A man who identified himself a former “best pal” of Jeffrey Epstein downplayed the allegations against the accused sex trafficker while acknowledging that Epstein was a “very sick” man.

Stuart Pivar, an 89-year-old scientist and art collector who subscribes to an alternate theory of evolution outlined in his book  “Lifecode: The Theory of Biological Self-Organization” gave a rambling, sometimes contradictory interview to Mother Jones in which he discussed his former friendship with Epstein, which he said ended after he learned that a mutual acquaintance had accused Epstein of sexual assault.

Still, Pivar insisted that Epstein’s victims were complicit, and that his crimes and alleged crimes — which he said were “misunderstood” — invited so much attention because of their scope, not because of their severity.

“If Jeffrey Epstein was found guilty of fooling around with one 16-year-old trollop, nobody would pay any attention,” Pivar told the magazine. “The trouble is, what he did was quantitative and not qualitative.”

Pivar went on to argue that Epstein suffered from an ailment that prevented him from being able to control his sexual desires.

“It’s called satyriasis, and Jeffrey was afflicted with that,” Pivar said.

“He was in a position financially to yield to it, big time. But nevertheless, he could not help himself. I’ve seen him do things which he couldn’t—couldn’t help himself, he was afflicted with it. If he had tuberculosis it wouldn’t be called a perversion, would it? Because he coughed too much?”

Despite this statement and numerous other instances in which Pivar claimed to have firsthand knowledge of Epstein’s so-called affliction, Pivar appeared to claim he never witnessed Epstein engage in any illegal activities and insisted that he ended his friendship with Epstein after Maria Farmer, who claimed in an affidavit filed in April that Epstein abused her and her 15-year-old sister, told him about what Epstein had allegedly done to her.

No, I never saw him fool around with—in fact, Jeffrey was a very, very close friend of mine. And he shielded me. I never saw what he did until finally I did notice certain things, and that was the end of me having to do with him. But for a very long time, for years and years and years, Jeffrey did amazing, incredible, amazing, remarkable things for science and all kinds of stuff. He was a very, very good friend to me.

He never invited me to the “Isle of Babes,” luckily. I never knew it was even there.

“Isle of Babes” appears to be a reference to Epstein’s Virgin Islands estate, sometimes referred to as “Pedophile Island,” where he was known to bring girls, often via his private jet dubbed the “Lolita Express.”

Epstein died on August 10 of a reported suicide at the Manhattan Correctional Center. Pivar told Mother Jones during the phone conversation that he was in “mourning” for his friend and did not want to focus on how he died.

Read the full Mother Jones interview here. 

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