Hey Everyone,
The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein hovers over everything, still, seeming to tarnish and destroy everything in its path.
There’s tragic news from Norway (where I was two weeks ago). Edward Rød-Larsen, the 25-year-old son of Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul, two Norwegian diplomats severely impacted by the Epstein files, died a couple days ago by suicide. The family lawyer appears to have blamed the media in a public statement.
My Norwegian friends tell me this is likely to become a massive debate in the coming days and weeks. Of course, the press reported hard on the couple’s dealings with Epstein (Rod-Larsen borrowed a considerable sum of money from Epstein without declaring it), and the government is investigating the couple, who are elderly.
So, should the media have done anything differently? The focus was not on the couple’s son.
But, as we know, Epstein’s wingspan was enormous. And the amount of collateral damage in this hideous story continues to pile up.
I was in DC over the weekend because of another horrendous suicide that is Epstein-related; I attended a powerful, moving memorial service for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, to mark the one year anniversary of her tragic death.
Virginia’s two brothers and their wives were present along with her publicist Dini Von Mueffling. So too were several of the Epstein survivors who paid homage to the one amongst them whose bravery was pivotal in bringing both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to justice.
Props to Rep. Jamie Raskin for his poignant oratory contextualizing Virginia’s life. A snippet:
The world is filled with injustice, especially towards women and girls, because the world is organized much more around power than it is around justice. The only thing that ever tips the scales towards justice, towards freedom, is the courage of brave leaders and the activism of thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of people engaged in solidarity and movement forward demanding change. Virginia Roberts Giuffre was a leader. Generations to come will marvel at her toughness and celebrate her personal conviction and her moral determination to change American society and to change the world. And she’s now not just a hero to this movement, but she’s a hero to the ages who dwells with other great leaders and heroes of our history, like Dolores Huerta, like Rosa Parks, and like Frederick Douglass.
Beautifully put.
Where though, I wondered were other members of congress? It was a busy weekend in DC, as we all know. But surely this service ought to have taken priority on our politician’s calendars? I was disappointed not to see more of them there.
Yesterday, I spoke with someone else who has had her life turned upside down, she believes, because of Epstein.
Amanda Ungaro, a Brazilian ex-model and former longtime partner of Paolo Zampolli, A Trump-appointed UN ambassador, who once introduced Melania Knauss to Donald Trump, has experienced a living hell, in the wake of an acrimonious child custody battle with Zampolli……
Read the rest of the article on Vicky Ward Investigates.