Today’s FiveStack broke format to go deep on the Epstein network with investigative journalist Ellie Leonard of The Panicked Writer on Substack. What emerged was a devastating portrait of a criminal enterprise hiding in plain sight — and the Commerce Secretary sitting at its center.
5️⃣ Lutnick’s Nanny Problem
Ellie Leonard uncovered a previously unreported email in the Epstein files from Richard Kahn, Epstein’s accountant, attaching the resume of Howard Lutnick’s nanny and arranging a meeting with Epstein. “Epstein doesn’t have children. Epstein doesn’t need a nanny,” Leonard noted. The email surfaced months after Lutnick’s documented December 2012 visit to Epstein’s island — a trip he swore under oath never happened until confronted with his wife’s own emails describing the boat ride there. Lutnick bought the Manhattan townhouse next door to Epstein’s from a trust Epstein controlled, reportedly for as little as $10.
4️⃣ The FBI 302 That Should Have Stopped a Cabinet Pick
An FBI whistleblower’s 302, published in the latest Epstein file release, accuses Lutnick of money laundering with the Russian mafia through Cantor Fitzgerald, fraud, and facilitating charity theft alongside Ghislaine Maxwell. The whistleblower, a 30-year securities industry veteran who worked on Cantor’s desk, gave the FBI this information in 2021. A search of FBI databases returned 34 hits on Lutnick including three suspicious activity reports. When the FBI vetted him for Commerce Secretary, those red flags were either minimized or withheld entirely. “They were just brushed away,” Zev reported.
3️⃣ Wexner Ducks His Deposition
Leslie Wexner, who gave Jeffrey Epstein $46 million, multiple houses, and power of attorney, was scheduled to testify before Congress today. Congress had already moved the deposition from Washington to Ohio to accommodate him. Instead, Wexner sent a letter claiming he was too ill to appear — even at a courthouse minutes from his home. “Every single one of these pricks relies on some last-minute excuse not to be accountable,” Dean said. Wexner has never answered questions about his relationship with Epstein, and his withdrawal came as the Lutnick revelations were accelerating.
2️⃣ Zorro Ranch Gets Its Investigation
New Mexico has greenlit a $2 million investigation into Epstein’s 8,000-acre Zorro Ranch compound — a property with its own airstrip, four layers of electrified fencing, and allegations of buried victims. The ranch was purchased by mega-donor Don Huffines through an LLC and only identified as his after road renaming forced a tax disclosure. Huffines is now claiming he’ll convert the property into a Christian retreat for sex abuse victims — an announcement that arrived suspiciously soon after investigators started asking questions. Multiple victims describe Zorro Ranch as where the worst abuse occurred, with Eastern European women flown in privately and impossible to trace. “You’re not keeping people out — you’re keeping people in,” Dean observed of the fencing.
1️⃣ The $80 Trillion Heist
Zev presented an evolving network map connecting Epstein, Trump, Lutnick, the Russian mafia, and dozens of other players across four decades of financial crime. Lutnick currently ranks fifth in the number of connections across the entire network. The map draws from both the Epstein files and years of independent investigation into what Narativ calls the Greatest Heist — an estimated $80 trillion siphoned from the American economy through money laundering, securities fraud, and criminal networks now operating from the White House. “You’ve got the Russian mafia sitting in the White House right now,” Zev said. The FBI’s own files note that queries on Epstein and Maxwell were blocked “due to the sensitive nature of the case” — a detail that speaks to intelligence protection that persisted across four administrations.
Today’s episode made one thing clear: the sex crimes are the tip of a financial iceberg that may represent the largest theft in human history, and every layer of the U.S. government has failed to stop it.
The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.
