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Where Is Ghislane Maxwell Now? Tyler Durden Sun, 05/31/2020 - 21:00

Authored by Gabrielle Bruney via Esquire.com,

Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but the accused pedophile financier is still surrounded by multiple mysteries. The source of his vast wealth still isn’t entirely known, nor have rumors that he may have trafficked women and girls to some of the world’s most powerful men been resolved. But one of the biggest lingering unknowns in the story is the status of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion, who’s been alleged by Epstein survivors to have recruited young women and girls into the multimillionaire’s circle and participated in their abuse.

Maxwell has denied all accusations of being involved in abuse, and she’s never faced criminal charges. But it’s hard to know much more than that when it comes to her recent years, because no one knows exactly where she is.

“I've heard she's in Brazil, I've heard she's in France, I've heard she's in California,” Lisa Bryant, director of the Netflix docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, told Esquire.

“Who knows where she is, really?”

Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?

Maxwell is the youngest of Elisabeth and Robert Maxwell’s nine children, and was born in France in 1961. The family lived in an English mansion, and her father was the founder of a media empire and served in Parliament. Maxwell attended one of the UK’s most exclusive boarding schools and then Oxford University. As members of British high society, Maxwell mingled with some of the nation’s most celebrated families, and became friends with Prince Andrew.

Her father died in 1991, after falling off his yacht and drowning. It’s been speculated that his death may have been a suicide, as on the day he died he was due to meet with the Bank of England over the matter of his being in default on millions in loans. After his death, the British media dubbed him the “crook of the century,” when it was revealed that he’d taken hundreds of millions of pounds from his employees pension funds. Maxwell told one news outlet after her father’s death that she felt he was murdered.

She moved to the United States the year of her father’s death, and soon met Jeffrey Epstein. The relationship marked a second reversal of fortunes for Maxwell, whose family lost much of its wealth after her father’s death. In 2000, she moved into a $4.95 million Manhattan townhouse purchased "by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Mr. Epstein’s longtime lawyer." She was his companion for years, managing his households and introducing him to her society friends

Maxwell and her father in 1984.

According to a lawsuit she filed this year in hopes of winning funds from the late financier’s estate, “While under Epstein’s employ, Maxwell was responsible for managing Epstein’s properties located in New York, Paris, Florida, New Mexico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

“During the course of their relationship, including while Maxwell was in Epstein’s employ,” the lawsuit reads, “Epstein promised Maxwell that he would support her financially. Epstein made these promises to Maxwell repeatedly, both in writing and in conversation.”

However, a 2003 Vanity Fair profile of Epstein denied that Maxwell was an employee.

After Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, the two appeared to end their public association. In 2009, accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a civil suit against Epstein accusing him and Maxwell of grooming her into their alleged sex trafficking ring. However, Maxwell remained a fixture in New York society until around 2015. In 2012, she founded an environmental nonprofit called The TerraMar project, which folded in late 2019.

Epstein with Maxwell in 1995

Has she been charged with any crimes?

Though multiple survivors have alleged that Maxwell participated in Epstein’s alleged crimes, she’s never been criminally charged. One thing that could stymie potential efforts to level charges against Maxwell is the infamous 2008 plea deal that Epstein struck with the US Attorney for Miami, Alexander Acosta, which found him serving just 13 months in prison after initially facing charges that could have garnered him a life sentence. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich producer Joe Berlinger described the deal to Esquire as “unprecedented, unheard of sweetheart deal” that “included a non-prosecution agreement for named and unnamed co-conspirators.”

In April, an appeals court upheld the 2007 deal, writing in its opinion that the decision was “not a result we like, but it’s the result we think the law requires.”

Maxwell is currently suing Epstein’s estate for money for her legal fees, and for the price of private security, alleging that her “prior employment relationship” with Epstein has caused to her be subjected to death threats.

Maxwell at a 2016 event.

Where is Ghislaine Maxwell now?

Though once a fixture of the global high-society, Maxwell has been spotted rarely in recent years. Last summer, she was photographed at a Los Angeles In-N-Out Burger, though the authenticity of the photo has been disputed. Her New York townhouse was sold in 2016.

This month, it was reported that lawyers for accusers seeking to file a civil suit against Maxwell have been unable to locate her. According to ABC news, one alleged victim’s “legal team dispatched process servers to five addresses previously connected to Maxwell, including a multi-million dollar brownstone on Manhattan's Upper East Side, an apartment building in Miami Beach and Epstein's mansion on Palm Beach Island.”

Maxwell is also contending with other civil lawsuits filed by alleged survivors. Just this month, she won the right to delay her questioning in a suit filed by Annie Farmer, the sister of fellow Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, on the grounds that her testimony could be used against her in a current criminal investigation. But with the FBI allegedly investigating Maxwell, her story could be far from over.


