He was a billionaire stockbroker, a friend of politicians from Cyril Ramaphosa to Barend du Plessis, and a trustee at Constitution Hill. He was also an alleged paedophile, a man accused of sexually molesting eight men and women more than 20 years ago, at a time when none of these people had yet reached adolescence. Now it turns out that Sidney Frankel, who died of cancer in April, may be lending his name to a progressive amendment to the Sexual Offences Act. What’s the moral behind this tragic tale? And why didn’t the Daily Maverick get anywhere with the long-form investigative piece we were preparing in 2016? A report-back by KEVIN BLOOM.