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Dan Wetzel
multiple authors
Law enforcement first investigated Jeffrey Epstein in 2005, when he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for massages. By 2006, as the allegations grew, the FBI became involved.
In 2010, Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison for “inciting prostitution of a minor.” Over the next few years, he settled lawsuits from several victims alleging similar behavior. These received wide media coverage.
None of this stopped New York Giants co-owner and Hollywood film producer Steve Tisch from regularly exchanging emails with Epstein in 2013, in which the sex offender appeared to act as Tisch’s skin-crawling personal “dating” service.
According to documents declassified Friday in the Justice Department’s evidence repository, Epstein constantly offered women — Russians, Ukrainians, Tahitians — what Tish called “my gift” or “my surprise.” Another time he asked if they were “supporters or citizens”.
The emails detail the relationship being so close that Tisch invited Epstein to Giants games, including her private suite to watch the contest against the Philadelphia Eagles. There is no evidence that Epstein ever participated in any sports.
Tisch isn’t accused of violating any laws in his conduct, but that doesn’t mean NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shouldn’t ask a lot of questions about all this, if not launch an investigation. He should treat a longtime owner — Tish’s father originally bought half the Giants in 1991 — the way he would treat a random player.
The league’s personal conduct policy reads, “Everyone who is part of the league must refrain from conduct that is detrimental to the integrity of the NFL and the public’s trust.” “It is not enough to avoid being found guilty of a crime in a court of law. We are all held to a high standard and we must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL and is lawful.”
The policy later states that, “Ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline if the personal conduct policy is violated.”
This is part of how the NFL has investigated owners for their personal conduct in the past, including Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers and Dan Snyder of the Washington Commanders. The NFL has not said anything yet about Tisch. A league spokesperson did not immediately respond to ESPN on Sunday.
The whole situation was troubling even before Tisch, 76, issued a scathing and dismissive public statement on Friday evening.
Tisch’s statement read, “We had a brief engagement where we exchanged emails about adult women and, in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investing.” “I did not accept any of his invitations and never visited his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and one I deeply regret associating with.”
Yeah, Steve, that won’t cut it.
Epstein was, indeed, a terrible person (this can be understated), but he was publicly known as a terrible person years before you decided to become, as Epstein once said, “a friend with a new but apparently shared interest.”
The guessing here is that the “shared interest” was not the NFC East title chase.
Tisch’s statement only serves to raise additional questions.
If this is how Tish communicates with people with whom he has “brief” associations, what exactly does he discuss with his old friends?
Of course, why in the world would Tish, a person of great wealth and influence, email a convicted sex offender in the first place, let alone one of those attractive young women whom Tish sometimes suspected might be prostitutes?
Did Tish, who was 63 at the time, even think about his age?
Tish claims that all the women were “adults”. Perhaps this is true, but although this would be an important legal difference, it does not matter morally.
Epstein preyed on young women, including some from poor parts of Eastern Europe, so he could serve them up as menu items to rich old men. That they would have reached the age of 18, a great deal of fear cannot be ruled out. Adults can also be sex trafficked.
If the standard of proper behavior for an NFL owner is simply that he did not have relations with a minor or did not actually travel to “Epstein Island,” then let Goodell come out and say that much.
That would be a pitifully low bar to clear.
Steve Tisch was born in a privileged family, received education in elite institutions and was blessed with an illustrious business career.
Tish should have been smart enough to realize that one of the reasons Epstein was able to control so many girls and women was because he was surrounded by power, money, and prestige. Every rich and famous celebrity, politician, sports figure and businessman whom Epstein could point to as a friend provided some degree of credibility and security that aided his ability to lure additional victims.
Even Epstein’s most innocent confidants should owe the world some introspection and atonement.
Tish made no offer.
“If it takes a village to raise a child,” a line in the movie “Spotlight” about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church says, “it takes a village to raise one.”
Maybe Hollywood Steve saw that movie.
Tisch’s statement sought to clarify that she and Epstein, when not discussing whether a woman from Tahiti was a “working girl” or whether Epstein could “arrange for my surprise to take me to lunch tomorrow,” they focused on “movies, philanthropy and investing.”
How heart-touching. None of this matters.
Epstein died in 2019. Tish is not subject to any known criminal investigation, and the emails themselves do not indicate that they broke any laws.
That doesn’t mean the NFL shouldn’t demand a full accounting of what these emails represent, what her relationship with Epstein was focused on, or whether Tisch understands the ramifications for untold victims … or “presents,” as she called them.