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"The Dollar Is Out Of Stock Everywhere": Hong Kong Money Exchangers Turn Away Clients Amid Run On US Dollars Tyler Durden Sun, 05/31/2020 - 20:30

Even before protests over a controversial extradition bill sparked the tumultuous pro-democracy movement that swept across Hong Kong last year, the notion that the city's freedoms were under threat, and that China would soon move to curtail them, had been gestating since the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Last Spring, before the movement began in earnest, Kyle Bass published a paper entitled "the Quiet Panic" about how Hong Kong was a ticking time bomb. A few months later, it exploded.

Over the past 16 months, expats haven't been the only ones fleeing Hong Kong. Virtually everyone who can afford to move has at least considered the possibility of selling their once extremely valuable Hong Kong real estate and fleeing elsewhere, perhaps to New Zealand, or Australia, or Malaysia - or Taiwan, which is currently drawing up plans to welcome expats.

As we reported on Friday, as more prepare to move before China tightens its grip, Sing Tao, Hong Kong's second-largest Chinese-language newspaper observed that Hong Kong residents have been exchanging more of their HKD holdings into foreign currencies at banks and money exchange counters on Thursday.

It got so bad that according to a follow up report from the SCMP on Saturday, the rush for US dollars forced money exchangers in Hong Kong to turn away hundreds of customers after running out of the currency amid fears the United States could end the city’s preferential trading status.

According to money exchange store owners, demand for the US currency surged this week after China’s legislature endorsed a resolution for its top legislative body to craft a tailor-made national security law for Hong Kong which would criminalize acts and activities of secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference.

In kneejerk response, HK residents - fearing the Hong Kong dollar could be unpegged from its US counterpart - rushed to convert their local currency into something they view as more stable: the US dollar.

Long lines promptly formed at money changers in a number of Kowloon districts including Tsim Sha Tsui and Sham Shui Po on Friday, as residents waited for shop operators to replenish their US dollar supply. Eric Wong Wai-lam, who runs Rich Bird Currency Exchange in Sham Shui Po, was forced to turn away 600 customers who wanted to convert their local banknotes to the US currency.

Queues formed at money changers in a number of Kowloon districts including at this shop in Tsim Sha Tsui; Photo: Edmond So, SCMP

"There will be no US dollars for exchange until next Tuesday or Wednesday,” he told customers, adding that his shop could only serve those who had previously placed an order. He explained that demand for the US currency had increased 10-fold this week, with more customers looking to switch large sums – hundreds of thousands or even millions of Hong Kong dollars – at a time.

"The US dollar is out of stock everywhere. We’ve offered every last bit of our supplies to our customers,” Wong said adding that residents also sought alternatives such as the pound, Euro and Australian dollar. “People will take anything you have,” he said.

As the SCMP further details, civil servant Mike Ma had hoped to change HK$35,000 (US$4,514) into US dollars, but had to make do with £1,000 (US$1,237) and NT$20,000 (US$666) instead. The 35-year-old British National (Overseas) passport holder said he had been keeping foreign banknotes since Hong Kong was gripped by anti-government protests last year, but had visited exchange stores more often this week because of uncertainties over the city’s economic future.

Kevin Chan, operator of an online shopping site, bought US$3,000 on Friday, saying he had been doing so from time to time since the social unrest broke out. “It’s like buying insurance,” the 31-year-old said.

A customer manages to get US dollars at Rich Bird (HK) Currency Exchange in Sham Shui Po. Photo: Edmond So, SCMP

Chan said panic buying of the US dollar reflected how Hong Kong had found itself in the middle of a political tug of war between the world’s two superpowers. "[China and the United States] are bluffing now. You don’t know what stakes they will raise next. Hong Kong is in a passive position. It’s just a pawn to both sides," Chan said.

“I’m not confident about the current situation, same as many others. In case the US dollar peg is reset, buying the US dollar beforehand gives me more confidence."

The Hong Kong currency has been linked to the US dollar since 1983 and any change in the peg does not require approval from the US government. The Hong Kong government determines which currency the local dollar is pegged to. The currency is kept pegged in the range of HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 to the US dollar.

Eddie Yue Wai-man, chief executive of the local central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said earlier this week the peg would remain the bedrock of the city’s financial system, with foreign reserves of more than US$440 billion. And while the city had yet to show any noticeable sign of fund outflows from the Hong Kong dollar or banking system, the market is starting to crack. Though spot HKD has been trading toward the strong end of its band as the Fed slashes rates to zero amid growing speculation the US central bank may soon follow through with negative rates, Kyle Bass's bet against the currency peg, which critics once slammed as absurd and unlikely to pay off, is becoming increasingly popular as a trade as derivatives markets price in growing expectations for depreciation.

