Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/07/17/epstein-passport.html
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Funny how the monied class gets away with it, until they don’t.
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s/1990s/1980s/
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Was it @beschizza’s safe??
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What’s the punishment for pedophiles in Austria?
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If there’s any justice, feed him to the spiders.
ETA: Misread that as “Australia”
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I do want to know how the Austrian press is handling this. Are there any German speakers on the BBS who can find out for us?
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Two questions.
- Do US laws prohibit use of phony passports by US citizens?
- If so, is anyone worth more than a million bucks ever prosecuted?
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Do not pass go.
Do not collect $200.
Yep - this really adds to the arguments that he’s a flight risk and shouldn’t be released while awaiting trial.
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I’m assuming it falls under this: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1543
(Though it doesn’t seem like those with money suffer from violating the law.)
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Huh. Interesting excuse. Did he think he was so famous that hijackers might know who he was and use him as some bargaining chip? Seems unlikely.
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One site says:
What If the Passport Holder is an American Citizen?
Using a forged or stolen passport is a crime, which applies to American citizens as well as non-citizens. However, unlike non-citizens, the government can only revoke a citizen’s passport after a hearing.
What are the Consequences of Passport Forgery?
Passport forgery is a serious offense that can carry penalties of imprisonment and heavy fines. In addition to charges for forgery, you can also be charged with other offenses such as identity theft and fraud for using the passport to travel, as identification, or to apply for visas and other documents. Common penalties for a passport fraud conviction are:
- Fines up to $250,000;
- Sentence up to 10 years in prison;
- Removed from the country;
- Banned from entering the country for at least five years; and
- A permanent record of fraud within the country.
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”As for the Austrian passport the government trumpets, it expired 32 years ago.”
“Why, any people Epstein raped while using that passport would be approaching middle age by now!”
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I do wonder if they’re more likely to punish non-citizens, especially poor non-citizens for having false US passports. I’ve seen some stories about American celebrities/the wealthy who got caught with false (US/foreign) passports and didn’t seem to get in any trouble because they also had valid US passports.
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It’s probably moot - it’s usage is beyond the statute of limitations.
It’s real import is how it speaks to flight risk.
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Back in the 1970s and 80s , it was not unknown for Muslin/Arab/Palestinian hijackers to collect the passports of all the hostages, then single out anyone whose passport was US, Israeli, or who just had a “Jewish”-sounding name. IIRC, that’s what happened to Leon Klinghoffer. It wasn’t about fame. However, getting a fake passport with a fake name was still not a thing.
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Any bets on his defense counsel iterating yet again and stating that each time he used the weird passport, he was confused and thought he was using his legal passport? It was an innocent mistake, your honor.
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I’m laughing so hard, that way I don’t cry…
I really hope that he has a nice trial where he gets everything that is coming to him… and then on his last day in prison… well, I suppose any day that someone does the needful would be his last day in prison.
shakes head yeah, raping children, trafficking children, prostituting children out to depraved individuals, all that is bad enough… but passport fraud? THIS SHALL NOT STAND!!!1!
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It’s never the money, it is ALWAYS the connections. And then it’s the money.
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Or, um,. not.
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