Jeffrey Tate: The Eerie Similarities Between Two Dangerous Men (Pt. 1)
The unity of their misdeeds might remind us that evil is neither red nor blue. Evil is evil.
A Note…
At the height of the pandemic, and right after I watched the Epstein documentary Filthy Rich on Netflix, I tweeted at the FBI incessantly for the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell. (I really thought I was sticking my neck out here.)
Two weeks later, chaos ensued on the streets of Los Angeles as BLM protests gained momentum. My roommate at the time asked if I wanted to go pray at the police station with her as a form of protest. I said no.
Not because I didn't believe in the power of protest (or prayer), but because I was afraid of Maxwell. I was afraid her "all-seeing eye" would know exactly where I'd be. Just like her jefe Epstein ruthlessly surveilled his victims, and bought off Palm Beach police when accusations started to surface, I feared Maxwell would likewise summon the Power of Institution to crush my Twitter activism.
Of course, I realize now that my paranoia from three years ago was a bit… much. The FBI probably isn't going to knock my door down due to the fact that Maxwell is now behind bars. Yay!
But I am now peeking through my blinds for a different kind of hoard—an army of Andrew Tate followers, likely incentivized to spread the gospel of misogyny and defend their Top G.
Besides the paranoia of retaliation-via-zombie-swarm, there is yet another burden to bear when ripping through this cultural malaise—people missing the point entirely.
Our political divide is so wrought that compiling a list on the similarities and differences between, and dangers of both Epstein and Tate, is uncomfortable. Our identity is so wrapped up in our allegiance to our echo chambers that pointing a finger at both Tate and Epstein is kind of icky. It leaves me, the author, uncategorized. Not knowing the author's angle in 2023 is uncomfortable for a lot of readers, and I get that. And that's kind of the point—I want you, the reader, to get so uncomfortable that you question your core values outside of your political leaning.
If commentary on Epstein('s clientele) is outweighed by Tate scrutiny, then some audiences on the right tend to regard the creator as disingenuous. If commentary is fixated on Epstein and isn't bothered by Tate as much, the creator is a raging far-right winger to some on the left.
To wag a finger at both in an even-handed judgment is an invitation for cognitive dissonance and its discontents.
This essay isn't as much of an exercise in 'which bad actor is worse?' and therefore 'which side is worse?' as it is a reflection meant to strengthen the core values of the reader—how much do you identify with your echo chamber and its collective "virtues" so as to make excuses for the bad actors on your side?
Is it possible to look at Tate and Epstein as equally terrible people, whose behaviors are a net negative for humanity, without feeling like a traitor?
Can we really engage our cores here — our individual moral compasses?
I invite you to step outside your political allegiance as we explore a conspiracy of evil that stretches beyond the political binary.
Let's begin.
Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Tate
The late Jeffrey Epstein was a grossly wealthy financier from New York and who is now infamously remembered as a pedophile, human trafficker, sex offender, psychopath, blackmailer and overall violator of human rights. Epstein's fateful arrest occurred on July 6th, 2019 on human trafficking charges, and he allegedly ended his life on August 10th, 2019 while in prison. Many people, including his lawyers, dispute his cause of death, and the mystery surrounding his passing is the source of many conspiracy theories.
Andrew Tate is also a mysteriously wealthy social media personality and professional kickboxer who rose to fame seemingly out of nowhere, and whose life and lifestyle is a beacon to the Red Pill community. His first public appearance was in the Big Brother house in 2016 from which he made an early exit due to an ongoing police investigation. He was arrested in Romania on December 29, 2022, on charges of rape and human trafficking, and at the time of writing is still in detention.
While similar in their criminal convictions and self-made wealth, these two men found niches of defense in polar opposite camps. Epstein with wealthy democrats, and Tate with working-class right-wingers. But whether Bill Clinton flew to Epstein's private island 27 times, or Elon Musk really believes in Tate's matrix theory, their predatory cons have left what one can assume to be thousands of young men and women abused, robbed and broken. Perhaps pointing out the unity of their gleefully executed misdeeds might remind us as Americans that evil is neither red nor blue. Evil is evil.
The Similarities between Epstein and Tate
The Come Up
Both Epstein and Tate exhibited sparks of genius during childhood. Epstein learned to play the piano at five, skipped two grades and graduated from Lafayette High School at 16, while Tate learned to play chess at five, competing in adult tournaments as a kid.
Epstein and Tate shared a modest-rags-to-riches timeline, as neither came from income brackets that mirror their adulthood earnings. Epstein grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Sea Gate, New York and his father was a groundskeeper—his mother a school aide. Taking both professions into consideration, they possibly earned a combined annual income of $35,000 (adjusted for inflation.)
Tate's father, a renowned chess player, divorced his wife in 1997 and from then onwards, Tate's mother and his siblings lived in Luton—an English city with an average household income of £38,000 ($47,000). Tate's own website states that "he grew up broke and became a millionaire."
