Eli Saslow in NYT: ‘David Ross had already withdrawn from the art world, resigned from his job and issued a series of public apologies about being “mortified” and “ashamed” before the latest email landed in his inbox. (…) “Regarding correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, I have the following questions,” the email began.’

The e-mail came from a neighbor.

‘Ross [former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art and later the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art] had become a master at catering to ego, facilitating deals and making a class of people feel important.’

And: ‘For at least a decade after his first arrest, Epstein had continued to host fancy dinners, sometimes with an ankle monitor hidden under his pants.’

The last paragraph: “Sometimes, I chose to be willfully oblivious,” Ross said to his wife Peggy.

Willfully oblivious. Very common. Especially at fancy dinners. Most people get away with it.

(a sf 2089)