'I was not then and am not now aware of any evidence that Jeffrey Epstein was a 'pedophile' in the technical sense; his sexual preference appears to have been for young women aged 16-22, which would at most reflect partial ephebophilia," Hubbard told Chron in an emailed statement. "Although most of the women who were involved with him at that age retrospectively regret it, I am unaware of any evidence that the contacts were non-consensual at the time.

'Some were self-conscious sex workers who recruited others into his orbit and are now making cynical claims of victimization to cash in on his estate and business partners, as reported by Michael Tracey and other credible journalists," Hubbard added. "Like over 1,000,000 Americans, he did have a conviction for a sex-related offense, but from what I could see in 2015, it was for something that would not even have been illegal in most European countries and resulted in a very short sentence.

[H/T: Ex-UT professor requested Epstein-tied funds for consent conference]