Even Hong Kong’s largest banks, HSBC, saw a small handful of its automated teller machines run out of US dollars, but was working to replenish them. The bank has 39 locations that offer foreign currency, but not all distribute US dollars. Customers can withdraw up to HK$80,000 per day per bank card.

“HSBC has sufficient supply of banknotes and is committed to supporting its customers and the smooth operation of the financial system in Hong Kong,” a HSBC spokeswoman said.


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Pompeo: China Is Intent Upon The Destruction Of Western Ideas, Western Democracies, And Western Values Tyler Durden Sun, 05/31/2020 - 20:13

Looking at the Yuan, Bloomberg's macro commentators Mark Cranfield correctly writes that "any downside extension for USD/CNH after President Trump left the phase one trade deal untouched will be short lived. There is enough uncertainty over the U.S.-China relationship to maintain an underlying bid for the dollar."

Cranfield is right, if for another reason: while Trump may have left the Phase 1 trade deal in place for now, at this point this is purely theater, for the simple reason that China is woefully behind on its signed contractual commitments to import a set quantity of US agircultural, energy, and manufacturing exports.

As Goldman writes over the weekend, "there is a clear risk—if not a likelihood—that US exports to China will fall short of the Phase 1 deal." So far, the Administration appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach to this and could continue to do so for a while, since the export targets were intended to be met over a 1-2 year timeframe, and the deal was only signed four months ago. But if Trump decides that China has not met its commitments under the Phase 1 trade deal - which it clearly hasn't - he would take the initial step of taking the tariff rate on Tranche 4A back to 15%, according to Goldman.

As a result, while ignoring Trump headlines looks to be the right strategy in the short term for traders, Cranfield notes that this "may change when the U.S. election race gets into prime time." So while record highs for USD/CNH may have been delayed after last week's all tim ehigh, "they are still the path of least resistance in the weeks ahead", according to the Bloomberg commentator.

And just to give the yuan selling a kickstart higher, here is Mike Pompeo on Fox News, pouring some more gasoline on the raging dumpster fire that is US-China relations, saying that "this is a Chinese Communist Party that has come to view itself as intent upon the destruction of Western ideas, Western democracies, and Western values. It puts Americans at risk, whether it’s stealing American intellectual property or destroying jobs here in the U.S."

Hardly the stuff one hears if de-escalation is just around the bend.


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Schlichter: This Election Is Republicans Versus China Tyler Durden Sun, 05/31/2020 - 20:00

Authored by Kurt Schlichter, op-ed via Townhall.com,

It’s pretty clear who the commie bastards known for their shoddy lab practices and their weird fetish for gnawing on pangolins badly want to win in November, and it's not Trump and the Republicans. The Chinese communists want their money’s worth, and they will go all-in for the Democrats who find the chance to hurt Trump at the same time they hurt America too delicious to pass up. Plus, the Dems heartily approve of what Mao’s Pals are doing to freedom-loving Hong Kongers, seeing it as a template for what they would love to do to freedom-loving us. 

We need to understand and accept that a vote for anyone with a “D” is a vote for Xi.

Now, some people who are stupid and/or liars will whine that this is mean and unfair and totally unlike the last four years of accusations about Trump and his folks being the pet of Vladimir Putin whose treason has perpetually had the walls closing in whilst the Grand Marshal of the Supreme Court was poised to frog-march them all to a C-130, next stop Gitmo. And it is totally unlike the Obamagate/Russiagate thing, in that with the Obamagate/Russiagate thing was a manifest lie and the accusation that the CCP is holding the pink slip of the Donkey Party in its bat soup-moistened hands is true.

Let’s look at Joe Biden for a moment, though it will have to be on video since the Geppettos holding his strings are not letting him out of his Delaware dungeon unless a miracle happens and he becomes a real boy.

This is the guy that went publicly incontinent when the Great Wall Gang was shipping Typhoid Mulans over here and Trump cut off that insanity. Travel bans were racist, you know, until they weren’t. And this guy wants to be president, when he remembers he is running for president, though his priority was not saving American lives but not vexing Beijing. This guy is so far in the Red Menace’s pocket that he’s risking lint poisoning.

They channel the digital Dem, asking, “Come on man, is it too much to want a president who takes America’s side?

Well, to the Democrats, the answer is a responding, “Yes, and don’t assume my gender.”

Now, Biden always sides with the PRC because, like the elite whose Guccis he slurps, he’s totally comfortable with the Chinese supplanting the USA as the world’s preeminent nation – that’ll show those flag-waving flyover rubes who’s not boss! The totally-not-senile politician opposed Trump’s tariffs and his attempts to level the playing field, and Hi-Bidder Biden would sign agreements to lock in the former Deliverance trade model. His response to the People’s Liberation Army arms build-up that threatens our Pacific Fleet would be, “Hey man, I believe in building-up arms! I work out and I am strong and I can do more push-ups than you, fat!”

