"I have been asked by Jeffrey Epstein …"
The life of reputed billionaire[1] Jeffrey Epstein took many strange turns. So did the articles about him on Wikipedia. In 2008, he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution, served 13 months in a Florida jail, and was required to register as a sex offender. He allegedly committed illicit sexual activities while he was on work release from jail,[2] and was suspected of continuing them through at least 2015.[3]
Ultimately, he was accused of additional serious offenses, including sex trafficking, resulting in his July 2019 arrest. That month, publicity about the lenient plea deal in Epstein's 2008 case resulted in the resignation of US Secretary of Labor, Alexander Acosta, who as U.S. attorney for Southern Florida had approved the deal.[4] Epstein died in jail in August 2019, his death ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner.[5]
Between his 2009 release from jail and his second arrest, the editing got interesting on Wikipedia. Epstein began an extensive campaign to whitewash his reputation. Most notably, he claimed large donations to well-known academics through his charitable foundations.[6] Given his heinous crimes, the probable high-level political interest in the story, and the campaign to whitewash his reputation, in retrospect Wikipedia's article on Epstein seems like an obvious potential target for conflict-of-interest or paid editing.
The New York Times on November 26, 2019, broke a story about Wikipedia editing by accounts with probable links to Epstein. The Times wrote that after his 2008 conviction, Epstein named reputation management services that he used, and a Wikipedia user account, "Turville", appeared in information Epstein provided.[6] However there is no User:Turville registered on Wikipedia, and the Times suggested that User:Turvill (without an "e"), was the account referred to.
This Signpost report investigates whether User:Turvill and other accounts were associated with Epstein and how their edits affected two articles on Epstein. It is important to note that no purely on-Wiki investigation can prove the identity of a user account. For example other people may impersonate an editor in order to embarrass them, a tactic known as Joe jobbing. We cannot conclusively determine whether Epstein himself, employees of the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, reputation management companies, or other types of paid editors edited the Wikipedia articles about Epstein. We can however gather evidence about how editors who associated themselves in some way with Epstein affected the articles.
- ^ Voytko, Lisette (16 July 2019). "Court Documents Confirm Jeffrey Epstein Is Nowhere Near A Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ Baker, Mike (17 July 2019). "Sheriff to Investigate Jeffrey Epstein 'Work Release' After Allegation of Nude Meeting". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ Farrow, Ronan (7 September 2019). "How an Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein". The New Yorker. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ Helmore, Edward (12 July 2019). "Alex Acosta resigns as US labor secretary following Epstein plea deal scandal". Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- ^ Barrett, Devlin (14 August 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy concludes his death was a suicide by hanging". Washington Post. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
- ^ a b Eder, Steven; Goldstein, Matthew (26 November 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's Charity: An Image Boost Built on Deception". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2020.