Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

While the attention of the US, and much of the world, has been on the sordid details of the "Epstein Files," the fallout of the entire affair has far-reaching implications for the American system of government. It is more than just a scandal; it is a clear look inside a system where the rule of law, once a promise for everyone, has been hollowed out to serve as a fancy decoration for those at the top.

The reality is that this case was never just about a single criminal; it was about how the system protected him for decades. Indeed, the Epstein affair has become a ticking time bomb under the US, threatening to destroy whatever remains of the public's trust in its core institutions.

Officially, Jeffrey Epstein was a financier who somehow made billions, bought a private island in the Caribbean, had a private jet dubbed "Lolita Express," and was always surrounded by very young women who "gave massages" to his rich, powerful and influential friends. After he was arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors, he committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019. Meanwhile, everyone looked the other way. Nothing to see here, case closed. 

His right-hand woman and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, whose family connections have fueled endless speculation about Epstein's ultimate handlers, is currently serving a lengthy prison term for sex trafficking. But her trial did not reveal who the underage girls were trafficked to, so the American public remained in the dark about the identity of Epstein's clients as well as the details of his death.

Only after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House did Congress demand full disclosure and the US government published the full dossier of Epstein-related documents. The fact that Epstein spent decades brokering financial and political deals, no doubt "facilitated" by having underage girls provide sexual favors, is bad enough for Western elites. The way it's being handled threatens to destroy the already weakened rule of law. 

The American system of government is predicated on 17th-century English ideals. You get prosecuted for what you did, not for who you are; you face your accuser in court, you lay out your case before a jury, and you're presumed innocent until proven guilty. The Epstein affair has upended all of that. First, by exposing the selective prosecution of Epstein himself (and lack of prosecution for his clients) and second, by shifting the "trial" from the courts to the media.

It's as if the law has stopped being a simple ruler for justice and turned into a volume knob - turned down to quietly clean up a mess when needed, and turned up to blast an enemy when an attack is required.

Epstein was actually prosecuted in 2008, but on a trivial charge, and given an astonishingly lenient sentence. It remains a mystery as to why, except for a rumor that he was "connected to intelligence." He was only re-arrested in 2019, after two lawyers and a newspaper sued to unseal the documents from a civil lawsuit by one of Epstein and Maxwell's victims. 

Discrepancies between the released evidence and official statements about Epstein's death further undermine DOJ and FBI credibility. Now we have the raw documents being released to the public and the Epstein affair being litigated in the worst possible venue - the court of public opinion.

In that particular court, no one is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but the other way around. Identities of both victims and clients are considered important only if their disclosure furthers political agendas. Quite frankly, one gets the impression that few people involved actually want justice for the girls abused by Epstein, Maxwell and their clients.

For years, the use of secret non-prosecution agreements and sealed court records worked like a private fortress for Epstein's circle. This proves a chilling point: The self-correction mechanisms of the American legal system are actively switched off when they run into the interests of the rich and the powerful - or can be used for political ends. 

One of America's founders, John Adams, famously said he wanted a nation "ruled by laws, not men." But it's men who ultimately administer laws, and as we have seen, they can do so very selectively. This realization has dealt a severe blow to the American judicial system, already damaged by years of political misuse. Ultimately, the Epstein affair may well be radioactive enough to finish the meltdown.

The author is a Serbian-American journalist. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn