Prominent PEU Names in Epstein Files

Creep Jeffrey Epstein sold Howard Lutnick a New York City townhouse for $10.  That's what happens when you are in good graces in the insider money funnel.  

Trump II was named by an underage girl as having "forced her head down to his exposed penis."

Private equity underwriters (PEU) Leon Black (Apollo) and Glenn Dubin (Highbridge Capital) were mentioned by victims as getting massages with the Epstein treatment.  

Trump's "Just Us" Department is yet to meet with Epstein's victims who want co-conspirators and abusers identified.

Time will reveal if that actually happens given politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  Insiders protected their own for decades.  That is clear for the world to see.

Contempt for It All

Our Health & Human Services Secretary revealed he'd snorted cocaine off a toilet seat to show his germ braveness and contempt for the law.  

Pollution regulations do not apply to the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.  And both of these men are in the Trump-Epstein files,  a world of the rich and powerful where women play a distinctly subservient role

Get ready for more billionaire gas emissions, courtesy of Trump II.  In a meeting with oil executives the President suddenly got up and lumbered over to the window facing the former East Wing of the White House.  Some speculated Trump II had a gastrointestinal motive for his foray.  

Trump II and his TechGods show us every day how much power they have and how little anyone else possesses.  Congress and the Supremes are yet to reign in Trump, the digital Caligula, in any serious manner.  Let's hope that changes soon.

The Constitution provides no room for the Executive Branch to direct elections.  That power is given to the states and can be adjusted by Congress.  Usurping that is typical Trump II and shows his contempt for the rights of others.  

Toilet seat, pollution, deregulating emissions, defecating on the Constitution...please sir, I'd love to inhale more billionaire gas straight from your intestinal tract.  And then, may I have another one?  

If your cabinet, oil executives, TechGods and private equity underwriters (PEU) can do it and survive, I'll take my chances.  

I'll pull your finger when you quit pulling my leg with your ceaseless mistruths and dodgy diversions.

Update 2-15-26:  The New Yorker reported Trump advisor Steve Bannon advised Epstein on reputation rehab:

Bannon wrote, “we must counter ‘rapist who traffics in female children to be raped by worlds most powerful, richest men’---that can’t be redeemed.”

Epstein gamed multiple systems, immigration, peace prizes, the corporate world, even stolen art.

Leon Black and other private equity underwriters (PEU) coached Jeffrey well.

Feds Got Rothstein, Not Epstein.

The Epstein files have numerous documents related to $1.2 billion Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, who looked at Donald J. Trump as a role model.   

The homemade video shows billion-dollar Ponzi criminal Scott Rothstein sitting in the back of a limousine on his way to Yankee Stadium, a glass of vodka in his hand, lecturing to several children -- relatives and family friends -- who are attending the baseball game with him. 

"Here's one thing you should learn about me that's really important, everybody pays attention," Rothstein said. "If you are going to attack me in any fashion, be prepared for the counter-attack and understand that I duel with people much much smarter than you every day. Understand that the repercussions of engaging me could open the gates of hell. Understand that I am capable of evil far beyond anything your imagination could ever conjure up." 

A voice from behind the camera pipes up: "I can verify this as actual fact." The voice is that of Steve Caputi, a partner with Rothstein in the Café Iguana nightclub in Pembroke Pines and one of his closest friends "

He said, 'Listen, Trump operates the same way, the politicians operate the same way, when there's a problem you fix it," he said. "Sometimes you go outside the rules. Everybody does it, that's how it's done. That's how you get to the top." 

And Caputi rode along as Rothstein's meteoric rise began until both of them were hobnobbing with Donald Trump at his Mar-A-Lago estate. 

He said Trump was one of Rothstein's idols and Trump returned the respect in a big way one night at an event at the lavish Palm Beach spread. 

"Donald Trump puts his arm around Scott and says, 'You know, people you're looking at probably the next United States Attorney General,'" Caputi said. "And Scott's trying to look all modest, and Arlen Specter chirps in and says, 'Maybe someday a president of the United States.' And the whole room explodes with applause like the floor of a convention."

Rothstein used his ill gotten gains for influence peddling.  The perpetrator was looking at a reduced sentence (a la Jeffrey Epstein) but the government reversed their offer:

Prosecutors withdrew their motion two years ago to reduce Rothstein’s sentence based on his cooperation in the sprawling racketeering investigation because he provided “false” information and violated his plea agreement.

