I'm wondering why you merely couch this as accepting money from felons, when you know full well that Epstein was not only a pedophile, but ran an international sex trafficking ring.

We aren't discussing insider trading or possessing controlled substances.

You would have to decide if you find it immoral to accept a donation from a specific person, based on your own moral code and how the person behaves and live with that.

I would say taking money from, investing with and visiting the houses of a convicted child sex trafficker is a really bad idea if you want to keep your and your institution's reputation intact. It's also recently come to light that Epstein continued to rape children during this time period (post-arrest). Two new lawsuits were just filed against his estate for it.

Epstein wasn’t just any felon. He was someone who was systematically using his wealth and influence to rape children and get away with it. If you accept charitable donations from him, you are increasing his influence and assenting that his crimes were not a big deal.

> No one is allowed to accept charitable donations from felons?

No, but the charges merit diligence. The facts and circumstances of Epstein's settlement, even knowing nothing more than the suspiciously-short jail time, should have raised red flags.

One of the downsides of hosting sex parties with trafficked minors is when you get caught all your guests come under suspicion, even if the party they attended had no sex at all

Unless there's an official register of everyone who attended each type of party, which seems unlikely.

I'd argue it's at least morally questionable to assist in a convicted and apparently unrepentant felon's attempts to whitewash their reputation via large amounts of cash.

Charity and investments are two different things. Further there are felons who are particularly egregious, human trafficking of children for sex ranks up there.

>No one is allowed to accept charitable donations from felons

Of course they're allowed. It's a free country.

We're discussing how reprehensible it is, and we focus on certain kinds of felons (not some guy who once did a victimless burglary or a DIU), and also on cases where they didn't just "accept donations", but visited the felons to their private lair...

Sounds like he was closer to him than just accepting his donations.

I would say, in the sphere of public opinion, one should be cautious accepting charitable donations from felons. However, there's certainly precedent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Milken#Philanthropy

Well certainly the type of felon matters, no? Epstein's crimes are particularly heinous.

> are morally on the hook if the felon commits another crime?

In the Age of Outrage, yes, even though it's stupid.