I think Epstein was the sort of social fixer that knew just about everyone. Anyone with money, power, influence, political connections etc would be on his potential list of contacts. It would have made him a very useful person to know as he could introduce people, grease the wheels in both social and business contexts and advise on all sorts of things, business opportunities, financial matters etc etc. Just imagine arriving in a new city/country and having someone able to introduce you to everyone you need to know! He sounds like the ultimate social fixer and would appear, on the surface, to have made himself very useful in so many respects. I'm sure not everyone who met him took advantage of the dark side of his empire but one would have thought that normal, intelligent and curious people would at least be aware that there might be more going on than appeared at first glance. Perhaps he was so useful as a contact that a blind eye was turned or his worst behaviour was somehow normalized. There are none so blind as those that don't want to see, as the saying goes and even very clever people can be very gullible. Ambassadors are required to hold their noses and interact socially with the most awful individuals at times, it's the nature of diplomacy. The late Queen certainly did so as part of her state role. Mandleson certainly appears to be guilty of extreme nieiavity, which, I'd have thought, is quite unusual in someone in such a prominent ambassadorial role.
