New York Restaurant Owner Sets Fire To Table Where Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein Dined

A New York restaurant owner, in an attempt to erase the names of the two disgraced moguls Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein from the history of his business, lit their regular table on fire.

Epstein and Weinstein were frequent visitors of the 75 Main in Southampton. Zach Erdem, the owner of the restaurant, took his business strategy to an all-new level.

"When I thought about it, like Jeffrey Epstein used to sit at this table, all I could think was I need to burn this f------ table and make sure nothing is going to stain my restaurant," Erdem, told CNN. "I got my hammer and my fuel and I broke it, burned it, and threw it in the garbage. It felt so good actually. Now I don't have to think about these guys anymore."

Local residents and waitstaff watched and cheered Erdem while he broke the table using an ax and a sledgehammer before soaking it in lighter fluid and burning it down.

"Burn, Epstein, burn!" the onlookers chanted.

Epstein, a multimillionaire financier, and accused sex trafficker killed himself at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in August of 2019, while he awaited trial on federal charges accusing him of running a sex trafficking ring of minor girls. He was found unresponsive in his cell and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The accuser, a 14-year-old girl reported Epstein to the authorities in 2005. She also told the authorities that she had received a warning from someone who claimed to be in contact with the multimillionaire.

According to the Palm Beach police report, the accuser said in a statement that "Those who help him will be compensated and those who hurt him will be dealt with."

Weinstein, a former Hollywood producer, whose case fuelled the global #MeToo movement, was sentenced in March to 20 years in prison for a first-degree criminal sexual act involving a woman and three years in prison for rape in the third degree involving another.

The charges were based on the testimony by accusers, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann. While Haley accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her in 2006 at his Manhattan apartment, Mann testified that he raped her in 2013 during an "abusive relationship."

Erdem said, along with "getting rid of their bad energy," his act intended to send a clear message to the future visitors of 75 Main: "People who abuse women are not welcome here."