154: Surviving Jeffrey Epstein and The Con

[CW: The episode reviews series that discuss sexual assault, harm to children, and suicide. Please listen with care.]

Omar Gallaga returns to discuss two very grim and infuriating properties, starting with Lifetime's Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, which centers the survivors of Epstein's monstrousness while also indicting a society that let him manipulate it with shocking impunity. It's a good docuseries that's also a difficult sit, and the rare discussion of the case of late that had the capacity to tell us something new.

The Con also told us something new, about a different kind of predatory behavior -- the outright frauds that led to the financial crisis of 2008. It's a straightforward narrative without a lot of production bells and whistles, but it's also a very careful accounting (so to speak) of all the different bad actors in the world of mortgage fraud, from inexperienced brokers to rapacious CEOs to the Wall Street traders who created the demand. The podcast may not be fast, but you'll be furious by the end of The Blotter Presents, Episode 154.

SHOW NOTES

• Surviving Jeffrey Epstein
• My Primetimer review of Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
• Where to watch The Con
• Guardian review of The Con 
• Omar at LEVEL and Terribly Happy
• Check out Native deodorant and Hello Fresh!
• Best Evidence