Sound familiar?   

Rothstein's co-conspirators were investigated, charged and convicted.  

Epstein's psychologist was the victim of a different fraud from financial advisor Donald Hardman.  He copied Epstein on communications with his attorney on settling the fraudulent debt with Regions Bank.  

Local law enforcement took an interest in the Hardman case, just as they had with Rothstein

Epstein started at $20,000 to settle a $200,000 debt plus interest.  The offer rose to $50,000.  It appears they settled on $75,000.   

Makes you wonder about Palm Beach, the new Wall Street given how many financial firms have located offices there.  

Trump II disabled white collar criminal investigatory capacity and ring fenced numerous areas as off limits for investigation.  He even appointed a white collar crime defense attorney as Ambassador to the United Nations.  

Should Trump pardon Scott Rothstein he could fulfill that Attorney General prognostication.  Pam Bondi's bombastic thugery is getting stale.

Trump II Appoints White Collar Criminal Defender to UN

Trump II appointed  attorney Todd Steggerda as United Nations Ambassador.  White House.gov posted on 2-11-26:

Todd Steggerda, of Virginia, to be Representative of the United States of America to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, with the rank of Ambassador.

Steggarda headed McGuire Woods Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation Group and has significant experience defending executives charged of federal crimes and coaching others how to avoid illegal actions.  

Trump II's administration neutered the government's white collar criminal investigative capacity while declaring former investigative areas "off limits."  I'll venture Steggarda's goal is to globalize the Trump white collar crime free-pass system.

Jesse wrote:

Lack of strategic vision, honor, and a sense of consequence are sorely lacking in most of our governing elites. 

 They rarely face any consequences for their incompetence and corruption, and have consequently developed a remarkably unnatural sense of life in their bubble of entitlement. 

This must be fashionable with governments these days, because there is so much of that going around. 

We learn nothing.

Trump II also appointed Karen Sessions for a plum government slot:

Karen Sessions, of Texas, to be a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for a term of seven years from October 27, 2025, vice Mary T. Boyle, term expired.

Karen is the wife of Texas Representative Pete Sessions and a former Red Team candidate for Congress in Florida. 

Politicians Red & Blue love private equity underwriters (PEU) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Trump Appoints Another PEU

Trump II appointed a former tech CEO whose company had billions in private equity investment.  William Hague is the former CEO and Vice Chair of Tillman Infrastructure.  In 2022 Tillman got $1 billion from Carlyle.

The company took on more private equity loans in 2024.

Hague worked for a private equity underwriter (PEU) funded outfit until he joined Trump II's administration.  

Hague knows Carlyle, Apollo Oak Hill, HPS and Northleaf so he's a good fit for any modern administration.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

TechGod Vance Pops Off at Olympians

Former TechGod, now Vice President J.D. Vance informed Olympians they are "not there to pop off on politics."  In other words, Vance does not want or need citizen feedback.

Olympic values are Excellence, Respect and Friendship.  Vance and his boss fail at all three.  As a role model Trump II shows Olympic level lying, cheating, rudeness, insolence, impropriety, arrogance, unceasing need for ceaseless compliments from underlings and cruelty.  J.D. is the Chihuahua at his master's feet.

That Olympians are asked to reconcile the games values with Trump II's incompetence, insults and bullying, should not be a surprise.  

TechGods gave us abysmal customer service, so they've long proven their inability or lack of interest in feedback.  Vance comes from this cloth. 

Trump II's disintegration occurs before our very eyes and is due in part to his surrounding himself with sycophants like Vance and his clown car cabinet.  

J.D. and his creep boss think they can tell independent voters what to think and what to do.  Not happening.  

Insiders may not listen to the little people but many voters are tired of incumbents who can't seem to pass legislation, i.e. perform their actual job.  We'll see how many get sent home this November.  

Votes are feedback, VP. Vance so get ready to listen because an Italian Alps avalanche may be headed your way.  Get that beacon device in your backpack for you may get snowed under and need rescue.  

Recall Trump II's standing while the pharmaceutical executive fainted in the Oval Office and Health Secretary Robert Kennedy's fled the scene.  How good are you at self-rescue, Mr. Vance?  

Can you dig yourself out of a hole you placed yourself into?  

