A report Released Thursday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, it called on Congress to continue investigating JP Morgan Chase over its ties to Jeffrey Epstein, one of the bank's largest clients, and his alleged sex trafficking ring.
Before Epstein's arrest in September 2019, JPMorgan Chase reported only a handful of “suspicious activity reports” documenting approximately $4.3 million in transactions from his accounts between 2002 and 2016. After he was arrested and subsequently died in prison, JPMorgan Chase filed “much more complete” reports documenting an additional 5,000 wire transfers moving $1.3 billion in and out of Epstein's accounts – a total of 300 times more than previously reported.
The report said JPMorgan Chase executives delayed disclosing his suspicious transactions to regulators so they could “continue to work with Epstein,” even after he was fired as a client in 2013 over money laundering concerns. Citing recently unsealed emails, the report suggests this was done because of Epstein's influence over billionaire Leon Black.
The report names several JPMorgan Chase executives who apparently closely monitored the alleged trafficker's accounts and reported to CEO Jamie Dimon.
In March 2012, John Duffy, the former CEO of private bank JPMorgan in the United States, instructed Epstein how to withdraw large sums from his account without raising alarms at the bank, newly unsealed emails showed. In August 2013, Mary Erdos, CEO of JPMorgan's wealth and asset management division, who had been in near-constant contact with the alleged sex trafficker, “gave her blessing” to efforts to continue doing business with Epstein, according to the report.
Wyden said the extent of the bank's underreporting went “beyond complete failure to comply.”
“It is beyond belief that the decisions that led to the cover-up of Epstein’s financial dealings related to his sex trafficking never made it to the top,” he wrote in his letter. row posts on X. “Given the scale of Epstein's human trafficking operation, it is clear that many more powerful people were involved. My staff saw the paper trail with their own eyes. The banks that helped help him should be investigated. As should anyone else involved in Epstein's human trafficking.”
Earlier this week, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jamer Comer garden under the store JPMorgan Chase for access to some of Epstein's financial records.
