By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — February 24, 2026
There is a strange ritual that appears whenever powerful institutions are confronted with scandal.
It is not denial.
It is not confession.
It is something more refined.
It is called process.
In recent weeks, international attention has turned again toward the expanding release of documents related to the late Jeffrey Epstein and associated figures. Questions of jurisdiction now stretch across borders: the United States, the United Kingdom, Caribbean territories, and potentially beyond.
Governments have responded in a predictable pattern.
They express deep concern.
They announce reviews.
They affirm commitment to transparency.
They form committees.
No arrests are announced during the press conference.
But the microphones are excellent.
The Language of Seriousness
Officials speak in tones of gravity.
They refer to ongoing evaluations, cross-border coordination, and appropriate legal thresholds.
These phrases are not meaningless. They are procedural markers. But they also serve another purpose: they slow the clock.
Outrage moves fast.
Procedure moves slowly.
When institutions choose procedure, they often outlast outrage.
Sovereignty and Its Uses
International law allows countries to prosecute crimes committed within their jurisdiction or involving their nationals. If evidence shows criminal acts occurred in multiple countries, each nation has the legal authority to investigate.
That is how transnational justice is supposed to function.
However, sovereignty can also function as insulation.
When one country hesitates, another may defer.
When one investigation stalls, others may wait for formal cooperation.
In theory, this protects fairness and due process.
In practice, it can produce long periods of visible seriousness without visible consequences.
Shock as a Strategy
Institutions are frequently shocked.
They are shocked that misconduct crossed borders.
They are shocked that records were incomplete.
They are shocked that systems failed.
Shock is politically useful.
Shock signals moral alignment without assigning responsibility.
Meanwhile, document releases continue in stages.
Legal reviews continue.
Public interest rises, peaks, and slowly declines.
The Monster Problem
There is a cultural temptation to describe scandals in mythical terms.
Monsters.
Demons.
Pure evil.
But modern wrongdoing rarely wears a mask.
It wears a suit.
It hires counsel.
It invokes privacy rights.
It cites due process.
It attends conferences on governance reform.
This is not fantasy.
It is bureaucracy.
And bureaucracy, when used defensively, can absorb enormous pressure.
What Actually Matters
If credible evidence exists that crimes occurred in multiple jurisdictions, then the path forward is not symbolic appeals to monarchs or international bodies.
It is prosecutorial coordination.
It is treaty enforcement.
It is forensic accounting.
It is independent review.
None of that is dramatic.
All of it is durable.
Public anger is understandable.
Public disgust is human.
But accountability, if it comes, will not arrive as spectacle.
It will arrive as paperwork.
Slowly.
And if it does not arrive at all, that absence will also be part of the historical record.
WPS News documents that record.
Because process, whether used for justice or delay, leaves a trail.
And trails matter.
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