Update 2-12-26:  No surprise former TechGod Vance defended an indefensible social media posts by his boss.

“You know, the president said a staffer posted a video, he hadn’t even watched the whole thing, when he watched the whole thing he took it down,” Vance said. “It’s not a real controversy.” “Should he apologize for posting a video and then taking it down? No, I don’t think so,” 

Vance said. “I think people post things on social media and if you post something and you don’t like it, you can take it down.”

Trump II pops off politically all the time and goes much further than vanilla statements of discomfort by a few Olympians.   The athletes are uncomfortable about the number, size and scope of Trump II's pop offs.  Internet searches show Vice President Vance nearly synonymous with hypocrisy.

Lonsdale Excited about Erebor Launch

8VC Founder Joe Lonsdale celebrated the launch of Erebor Bank, recently given a national charter by Trump II's administration.

Erebor is an online bank located in Columbus, Ohio, the location of Anduril's new giant manufacturing plant.

Anduril, founded by Palmer Luckey, has $850 million in economic development subsidies for their plant.  

I hope local banking is not included in the economic development impact analysis.  If it is, someone should remove that contribution.  TechGods prefer to pay fees to themselves while avoiding taxes.

Erebor is effectively the captive bank of Anduril and its more than 4,000 future employees.  Anduril sells military hardware to Uncle Sam.  Erebor was just approved by the feds.  How long before they visit the Fed or Treasury window?  

TechGods can churn taxpayer money as good as any New York City boiler shop can separate retirees from their bank accounts.

Stablecoins, anyone?  Erebor plans to have them in spades at their digital bank in Columbus with a secondary office in New York City.  Please Lord, let it be in an old boiler shop.

Trump Is

Trump II's loud, terrifying cries over the Jeffrey Epstein files include "hoax", "move on" and "you are the worst, you never smile."  

The "Just Us" Department fulfilled his two wishes, protect Trump and protect his wealthy friends.  Staff know what the boss wants, especially those who served as his personal attorney.

The White House issued a bizarre news piece yesterday "Don't be a Panican."  It is the kind of propaganda a disintegrating chief executive issues as his political ship sinks closer to the ethical bottom.  When you think Trump II cannot go any lower, he does just that.

I can see Trump II at the apex of Little Jeff's island yelling:

"Man the ego stabilizers.  Throw Kristi Noem overboard!   Prepare the pardon punch for Ghislaine.  Get the TechGods on the phone, I need more money!  Everybody's gone bananas, Obama, Obongo, Bongino....!"

Trump II is yet to recognize the fork in him.  He chose long ago who to serve and it is becoming more clear every day.  The days of blind allegiance are over for more people as each day passes.

“I think people are realizing it was all a lie. It was a big lie for the people. What MAGA is really serving in this administration, who they’re serving, is their big donors. 

“Those are the people that get the special favors. They get the government contracts, they get the pardons, or somebody they love or one of their friends gets a pardon.”” 

And those people are private equity underwriters (PEU), TechGods and other captains of industry.  Many of these people are in the Epstein files and thus need protection.  

The Lords frown upon ungrateful children who should be delighted that they were chosen for special attention.

Epstein could afford lawyers highly skilled at intimidation.

We'll see how many Lords in the files end up needing a pardon.  

Erebor: Captive Bank of Anduril

There's a new national bank in the U.S. courtesy of Trump II's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  It's Erebor Bank.

Erebor Bank has no physical branches.  It was founded by TechGods Peter Thiel and Palmer Luckey, in part to serve Anduril's banking needs relative to their giant new Ohio manufacturing plant.  Fees, even bank fees, need to be kept within the TechGod family.    

Banking Dive reported Erebor Bank will cater to:

start-ups and high-net-worth individuals within the cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, defense and manufacturing sectors.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), now bankrupt, catered to:

technology, life science/healthcare, and venture capital industries, serving as a specialized financial partner for startups, private equity firms, and their founders (wealthy).

Add a smattering of crypto to that SVB client mix.  Sounds like Erebor is targeting the same clientele.  

Peter Thiel wouldn't make a run on his own Bank of the TechGods.  Would he?  

Masking "advanced autonomous banking" with Hobbit lore should make any financial professional nervous.  

From SVB to Synapse, TechGods don't have a sterling reputation in the banking sector.  They do know how to convince politicians to give them new lanes of business to disrupt.  Erebor Bank is one of these.

Before one makes an Erebor deposit one should consider the source and who you might be banking alongside:

Evil is as evil does in the hallowed halls of power.

Iozzo Zings Manufactured Credit Events to Epstein

Renowned hacker Vincenzo Iozzo sent Jeffrey Epstein an article about Blackstone's manufactured default strategy.  Their fund would buy a credit default swap on a company and then pursue providing capital to that very company.  In the borrowing provisions Blackstone's fund would specify terms that would trigger a credit default.  Zing, the ticking credit default swap blows and becomes money in the bank.

The opposite is happening today.  Private equity underwriters (PEU) like Blackstone are avoiding credit events by gating redemptions and packaging stale assets in continuation funds.  

Sell to self (sister fund) at non-arm's length valuation avoids that credit event where the PEU might have to hand over the affiliate's keys to creditors.

A different Iozzo email to Epstein offered the serial sexual predator a chance to take an equity stake in crypto mining manufacturer Bitmain prior to its planned Hong Kong IPO.  It turns out Vincenzo Iozzo is a private equity underwriter.

The Epstein files are a great window into our PEU world.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Dominari Advisory Board Pay Spanks Director Compensation

Trump Organization Executive Vice President Ronald Lieberman's Dominari Advisory Board pay was roughly eleven times (11x) his director compensation in 2025.   Total compensation, Advisory and full board, came in over $1.1 million.   

Lieberman also received dividends for his Dominari stock, which grew significantly in 2025 from $924,000 in stock compensation.

The SEC filing did not show compensation for other Advisory Board members, which include Don Jr. and Eric Trump.  

Advisory board slots and corresponding compensation are one of the tools in the insider money funnel where powerful, connected people shovel obscene amounts to one another.   

The average citizen is struggling to get by while young people faced a depleted jobs future.  Neither can comprehend a part time job paying $1 million a year, something commonplace in U.S. power circles.

Epstein Library, Paul Weiss & Apollo

The Epstein library contained a copy of a May 2016 lawsuit from Caesars/Harrah's creditors against Apollo, TPG, law firm Paul Weiss and numerous other entities.  

Paul Weiss was involved in virtually all aspects of almost every asset transfer. Paul Weiss lawyers sat with Apollo and CEC to develop the legal strategy underpinning the removal of assets from CEOC; arranged for the organization of the CEC affiliates needed to receive the assets from CEOC; devised means of removing CEC's guarantees of CEOC's debts; came up with schemes to protect the transferees from the claims of CEOC's creditors; prepared transactional documents; rendered legal advice about the structure, timing, character and execution of the transfers described in this Complaint; determined the legal terms and conditions of the transfers; looked for ways for CEC and the transferees to avoid fraudulent transfer liability; assessed bankruptcy risks; assisted the Sponsors and CEC's efforts to reduce the consideration paid to CEOC in the transactions; advised the boards of CEC and CEOC of their fiduciary duties; handled the closings of the deals; represented CEC in negotiations surrounding the Restructuring Support Agreement to obtain releases of liability from CEOC for CEC, CAC, CERP, CES, Growth Partners, CEC's directors, Apollo, TPG, and Paul Weiss itself; and even drafted the complaint filed by CEC (using another law firm Paul Weiss located) seeking a declaratory judgment that CEC had no liability to CEOC for the fraudulent transfers.

It is difficult to imagine one law firm fulfilling so many roles that were obviously in such conflict. Yet Paul Weiss - possibly because Apollo ranks among its leading clients — had no compunction about doing so. These conflicts were so profound as to be beyond that class of representations where a single law firm, even with informed written consent, could represent competing interests. Paul Weiss chose to represent competing interests in a zero-sum game. Upon information and belief, Paul Weiss was paid tens of millions of dollars for its work for CEC and CEOC.

Pitchbook reported on the September 2016 settlement of this case which cost Apollo and TPG dearly.

Semafor recently reported on law firm Paul Weiss' aggressive pursuit of Apollo's legal business while co-founder Leon Black was in charge. 

Black financially sponsored Jeffrey Epstein for "tax advice" and the Epstein Library included documents showing the amount Black spent on Paul Weiss attorneys in 2013 ($1.2 million) and 2014 (just over $750,000). 

