The suicide of Jeffrey Epstein has only heaped further attention on what is already a scandal of epic proportions.

Conspiracy theorists are running wild, naturally, but some of the details emerging over the past 24 hours point to a prison facility that is chronically understaffed.

It’s also being reported that guards are suspected of falsifying log entries to show they were checking on inmates in his unit every 30 minutes, when that was not the case.

Attention has also been turned towards Epstein’s younger brother, Mark (pictured above), whose unexplained wealth will more than likely come under scrutiny from authorities.

Over to the Daily Beast for a closer look:

A former artist turned real estate magnate, Mark raised eyebrows last month by offering up his Florida condo as collateral for his brother’s bail. While he has denied any connection to Jeffrey’s businesses, at least one of Mark’s properties has turned up repeatedly in sex trafficking suits against his older sibling.

Mark Epstein hung up on a reporter who called for comment and declined to respond to  questions sent by text.

“Since the president of the USA won’t divulge his business info, and there are many more compelling reasons for him to do so, and since I have not been accused of wrongdoing by any government agency, I see no reason why I or any other American should either,” he wrote in a text message to The Daily Beast.

That’s probably a response that Donald Trump won’t really appreciate, given how desperately he’s been trying to distance himself from Epstein since the scandal’s latest twists and turns.

64-year old Mark is said to have been ‘semi-retired’ from the age of 39, and has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity over the past few decades.

Still, the connections between the brothers seem to run deep:

At the heart of Epstein’s potential financial ties to his brother is his real estate company, Ossa Properties. At one time, Ossa Properties owned more than 500 renter-occupied apartments in four co-op projects in New York City, according to a 1993 New York Times article. The company has almost no web presence and, according to a former intern, is run almost exclusively by one man: Anthony Barrett…

…According to documents from a Harlem-based charter school, Barrett’s brother, Jonathan Barrett, worked for both Mark Epstein’s real estate business and Jeffrey Epstein’s investment company in the mid-1990s.

Mark Epstein denied any connection between Ossa Properties and J. Epstein. & Co. in an interview with Crain’s New York, claiming the information on the documents was a “mistake.” But Barrett later told The Wall Street Journal that the two were indeed affiliated.

This brings us to Ossa Properties’ majority stake in 301 East 66th Street, which is alleged by some to be a building used to house victims of an underage sex-trafficking ring.

Mark has repeatedly said that his brother holds no ownership or affiliation to the property, but multiple tenants say they regularly saw Jeffrey visiting the location.

The younger Epstein attended art school at Manhattan’s prestigious Cooper Union, before starting a printing business called Izmo.

There’s also a modelling agency connection:

Business records show Mark Epstein formed his own agency, Saint Model and Talent, in December 2005. The business has no website or social media presence, and it is unclear if it ever signed a model. But one former tenant of Epstein’s says he remembers it well.

Gordon Gooch, a commercial photographer who rented space in SoHo studios owned by Epstein, sued him in 2008 over an unlawful eviction. According to the complaint, Epstein sent Gooch just two warnings before changing the locks on his studio and, the photographer alleged, replacing his belongings with all new furniture. His former landlord gave him only one explanation, Gooch told The Daily Beast: He wanted to use the studio for his modeling agency.

You have to wonder exactly what went on inside that studio once the locks had been changed.

Given what we already know about Jeffrey Epstein, and the allegations that will be dealt with in the upcoming trial, it’s hard not to think the worst.

[source:dailybeast]