Senate Democrats accuse banks of ignoring Epstein transactions

Major U.S. banks detected suspicious financial activity by Jeffrey Epstein for years but largely failed to alert federal authorities until after his 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges, according to a new report from Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee.

The report, released Tuesday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, says more than a dozen bankers at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank were aware of questionable transactions by Epstein as far back as 2002. Drawing on Treasury reports, internal bank records and legal filings, the committee Democrats said the transactions spanned nearly two decades and totaled more than $1 billion.

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks are required to notify the government when they suspect a client is moving money to launder funds or carry out other illegal activity. The report alleges that in most cases, the banks did not file suspicious activity reports until years later, after Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking.

“By failing to report—or choosing not to report — his suspicious financial transactions to federal law enforcement, these banks allowed Epstein to send cash payments and wire transfers to his victims, friends, and collaborators around the world,” the report says. “The bankers who needed to be asking questions didn’t ask them. Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes were hiding in plain sight.”

Wyden said bank records and public court filings reviewed by his team showed “a shocking pattern of the biggest Wall Street banks in the country choosing to ignore clear evidence of sex trafficking and money laundering, just to keep a wealthy client on the books.” He said the banks’ actions “allowed Epstein to have ready access to the mountains of cash he used to lure, harbor and transport his victims.”

The report calls on the Justice Department to investigate why suspicious activity reports were not filed sooner and urges tighter reporting requirements. “If federal prosecutors are serious about preventing the next Jeffrey Epstein, they must hold Wall Street accountable,” the report says. Wyden described the findings as “a ready-made roadmap for prosecutors, investigators and members of Congress to finally start holding the Epstein class accountable.”

The report singles out JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, naming several bankers it says should be investigated. It also names several alleged Epstein “accomplices” who the report says moved significant amounts of cash around the world on his behalf.

Among its allegations, the report says Bank of America “likely violated” federal anti-money laundering laws by failing to report $170 million in payments to Epstein from billionaire investor Leon Black. It also alleges JPMorgan Chase executives “coached Epstein on how to withdraw cash through shell companies instead of his personal accounts,” helping him conceal information from compliance staff and regulators. JPMorgan dropped Epstein as a client in 2013 over human trafficking concerns, the report says, but did not report suspicious transactions to the government until six years later, shortly after his arrest.

Bank of America denied wrongdoing. “We take our legal and regulatory obligations seriously and, as we have previously said, the bank did not facilitate wrongdoing,” a spokesperson said.

Deutsche Bank said it regretted its historical connection to Epstein. “The bank takes its legal obligations seriously,” a spokesperson said, adding that it had cooperated with regulators and law enforcement and had invested in strengthening its controls.

JPMorgan Chase did not respond to requests for comment, according to NPR and Al Jazeera. All three banks previously reached multimillion-dollar settlements with Epstein survivors without admitting wrongdoing.

Epstein was found dead of an apparent suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The report comes amid continued scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties over the handling of investigative files related to Epstein and the limited number of U.S. criminal charges stemming from the case beyond Epstein and his longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell.