

On January 20, 1953, the infamous American financier and sex offender was born. He began his professional life as a teacher but then switched to the banking and finance sector in various roles, working at Bear Stearns before forming his own firm. He developed an elite social circle and procured many women, including underage girls, who were then sexually abused by Epstein and some of his contacts, including Prince Andrew. In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after a parent complained that he had sexually abused her fourteen-year-old daughter. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted by a Florida state court of procuring an underage girl for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. He served almost thirteen months in custody, but with extensive work release. He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a plea deal; federal officials had in fact identified thirty-six girls, some as young as fourteen years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused. In early 2019, Epstein was arrested again on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. However, on August 10, 2019, before he was scheduled to appear in court for his trial, he died in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, although Epstein's lawyers have disputed the ruling along with huge public scepticism about the true cause of his death. Because his death eliminated the possibility of pursuing criminal charges, a judge dismissed all criminal charges in late August. Epstein had a decades-long association with Ghislaine Maxwell, who has faced persistent allegations of procuring and sexually trafficking underage girls for Epstein. Prior to Epstein's death, the series, based on Patterson's 2016 book Filthy Rich: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him, and All the Justice that Money Can Buy: The Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein, was announced.

The series is a fully immersive look into not only Epstein but also the young women he molested, and the life-altering dangers of a justice system that so many people are expected to put their upmost faith in. The only truly relevant talking-head interviews are with the young female victims.

Simon says Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich receives: