Netflix's new miniseries, Filthy Rich, which was released on Wednesday, aims to expose the life and crimes of Jewish-American financier Jeffrey Epstein and tell the stories of his victims, some of whom share their stories in the miniseries.
Based on the 2016 book of the same title by James Patterson, the four-part miniseries covers the arc of most of Epstein’s life, including his immense success as a wealthy financier, his 2011 conviction as a sex offender and his death in 2019 in a prison cell in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Epstein’s private island was dubbed by his neighbors as Pedophile Island and his perverse, predatory sexual interest in teens eventually led to him serving time in prison and becoming a registered sex offender.Due to his immense wealth and social network, Epstein knew a lot of powerful people such as current US President Donald Trump, former US president Bill Clinton, former prime minister Ehud Barak and attorney Alan Dershowitz, who defended him in court.Writing about the documentary for Ynet, Amir Bogan is careful to note Barak is not mentioned in the series even once.
During the Epstein scandal, Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alleged that Barak took part in the predatory sexual activities reported, but Barak denied the allegation.Among his many investments, Epstein also invested in the Israeli defense industry and visited the country occasionally.
Bogan laments that the documentary opted to focus on Epstein and not the social circles in which he operated because, in his opinion, it would have allowed for a more comprehensive look at how powerful men abuse their money and power to gain sexual favors from unwilling women.Epstein, he remarks, is no longer alive, which means he is unable to defend his actions or name.“This is Filthy Rich’s great sin,” Bogan writes. “It presents a few interesting points about Epstein and his personal influence as a seductive man with charisma and a powerful multi-billionaire, but what motivates the series through the countless testimonies inserted into it, which is the satisfaction of our voyeurism.”
Epstein’s Jewishness is also mentioned in the article as a possible issue, meaning that just as his history can be seen as a cautionary tale about the abuses of power men might inflict on women, it can also be constructed as alleged evidence of the sexual deviancy of Jewish men.This idea was employed by the Nazis, who spoke about the Jews seeking to exploit non-Jewish women, and is still heard from white supremacy groups today.
Epstein’s death also fueled several conspiracy theories that claim it was meant to prevent any further legal probing into other people associated with him who also abused their power and privilege. His death was determined by the legal authorities to be a suicide.