Despite their modest backgrounds, both Epstein and Tate would turn their circumstances around quite drastically in a short window of time.
Andrew Tate started his kickboxing career in 2008 and gained his first championship in '09. He gained notoriety as "King Cobra" throughout his decade-long sports and commentary career and this circumstantial makeover would have kicked-off in his early twenties, much like Epstein, who began teaching mathematics and physics at 21.
Tate was a contestant in the Big Brother house in 2016, but was booted off early for a sexual assault and physical abuse investigation.
Along with his brother Tristan, Andrew claims to have made millions through an adult webcam business they described as a "total scam", and the methods they used to procure the 75 webcam models are at the heart of Tate’s human trafficking charges. It's speculated that Tate coaxed women into his web with promises of a relationship, and once they were in his vicinity, flipped expectations and forced them to perform sex work.
Tate's school, Hustler's University—a mix of pre-recorded videos and a discord server—charged $49.99 for enrollment, and had over 110,000 students enrolled within a year. His in-person mentorship program, the War Room, charges men just under $5000 to transition into mini G's.
Andrew Tate's derogatory statements about women both served to skyrocket his platform and simultaneously get him banned on several social media sites. And the more his voice was silenced, the greater his infamy grew. According to VICE, Tate made $11,000,000 after his Twitter ban through his incentivized social media army resharing his content.
Andrew once claimed a net worth of $355 million dollars, but other sites calculate his net worth to rest in the $50 million ballpark.
However, Tate's fantasy net worth would be just half of Epstein's very tangible estate, valued at $600 million before settlements and lawyer fees were distributed.
Epstein's financial career began as a junior assistant at Bear Stearns, where he earned the limited partner title after just four years. His wealth, sudden rise and genius was a mystery to those close to him.
A friend described him as all smoke and mirrors. "I never saw any brilliance, I never saw him work. Anybody I know that is that wealthy works 26 hours a day. This guy plays 26 hours a day."
After establishing his own consulting firm in the early eighties, and later getting entangled in a Ponzi scheme at Towers Financial, he finally laid the golden egg—Epstein was granted Power of Attorney on behalf of billionaire Leslie Wexner, meaning he could execute financial decisions on Wexner's behalf.
Epstein turned to investment in the mid-to-late 2000s, during which he was president of Liquid Funding Ltd. before the financial collapse of 2008.
And after three decades of schmoozing and scheming, Epstein amassed a ridiculous amount of wealth—private islands, a private jet and large mansions, including a 7,600 acre ranch in New Mexico. Throw in some blackmail on high profile individuals and you have a recipe for permanence at the top.
Teaching
Despite never receiving his degree, Epstein taught physics and mathematics to teens at the Dalton School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Andrew Tate bragged that his school—Hustler's University, which has since closed—maintained the highest enrollment of any online school. Tate rebranded and started The Real World, which he described as a "learning platform… designed to break people free from the Matrix."
Prior to Hustler’s University and The Real World, Tate would teach men how to use women for webcam businesses. This program was called "Tate PHD" - short for "Pimping Hoes Degree." It promised to teach its students "how to build social medias to pick up women, how to test to see if a woman is high quality, how to get women in bed and how to stay on her mind without interaction". PHD was closed to focus on Hustler's University.
Witchcraft
In 2002, Writer Vicky Ward was working on a Vanity Fair piece on Epstein. At the time, he was an enigmatic figure with an elite circle of friends that included Presidents and British Royalty. A part of Ward's interview process involved long phone calls with Epstein. What began as a profile about his comeuppance in New York, took a turn when Ward discovered sexual abuse allegations against Epstein by the Farmer sisters—Annie and Maria.
Once Epstein realized that Ward was digging deeper, his tone changed. Over the course of the phone interviews, he learned that she was pregnant with twins, and didn't hesitate to use that knowledge to scare her away from the truth.
"He then made threats about having a witch doctor place a curse on my unborn children. He wanted to know the exact hospital that I was giving birth, and when…" said Ward in an interview.
And much like Epstein, Tate also has a stake in summoning the supernatural.
One of Tate's right hand men is Iggy Semmelweis, who describes himself as "Greatest Hypnotist the World Has Ever Known." In the VICE documentary by Matt Shea, Semmelweis is seen chanting strange incantations over War Room participants. Shea's own description of the process is that Iggy "seemed to have an agenda that expanded beyond the War Room itself, into something larger and darker."
A flirtation with magic and abuse, seen in both Epstein and Tate, is not a strange pairing as the late theologian Derek Prince defined witchcraft as both a supernatural and natural phenomenon, as it is an attempt to control others through manipulation, intimidation and domination.
Epstein and Tate's bond in the dark arts doesn't end with vague dabblings with the supernatural, but is most significantly marked by their thirst for power, control and gratification by any means necessary.