There is also a curious e-mail from redacted to Epstein regarding Harrah's and that person's interest in doing horizontal refurbishment for the company, now that it was an Apollo affiliate.

A former Trump Atlantic City Casino partner went on to work for Harrah's becoming President and later Chairman.  He retired before before Apollo bought Harrah's in 2008 and someone wrote that 2010 redacted email.  The Harrah's executive had no desire to cross paths with Trump.  In 2015 this gentleman wrote:

In 1985 I filed an affidavit with the court over Trump’s claims of mismanagement: Referring to Trump I said, “His written response to my letter of May 10 is characteristic of the bluster, threats, intemperance and unsupported and unsupportable falsehoods that have permeated the correspondence we have received from him and his key management employees almost since the beginning of our partnership.” 

My opinion of Donald Trump from the 1980s has not changed. The negative publicity about Donald Trump during this campaign—his conduct toward women, his business failures and his explosive temperament—matches my dealings with him. 

He added in 2025: 

“His whole approach during the periods that I was involved with him in a partnership were examples of somebody who talked a lot about himself with a great deal of bombast. And there was no regard to accuracy of what he said or truthfulness. And as a consequence, ultimately, our company could not coexist with him as a partner.” 

“I am convinced he simply does not have the temperament to be president, or more importantly, commander in chief: His hair-trigger temper, bluster, racial rhetoric and divisive domestic and international views will endanger our democracy and risk permanent damage to our society.”

Well said, sir.  I am afraid much more is in store as Trump II disintegrates before our very eyes.

Back to the Caesars/Harrah's 2016 settlement with creditors.  Even that had a billionaire secrecy side to it.  NYPo reported:

While the reasons for Leon Black’s (Apollo's) and David Bonderman’s (TPG's) change of heart (settling with creditors) may be open for debate, the timing is sure to raise some eyebrows. It came days before Sept. 29, when Apollo’s Marc Rowan, Bonderman and other executives of the funds would have been forced to turn over personal financial records to creditors.

Are we detecting a pattern?  Private equity underwriters (PEU) and their hired guns can be on all sides of a deal simultaneously, where secrecy is paramount and they are willing to take far more than their share because it is rightfully theirs.

Who covers for these guys?  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their brash TechGod brethren.  Increasingly more are one.  

Update 2-9-26:  Paul Weiss was the first law firm targeted by Trump II.  Did he go after them because of their Epstein ties?  Pro bono for Trump, not for Epstein's victims.

As for the much more is in store as Trump II disintegrates before our very eyes, his White House bluster continues uninterrupted.

Here's to You, Mr. Dilorio

I searched "Josh Harris" in the Epstein Library and it returned over 500 documents.  I went to the "Last" one and found a ten page email from whistleblower Chris Dilorio from May 2019.

The graphic above has a small portion of the email (which I later found on Roll Call).  It begins with Environmental Solutions Worldwide (ESW).  Dilorio called ESW a "money laundering shell."

FT reported:

Mr (Leon) Black (Apollo co-founder), his trusts, and members of his immediate family owned around 40 per cent (of ESW stock) from 2011 through to 2014, according to corporate filings that also listed Richard Ressler, Mr Black’s brother-in-law, as a shareholder. 

The board included John Suydam, Apollo Global Management’s chief legal officer, John Hannan, chairman of Apollo Investment Corporation, and two of Mr Black’s sons, Benjamin and Joshua, according to the filings.

Dilorio asserted that numerous government agencies, Jeffrey Epstein (6% owner of ESW) and numerous powerful PEUs, many Apollo affiliated, knew of ESW's money laundering.

He went on to say "let's give these scumbags the insurance/annuities market" after which he predicted a bad ending for many Americans.

The message references private equity's numerous insurance company takeovers, after which they stacked the insurer's investment portfolio with their private equity/private credit offerings.  

I asked my wise friend for his thoughts on the Dilorio email:

This is exactly how you can launder money from criminal enterprises and it's been going on for a long time. Look at all the names. What a bunch of scumbags.

Apollo hired Dechert to investigate Apollo's ties to Epstein.  First, Epstein owned a large chunk of Apollo stock via his business entities.  

Apollo co-founder Leon Black was emphatic about his Epstein ties after his longtime friend's arrest.

