A DEEPER BENCH — Marty Argues the Trump/Epstein SDNY Prosecution Team Needs a New QB and Playbook
In this guest op-ed, retired IRS criminal investigator Martin Sheil says the SDNY prosecution team needs to go deep and replace its quarterback and playbook when dealing with Trump and Epstein
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Author’s note: Retired IRS criminal investigator Martin Sheil, a Chicago resident, is a frequent contributor to Bette Dangerous. I am crossposting this guest op-ed from Marty’s substack.—hsc
Guest Op-Ed: A Deeper Bench — Trump/Epstein SDNY Prosecution Team Needs a New QB and Playbook
by Martin Sheil
The Trumpster’s latest Epstein distraction maneuver — announcing his direction to his offensive coordinator and contemporary legal Roy Cohn mouthpiece, Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a perversion of justice, to prosecute various illustrious Democrats. For example, Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. In addition, the banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase. It all reads like a failed trick football play - like a flea flicker that ends up in a fumble, and certainly not like the political touchdown that Trump ordered and expected his minions to deliver in order to take the political spotlight off of him and his struggling political agenda.
Let’s break down the play call and just where it fails.
Surely, Roy-Pam Bondi has great expectations in her designated quarterback prosecutor Jay Clayton — U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Why would she not?
Trump installed Clayton as U.S. Attorney at what most in the know would characterize as the preeminent U.S. Attorney’s Office in the United States, sometimes referred to as the sovereign district of New York.
Hmm - let’s start with the fact that Clayton has no actual prosecutorial experience.
Nor has he ever won a beauty contest!
Clayton did spend some time as the director of the SEC. Clayton also worked at the toney white collar law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, where he helped defend some of the wealthy elite that so contributes financially to our political elite.
What else do we know about Jay Clayton?
Well, his Wikipedia tells us that one of Clayton’s past clients was LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman, one of Trump’s designated targets.
Oopsie! Conflict of interest any one?
What else do we know about Jay Clayton?
Another one of his past clients was the corporate giant Apollo Management. Not only did Clayton represent Apollo, but he received compensation from Apollo to the tune of $200K annually through equity and fees, again, according to Wikipedia. Clayton has had substantial personal investments managed by Apollo.
So why is that a problem?
Leon Black is a long-time CEO of Apollo and has been connected to Epstein via a multitude of media articles as well as lawsuits filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands wherein Leon agreed to a significant cash settlement. It seems Leon felt a little guilty about the large sums of money he paid Epstein which may not have been exclusively for “tax advice.”
So I think the readers can all see a bit of a conflict for Jay Clayton in terms of his prosecuting Leon Black, a prominent figure in Epstein’s little black book.
Are there any other conflicts?
Oh yes!
For those of you already a bit familiar with Epstein’s biography you may remember Epstein honed his financial chops for a time with Bear Stearns - yes, that Bear Stearns.
So, as the story goes, Bear Stearns took over JPMorgan Chase, the bank — yes, that bank, in a less than friendly merger. And it seems Clayton was a main combatant in the corporate hostilities that ensued between Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase, which went on to become one of the world’s largest banks and keeper of a multitude of Jeffrey Epstein related bank accounts, many of which became subject to the filing of Suspicious Activity reports (SARs) with FinCEN, the financial crime center of the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Those SARS became important leads that pointed investigators working with DOJ prosecutors in the U.S. Virgin Islands, exploring allegations of Epstein’s human trafficking in the Islands.
No actual criminal indictments resulted from that probe.
Should anyone expect a different result from the new DOJ probe quarterbacked by the seriously conflicted U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton?
Might it be time for the head coach of the DOJ team to put in the backup quarterback to attack the Epstein game with some serious razzle dazzle that will appeal to the home team fans but will not actually accomplish anything concrete?
It won’t be the first time!
Hey coach, here is a clue: Drop the flea flicker from your playbook and direct your folks “to emphasize the ground game and follow the money” wherever it leads and to whomever it leads. That is the time tested strategy to victory.
Drop the razzle dazzle and go with what works.
Martin Sheil
Retired Supervisory Special Agent IRS Criminal Investigation
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