 Jeffrey Epstein, a prominent money manager who owns sprawling homes in Palm Beach, New York, the Virgin Islands and other locales, was charged as a sex trafficker and pedophile by federal prosecutors in a Manhattan courtroom. Epstein has been accused repeatedly over the years of manipulating and molesting underage girls. The Daily Beast, which broke the news of Epstein's arrest, correctly predicted that prosecutors would accuse the financier of luring minors and other women to his homes by offering cash for massages and then sexually molesting them. In an interesting twist, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan has put its public corruption unit in charge of the Epstein case — not, as might be expected, its human-trafficking team (although the latter unit is being consulted reportedly). It's likely, at least in part, that the case is being handled by corruption prosecutors because of a controversial and lenient plea deal struck between Epstein and federal law enforcement officials in Florida back in 2008. The financier was being investigated at the time for having sex with underage girls — many of them orphans or runaways — at his Palm Beach mansion. A series of stories last fall by the Miami Herald's Julie Brown took note of the extensive network of political, business and legal allies assembled by Epstein over the years and questioned the extent to which that network may have protected him or helped cushion his fall. It included: a former president, Bill Clinton; the U.K.'s Prince Andrew; powerhouse attorneys such as Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and Roy Black; and business contacts such as Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell, and Leslie Wexner, the owner of retailer Victoria's Secret. Several years ago, Gawker published a copy of Epstein's address book and it was packed with marquee names from Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington. Trump's name was among them, too. Read the whole thing. The Too-Good-to-Be-True Way to Fight the Chinese Military – Hal Brands Donald Trump Throws a Tax Bomb at Emmanuel Macron – Lionel Laurent That Giant Asteroid of Gold Won't Make Us Richer – Noah Smith The True Price of Electric Cars – Lionel Laurent That New Consensus on China? It's Wrong – Susan Thornton Winning the Obamacare Suit Would Be a Disaster for Republicans – Ramesh Ponnuru Guess What's Holding Back Wind Power in the U.S. – Peter Orszag Why Are Liberals So Mad at Nancy Pelosi? – Jonathan Bernstein Mercedes Shows the Car Industry Can't Be Trusted – Chris Bryant Saturday New Music Here are seven new albums you can stream right now, including from Bleached and Joanna Sternberg. This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the 10 most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion published this week, based on web readership, with some other stuff thrown in. | 
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