The Department of Justice's Epstein document release calls into question Mr. Black's assertions.  There are emails about Epstein advising on Apollo's Athene buyout.  Epstein ate breakfast with Apollo's Marc Rowan and Josh Harris numerous times.

Turning the head the other way is a useful skill for insiders until their inattention is brought to light, as is the case with Jeffrey Epstein's library.  

At some point authorities will investigate the role private equity underwriters (PEU) had in making insurance unaffordable.  That might be just another part of Jeffrey Epstein's PEU legacy.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one which makes it harder for government to get off their keister and actually protect people, especially retirees and underage girls.

The PEUnified Theory of Everything

The Epstein files release brought a banquet of consequences to Brad Karp of legal giant Paul Weiss.  The firm worked with Jeffrey Epstein in conjunction with Apollo Global's private equity business and Apollo co-founder Leon Black, a major funder of Epstein's serial child sex abuse operations.  

Semafor Business Editor Liz Hoffman used the Karp story as a cautionary tale given how private equity consumed the U.S. economy and navigated both political parties to PEs benefit.  She closed her piece with "Even our sexual predators work for private equity."  

PEUReport's mission has been to expose unseen connections and unprincipled business practices of private equity underwriters (PEU), their legendary founders and sponsored politicians of both political stripes.  

The Epstein files are an incredible window into this world, coming at a time when Epstein's longtime wingman is serving his second Presidential term and disintegrating before our very eyes.

Having more is it.  Be it money, power, sex, a higher spot on the billionaire list, the greed and leverage boys want it all and they've coopted government to their mendacious ends.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their newer, brash TechGod brethren.  A shout out to the TechGods for their impatience, on top of Epstein revelations, help pull back the curtain for the public to see.  

Increasingly, more are one:  Politician-PEU-TechGod all rolled into one like JD Vance.

Project Vault: State Capitalism for TechGods

Trump II announced Project Vault, a massive $12 billion public-private partnership around critical minerals.  The Export-Import Bank will provide $10 billion in capital while private companies will add $2 billion.

Vice President J.D. Vance, former TechGod, weighed in (via NYPost):

The strategy proposes a preferential trade zone among allied nations, designed to stabilize prices, block the flood of foreign products and guarantee secure access to essential materials. 

 Vance pitched the Project Vault effort as both an economic and national security mission — and urged allies to join quickly. 

 The objective is “diversifying global supply in the critical minerals market, while strengthening the partner countries who help all of us in this shared effort,” he said.

John Jovanovic, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, is familiar with levered finance as a former private equity underwriter (PEU) with Cadent Energy Partners and Berenson.  

The bank's news announcement states:

...a Direct Loan of up to $10 billion to Project Vault providing long-term financing to a partnership between original equipment manufacturers and private sector capital providers. 

Initial indications of participation from original equipment manufacturers include Clarios, GE Vernova, Western Digital, Boeing, and many more. 

Suppliers servicing Project Vault include Hartree Partners, Mercuria Americas, and Traxys.

Jovanovic worked for Mercuria from 2016 to 2020 when he received his first Trump I political appointment.  Jovanovic is married to the daughter of Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump II's Medicare Chief.

Mercuria's press release does not mention Jovanovic's prior employment with the firm.

Just last week Jovanovic spoke before a Baker Hughes annual conference.  He said the bank would determine "which energy projects move forward" and "which partnerships strengthen U.S. interests."  

The bank's programs would "ensure American molecules and technologies reach every corner of the world."  I thought Project Vault's giant subsidies were intended to compete with certain corners of the world in order to supply our domestic needs?

InvestingNews reported:

Helen Amos, a commodities analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said the administration is deploying multiple tools at once. 

“They’re investing directly in equity, they’re building up stockpiles and looking at strategic partnerships with trading companies,” Amos told Bloomberg.   

“They’re coming at it from all possible angles.”

Another take from the same story is below:

Jefferies analyst Charles Boakye put it, Project Vault is “a first big step of many” needed over the next several years. 

“This is not a nationalization of US minerals,” Boakye told Fortune. “It’s state capitalism and it’s industrial policy.”

Like most Trump II initiatives there's a big announcement with many details to be worked out later.  Trump is quick to throw billions at key industries for the benefit of TechGods.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and Uncle Sam's wallet is theirs for the taking.  