Here’s the other thing. Remember all that idiotic babble about the Russki kompromat of Trump? That somewhere, Putin had this video library of Trump water-sporting with Muscovite rent girls? Well, we all know Joe’s pride n’ joy Hoover went to China and did a big-bucks deal, probably because he’s such a super-achiever who got where he is on his own talents and not at all drafting after his daddy. So, what else do you think he did when he was there? Explored the Great Wall? Marveled at the Forbidden City? Cavorted with every skeeze the ChiCom intel guys could throuple him up with on video?

Did it happen? You want to bet it didn’t? We know the guy got booted from the Navy for dope. We know he got zillions from some Ukrainian oligarch. We know he was accused of forgetting his crack pipe in a rental car. We know he impregnated a stripper. We know he was voted “Least Likely to be the Centerfold of Good Judgment Monthly.”

What are the chances the Chinese Gestapo didn’t try to honey-trap the guy who’s the Winnie the Pooh of hookers n’ blow? What do you think they probably caught him doing on Candid Commie Camera? It’d be like a home movie from Memorial Day weekend in Lake Havasu on Bob Crane’s houseboat.

But Biden’s not the only guy in hock to the reds. There’s Diane Feinstein, whose Chinese mole chauffer for the better part of two decades was starring in “Driving Senator Oblivious.” And you got the always accommodating Kamala Harris carrying enough water for the reds to top the Three Gorges Dam. Her latest ploy to please her powerful political patrons is to echo the commie agitprop designed to distract from the country’s criminally negligent (or worse) behavior in connection with the bat biter disease by offering a bill to declare calling it the “Wuhan Flu” to be RACISM!

And there’s Martha McSally’s opponent in the Arizona Senate race who’s a Chinese Communist Party dream come true. Even the media, and you know how it sucks, is reporting that Mark ChiCom Kelly has investments in Chinese tech. He supports Joe Biden and Joe’s policies, which we have seen are Xi’s policies. When Nancy Pelosi tried to pass a $3 trillion “pandemic relief” bill that gave dough to illegals and pot purveyors, did you see him complain that it ignored American defense and contained no spending to put American workers back to work building the equipment we need to oppose his party’s pals? Nah. His focus is on disarming Americans. Not surprisingly, ChiCom Kelly shares the Chinese Communist Party’s position on the Second Amendment – he’s against it.

“But but but but he was in the Navy and he was an astronaaaaaauuuuuutttt!” 

Okay, that does not make it better. It makes it much, much worse.

The fact is that the Democratic Party has a recent hatred of Trump but a long tradition of hating the United States. Its goal for the last half-century has been to supervise the decline of America as a world power, and the fact that the Chinese communists take good care of their friends makes it easier. There is zero doubt that the Chinese government is already all-in on a Biden puppet presidency and that it backs Senate candidates like ChiCom Kelly because it knows it can rely on them to place Xi’s interests ahead of America's.

They’ll deny it, of course. But here’s the hard and indisputable truth: This November, you can vote for the Republican Party, or you can vote Chinese Communist Party under another name.

*  *  *

Join Townhall VIP  and pre-order my new Regnery book, The 21 Biggest Lies about Donald Trump (and You!), then check out my hit conservative novels People's Republic, Indian Country, Wildfire and especially Collapse, where the ChiComs side with the libs. Wait, that makes it nonfiction. Also, Townhall VIP members should get my podcast “Unredacted” every Monday and my free podcast “Fighting Words” on Wednesdays to reach peak awesome!


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NBA Star JR Smith Expresses His Disappointment At "Motherf**king White Boy" Damaging His Truck Tyler Durden Sun, 05/31/2020 - 19:34

Every rioting liberal muppet has a plan until someone punches them in the face...

...and that bastardization of Mike Tyson's infamous quote could not apply any better to NBA star JR Smith and the young white dude who decided - for now apparent reason - to damage a truck parked in a residential area in LA.

As TMZ Sports reports, the 6'6", 225-pounder unleashed a barrage of violent kicks on the man - landing several times in the head.  When the guy finally stands up on his feet, Smith delivered a final punishing overhand right to the guy's noggin.

After the event, Smith explained the attack in an emotionally charged video - saying:

"One of these motherfu**king white boys didn't know where he was going and broke my f**king window in my truck."

"I chased him down and whooped his ass," Smith said.

"He didn't know whose window he broke and he got his ass whooped."

Notably, Smith says the incident was not fueled by race or hatred - it was simply revenge for messing with his truck.

We have one awkward question - as much right as Mr. Smith had to punish this mindlessly-violent idiot for damaging his property... we wonder what the reaction among the media and intelligentsia on Twitter would have been if a 6'6", 225lb white guy was kicking the crap out of skinny young black dude who damaged his car (or store?).


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