Looking at the big picture, I've formed the conclusion that Jeffrey Epstein's principal goal was to obtain advanced technology.
Epstein went out of his way to ingratiate himself with scientists, mostly physicists in fact, and he even had an office at Harvard University. His whole operation seems targeted at this area, academia, and their advanced research into areas many consider to be science fiction, but are not; science has moved on a long way over the last 40 years.
His obtaining kompromat on politicians, financiers, artists, and the like was intended to be the self-funding part of the operation. The proceeds from blackmail covered the cost of his lavish lifestyle. He had extremely poor taste, but this appeared to lure in enough people to gather the sources of funding he required.
Ghislaine Maxwell would be his handler, and then above her, senior intelligence people would be overseeing what was going on and storing away the information they gathered. If any advanced technology appeared useful, then it would be sent to tame scientists for evaluation. Epstein and Maxwell had enough education to identify potential, but they wouldn't be good enough to evaluate; thus, they'd hand this upstairs.
When he supposedly died, he was reported to be worth $500-600 million. This becomes difficult to explain as his investment record is patchy at best. He did not appear to have professional staff; who exactly was looking after all this money? I am inferring with this that he had other sources of funds, outside of commercial gains and losses, and the kompromat he used against people.
I'll put it like this, bluntly: Epstein had a long list of contacts, all of whom he had something on, allegedly. How come his operation survived as long as it did? You may blackmail one or two individuals, but eventually someone is going to off you, get my drift? So, he has to have been protected, and at the highest level imaginable.
In the files, a high-profile lawyer says that Epstein is a US and its allies' intelligence asset. It is said outright, explicitly, and the cumulative weight of evidence infers that he was an intelligence asset.
The next question, then; who is allowing this to become known? My thinking is that there is a power struggle going on within the US right now. Back and forth they go, but the forces of darkness appear on the back foot at this point.