“Those are the people that get the special favors.  They get the government contracts, they get the pardons, or somebody they love or one of their friends gets a pardon.”-Marjorie Taylor Greene

Price fixing for TechGods.  They can disrupt markets but heaven forbid markets disrupt them.

Update 2-13-26:  Regulations are for non-TechGods.  Planning and permitting?  Hardly!  TechGods can pollute as much as they want under Trump II.

TechGods Need Intermediaries to Message the Little People

For decades private equity underwriters (PEU) could not understand why the public was not buying private equity as "mankind's highest calling."  They poured money into campaign after campaign, even changing their trade organization to American Investment Council (AIC) from Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC).

It appears TechGods have the same struggle and the hottest job in TechLand is storyteller.  

Private equity grew exponentially over the last two decades and many Americans have had experience with their employer becoming a PEU affiliate.   After promises of no change management began importing PEU strategies.  

Adding huge debt and corresponding interest payments required headcount be cut.  The operating model usually involved new tech with varying levels of capability. Employees saw co-workers terminated, communication become top-down only and dealt with new tech, often with little or poor training.  Customer service scores dropped and success was often redefined lower within the new capital structure.  

TechGods played a tangential role in PEUs traumatizing workplaces as they were often behind the incapable technology that was to replace people.  TechGods had their own spheres to lord over, retail, social media, fintech, crypto and now artificial intelligence.  

PEUs early on saw the value of government dalliances.  They built their industry on influencing politicians and tapping Uncle Sam's wallet.  TechGod's are late to this game but bring their "in your face" brashness, a direct contrast to subtle, behind the scenes PEUs.

TechGods need papering over and communication specialists are the ticket.  Just as most people now know Trump II is insane, they know TechGods are not for us.  Look at their history. a story that is already written.  

The future of work is error filled AI as errors are built in and inherent in the models.  You need a PT Barnum level communicator to sell that crap.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Update 2-5-26:  What can burst a giant hole in TechGod storytelling?  Factual news.  TechGod Jeff Bezos fired 300 Washington Post employees which some predict will hollow out actual news coverage and stop important investigational work.  Bezos has billions to spend on crappy, hallucinating AI but "no news for you."

Slate reported:

... one of the richest people in human history staged a controlled burn to turn it into ash. Bezos wanted the Post to die, because a vigorous, well-resourced Washington Post does not suit his vision for the world or his own bottom line. The end of the Post is a matter not of journalistic economics but of Bezos’ incentives. 

Bezos’ external economic interests turned him into a virus that ate the Post from the inside.

TechGods have stories to spin and don't need any stinkin' reporters to counter their fictional narratives, just like their Executive Branch patron (Trump II) who lives in a world that makes infrequent contact with most people's reality.  Can you employees smile while being fired?  

WaPo workers, please consider buying from Bezos new lingerie line with Sydney Sweeney with your severance check.  

TechGods in Epstein Library

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was the top male TechGod in search results from the just released Epstein Library.  Google founder Eric Schmidt came in between Jeff Bezos and Marc Andreessen.  Specific numbers can be seen in the graphic above.

Epstein worked hard to get Schmidt to a dinner in 2013, dropping names like Woody Allen & Soon Yi, as well as Ehud Barak and Peter Mandelson.  

A March 2012 e-mail from redacted had a number of TechGods on an invite list for two seminars, one on money and another on power.  

The top female, TechGoddess Nicole Junkermann, came in at 3.482 results.  Junkermann spanked all the Boy TechGods.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod brethren and increasingly, more are one.  

Epstein's Junkermann PEU

The Epstein Library has curious functionality.  Yesterday I could search the last name Junkermann and see 4,000 results.  Today it shows zero.  

A search on that person's first name, Nicole, produced over 5,000 results.  I'll venture most belong to Junkermann but there is another Nicole that works for Deutsche Bank.  

Nicole Junkermann founded NJF Capital which invests in various transformative tech ventures.  It also has a sister firm, NJF Private Equity.  That makes her a private equity underwriter (PEU).  There aren't many who can pull off a TechGod/PEU combo.

In January 2014 TechGoddess Nicole Junkermann informed Jeffrey Epstein that she had "split up with mario."  

Junkermann experienced the creep in Jeffrey Epstein.  He lorded over her as ungrateful and ungiving, but she gave it right back.

Jeffrey and his wingman, Donald, missed the part about insiders not speaking badly about other insiders.  Either would trash you in a heartbeat.  

