Cesspool and Chaos: the Russian Connection in the Epstein Affair.

Deep roots and poisonous fruit.

Another Daily Kos commentator referenced this article in a comment on a different post, but that comment has been and gone — and the article seems too relevant to pass with it.*

The original article, by Françoise Thom and datelined July 30 2025, is on the French Russian Desk website (desk-russie.info) and is reproduced in European Security (european-security.com). You may need Google Translate for some of the articles on those sites, but this one is in English.

The article, Cesspool and Chaos: the Russian Connection in the Epstein Affair, starts with...

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In this explosive article, French historian Françoise Thom [1] highlights the close relationship between the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and the father of his accomplice Ghislaine, Robert Maxwell, the late British press magnate, on the one hand, and the upper echelons of Soviet and then Russian power on the other. This raises a troubling question: what if it was the FSB that held the infamous “list” of Epstein’s clients? What better way to compromise the American elite than to possess evidence of participation in orgies with minors?

Table of Contents

• The Russian connection: what is documented
• “Where did the money come from?”
• In the wake of Robert Maxwell
• Dangerous liaisons
• The empire of “kompromat”
• The relationship between Epstein and Trump

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At around 7,000 words, the article is quite lengthy, but well worth a read. Or a listen - it includes a link to an episode of the Deep Dive podcast which summarizes it in 37 minutes.

* My apologies for not name-checking the original commenter, but I’ve been unable so far to find their comment again.