(This conversation was recorded on Tuesday, February 10, 2026)
In this episode I chat with Ellie Leonard, author, editor, and the owner of Red Pencil Editing and Transcription. For more than a decade, Ellie has worked behind the scenes in transcription, but her deep dive into the Epstein files began less as an assignment and more as a calling. She describes how a quiet curiosity evolved into a relentless effort to untangle a web of wealth, power, and abuse that stretches far beyond one notorious name. What she found, she says, reveals not just the significance of places like Zorro Ranch, but a broader network that challenges our assumptions about accountability at the highest levels. “Money breaks you,” she reflects, pointing to the way extreme wealth can erode empathy and shield wrongdoing. Yet Ellie’s work is grounded in something more hopeful: the power of collective effort. She credits survivors and everyday citizens with pushing the story forward when institutions failed.
Ultimately, her investigation becomes a call to reexamine societal priorities—to believe women, to resist desensitization to abuse, and to build a world where every community, especially the most marginalized, receives the attention and justice it deserves.
