As previously noted on this blog, lists may be constructed for various purposes, but the list then becomes a thing in its own right.
One of the open questions of our time appears to be the existence or non-existence of a list, supposedly maintained by Jeffrey Epstein, possibly with the assistance of Ghislaine Maxwell. And the presence or absence of certain names on this list, if it exists. Interviewed in prison recently, Maxwell has denied the existence of such a list.
Fintan O'Toole notes the obsession of conspiracy theorists with the supposed existence of documentary evidence.
This naive faith is the other side of the American paranoid imagination. Even while it conjures the vast potency of the conspirators, it also takes it for granted that, inside the archives of the deep state, they have carefully preserved detailed proof of their plots to assassinate JFK, hide the visitations of aliens, and enable the satanic child abusers. Crackpot realism has a strange trust in the bureaucracy. In it, that most dully bureaucratic of words—files—becomes a magic elixir of truth.
But surely the more important question is about the relationships that Epstein maintained with a number of wealthy and well-connected people, and the extent to which he had any kompromat over them. Not whether he kept all their names in a grubby little notebook, like he was a villain in a B-movie.
If the list only ever existed in Epstein's head, as suggested by the satirical website Newsbiscuit, does that count?
Wikipedia: Jeffrey Epstein client list,
Luc Cohen, Andrew Goudsward and Jack Queen, Ghislaine Maxwell told DOJ she is unaware of any Epstein 'client list' (Reuters, 23 August 2025)
Fintan O’Toole, ‘A Guy Who Never Dies’ (New York Review of Books, 12 August 2025)Jeffrey Epstein’s amazing memory (Newsbiscuit 29 August 2025)
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