The implication isn’t that he is an intelligence asset, but instead that he is a blackmailer of/friend of/bribe payer to wealthy and powerful people, who used their vast resources to protect him. So when he got popped, the pressure came down from on high to cut him a sweetheart deal. They just needed to give the prosecutor a reason to not look too deeply into it. National security would do. “Above his pay grade” as the article said.
For the record, consider:
1) The case against him was sealed, and only broke thanks to a leak to the Miami daily which ran a series
2) The evidence against him was sealed, and took years of lawsuits at the appeals level to unseal them
3) He got a 13 month “sentence” in which he got to spend 6 of every 7 days at home, working his empire
4) Anthony Weiner got 21 months prison for sending a picture of little anthony in underwear to a minor. This guy’s crimes were much more serious and expansive but it was all washed away in an incredibly lenient plea deal.
Is it possible that Epstein caught some non-Americans in his lair that might be of more than passing interest to our intel community? Granted that it wasn't his main purpose, but could he have possibly traded some videos in exchange for leniency on his otherwise inexplicable deal?
-PJ