Tina Brown Reveals How Epstein Used Elite Connections to Silence Reporting

The Daily Beast co-founder recounts the moral rot of a high-status 'club' that protected its own even after the truth was in plain sight.

Published on Feb. 15, 2026

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Tina Brown, co-founder of The Daily Beast, revealed more details about how the publication's reporting on Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes was stifled by the financier's elite circle of powerful connections. Brown said Epstein's 'favor bank' of influential figures across politics, business, and academia ignored the mounting evidence against him, even after The Daily Beast published damning articles by anti-human trafficking advocate Conchita Sarnoff in 2010 detailing Epstein's history of abusing underage girls.

Why it matters

The revelations shed light on how Epstein was able to evade justice for so long, with his wealthy and well-connected associates shielding him from scrutiny and accountability. This case highlights the moral rot at the heart of elite power structures that prioritize protecting their own over pursuing the truth and delivering justice.

The details

Sarnoff's reporting exposed how Epstein received only an 18-month 'house arrest' sentence in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a child, and that his crimes were not isolated incidents but part of a pattern of serial pedophilia. As The Daily Beast's investigation progressed, the web of Epstein's elite connections became clearer, with flight logs showing various VIPs taking trips to his private Caribbean island. Brown said Epstein's associates were involved for different reasons, 'looking always for the sex and the girls' or trying to 'grift' by gaining access to Epstein's private plane and other perks.

  • In 2010, The Daily Beast published a series of articles by Conchita Sarnoff about Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
  • In 2005, Tina Brown briefly met Epstein at a Clinton Global Initiative reception and found him to be a 'creepy social climber'.

The players

Tina Brown

The co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast, who recounted the publication's reporting on Jeffrey Epstein.

Conchita Sarnoff

An anti-human trafficking advocate who wrote a series of articles for The Daily Beast in 2010 exposing Jeffrey Epstein's history of abusing underage girls.

Jeffrey Epstein

The financier and convicted sex offender whose elite connections shielded him from scrutiny and accountability for his crimes.

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What they’re saying

“There were all these people who were just in this favor bank of this elite world that we all know very much is the way the world goes round. They were all there for different reasons, but at the end of the day, they were all ignoring the elephant in the room that they had no business ignoring because after we published those pieces, there was nothing you could say that was ambivalent about Jeffrey Epstein's conduct.”

— Tina Brown, Co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Beast (The Daily Beast Podcast)

“He was just one of those rich guys, you know, percolating around and who was sort of on the fringes of sort of the action, really. Not an outsider, but someone who certainly wasn't a major figure. He had these dead eyes that I always found very... I thought he was a creepy social climber was my instinct.”

— Tina Brown, Co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Beast (The Daily Beast Podcast)

The takeaway

This case highlights the moral failings of elite power structures that prioritize protecting their own over pursuing the truth and delivering justice, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing. It underscores the need for greater transparency, accountability, and a willingness to confront the 'elephants in the room' within high-status circles.