In Andrew Tate's own words "you have to manipulate a lot of people to win." And there is no greater display of Epstein and Tate's practice of control through manipulation as is seen in their parallel histories of abuse.
Abuse
Andrew Tate and Jeffrey Epstein desired control over women—to consume them however way their insatiable wills desired, whether that was for pleasure or wealth, or a dark, twisted symbiosis of both.
Over the span of nearly two decades, Epstein abused hundreds of girls, and drew over a dozen civil cases against himself. Tate currently has four abuse and rape accusations against him, and the extent of his human trafficking allegations are yet to be examined, but his treatment and view of women isn't a mystery since he self-identifies as an absolute sexist and absolute misogynist.
Both Epstein and Tate draw girls into their web with the manipulative aid of madams. Epstein had Ghislaine, and Tate has Georgiana Naghel. Ghislaine Maxwell lured girls through forged trust, and once they were comfortable in her and Jeffrey's company, the assault would begin, as seen in the case of Liz Stein. Maxwell later described to a close friend that she viewed the teenage girls she procured as "trash."
The manipulation didn't stop with female-trust trickery, but extended to the promises Tate and Epstein offered their prey. Tate is currently under investigation by Romanian authorities for procuring women for porn slavery through the "loverboy" method, which involves a trafficker initiating a romantic relationship with their victim, and later forcing them into sex work.
In the midst of their abusive endeavors, both Tate and Epstein carried themselves with an air of invincibility. Jeffrey managed to secure a plea deal without his victims' knowledge after his Palm Beach scandal was brought to court, and Anglo-American Tate moved to Romania for their less stringent approach to criminal activity—bragging about these motives on camera.
Both Epstein and Tate took their trafficking a step further by creating financial incentives based on their abuse. Tate endeavored to share his methods of webcam work through the Pimping Hoes Degree, and incentivizes a social media army to reshare his misogynist content through an affiliate program, while Epstein began luring girls into cycles of molestation by offering teens $200 to give him a massage at his home. He also offered to pay them if they brought more girls, and these massage sessions often turned abusive. The deceptive pattern of promise, such as career jumpstarts, were offered to other victims, like Maria and Annie Farmer.
Which brings us to the tactics both Epstein and Tate used to isolate their victims to maintain total control. Annie Farmer was flown out to Zorro Ranch—Epstein's New Mexico property—to focus on her work. The inappropriate motives behind the invitation were soon revealed, but Farmer was trapped. Sarah Ransome, one of the girls brought to Epstein's island under different circumstances than were intended, and whose passport and phone were both confiscated, contemplated jumping off a cliff and into shark infested waters to escape. One of Tate's "loverboy" victims was promised marriage and was flown out to Romania, only to later find herself entangled in a trafficking scheme, unable to flee.
And finally, both Epstein and Tate maintained control over their victims long after the abuse by threatening them repeatedly.
Maria Farmer, one of Epstein's first victims, recalled the 18 years she lived under the threatening watch of Ghislaine Maxwell. In an interview with 60 minutes, Maria stated that Ghislaine promised her over and over that she would die. "I can't even go outside peacefully. I had Ghislaine promising me multiple ways that…the people were going to be killing me… originally it started with things like I'm going to burn your art, and then I'm going to burn your career, and then I'm going to burn you and the house you live in."
Amelia (a pseudonym for protection) began seeing Andrew Tate in 2013. During a makeout session, Andrew's demeanor suddenly changed. He began to rape and strangle her, yelling "who do you belong to?" throughout the ordeal.
After questioning the confusion and turmoil he left her in, Amelia confronted Andrew about the assault. Andrew admitted via a Whatsapp audio recording that he "loved how much [she] hated it." Andrew would later send Amelia text messages from a different number every few months to remind her of how dangerous he was.
"I thought I'd remind you of the caliber of man I am. I am one of the most dangerous men on this planet."
Conclusion
Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Tate’s victims aren’t just women. Epstein and Tate manipulate men and women, the powerful and the poor, the left and the right—whomever they view as weak enough to control through manipulation and intimidation.
Tate manipulated women for his webcam business, lying to men (as he sometimes posed as a woman while chatting with men). He later based an education program off of this model and sold it to consumers desperate for a side hustle.
Epstein tricked girls into his orbit, and then used those girls to ensnare politicians and CEOs, whom he then blackmailed—a tactic known as 'honeypotting'.
Vicky Ward, the journalist that was threatened with a witchcraft curse, said this about Epstein.
"This man was a brilliant con artist. He was incredibly manipulative. We now know – two years after his death – that he was able to draw in some of the most powerful, brilliant men in the world into his work. It wasn’t just 14-year-old girls. And I think it’s very hard to understand how manipulative he was, unless you hear it."
In Part Two, I'll dive into the differences between Epstein and Tate, why both their differences and similarities matter for the future of justice and humanity, and also share my opinion on how their preferred political defense camps came to be.
I look forward to hearing your perspective in the comments!