The DOJ's Epstein Library is another window into politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren where increasingly, more are one.

Epstein Core Part of Insider Club

The Harvard Crimson wrote in 2003 regarding Jeffrey Epstein:

Lindsley Professor of Psychology Stephen M. Kosslyn, former Dean of the Faculty Henry A. Rosovsky and Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz are among Epstein’s bevy of eminent friends that includes princes, presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

Epstein is also well acquainted with University President Lawrence H. Summers. The two serve together on the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, two elite international relations organizations.

Larry Summers informed one U.S. Senator in 2014:

I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders. 

Searching the Epstein files for private equity underwriters (PEU) I came across a 2015 e-mail from Anthony Scaramucci to Epstein regarding a club settlement.  

Yes, in the good company of PEU insiders.  

Searches of the just released Epstein files show:

Apollo Global - 8,259 results

Blackstone Group - 117 results

Carlyle Group - 168 results

KKR - 364 results

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

And the whole thing smells just rotten to the core, especially as victim's lawyers are:.  

contending widespread failures by the DOJ to redact names and identifying information of Epstein’s victims

Victims are not insiders and thus, not listened to.

Update 2-5-26:  Semafor reported the PEU connection regarding Paul Weiss (lawyer) and Jeffrey Epstein:

The downfall of the most powerful managing partner at one of the world’s most powerful law firms isn’t really a story about Jeffrey Epstein. Chummy emails with the wealthy sex offender were the proximate cause of Brad Karp losing his seat atop Paul Weiss, but the distal cause is a problem we’ve all got: overexposure to private equity. 

Even our sexual predators work for private equity now.

PEUReport noted Epstein's link to private equity legends as well as the difficulty of unwinding Epstein's PEU money and influence trail.  I wrote the following in July 2019:

"The other interesting element is PEU ties to serial sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.  

One Wall Street source with direct knowledge of Epstein’s business said one source of Epstein’s income was providing “tax advice and estate planning” to rich clients, like Apollo Global Management founder Leon Black, presumably because Epstein had experience with offshore funds after basing his office in the Virgin Islands. In 2015 Black made a $10 million donation to Epstein’s foundation. 

Esptein's case reveals the sordid underbelly of big money-politics.  Big PEU names have to be nervous about their Epstein ties, Leon Black, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton (whose presidency saw the rise of many private equity firms).. 

Unraveling stories takes time and patience and the Epstein case is monstrous.  The PEU boys can spin better than most.  For the last twelve years I've tried to unwind some of them." 

Epstein Files: KKR Mentions

The 3.5 million document release of the Epstein files contains numerous private equity underwriter (PEU) references.  This post includes a number related to KKR.  Above you can see a Kevin Law offering to put Epstein's buddy Prince Andrew into a KKR syndicate.

A David Stern contacted Epstein regarding KKR's "interest in the business."  Stern offered to be "on P alert" for Jeffrey.

Richard Kahn contacted Epstein to inform him of Trump I's catering to the PEU class, including KKR.

Kahn reached out to Epstein regarding a possible investment relative to a former KKR partner.

TechGoddess Nicole Junkermann contacted Epstein in regard to KKR.

Epstein and contacts accessed shareholder information from KKR.

Kevin Law referenced KKR again and their pushiness:

Deutsche needed Epstein information for their KYC efforts for Southern Trust Company, Inc.:

Southern Trust Company "provided cutting edge consulting services" in the area of "biomedical and financial informatics."  Epstein's Pedo Island business received an economic development subsidy:

“a 10-year package of economic incentives running from Feb. 1, 2013, until Jan. 31, 2023, that included a 90% exemption from income taxes and 100% exemptions from gross receipts, excise, and withholding taxes in the Virgin Islands.”

The PEU boys hate paying taxes.  

Over a four year period  "Epstein’s income tax exemption was $71.3 million.”

It's no surprise that Jeffrey Epstein ran with the greed and leverage boys given his political connections and the fact that Apollo co-founder Leon Black (likely the LB mentioned in an e-mail above) funded Epstein's lifestyle.  

Epstein owned 50% of American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook where Southern Trust Co. has its office. The marina is still receiving EDC tax breaks.

Looking through the PEU window for the last few decades has been disturbing enough.  Adding the Epstein spyglass further sickens me.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.