Senate Democrats Plan JPMorgan-Epstein Probe, Source Says
Offered with kind support from
Senate Democrats are preparing to reopen JPMorgan's long banking relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and Wyden is expected to use subpoena power to do it, though nothing has been announced, according to an anonymous source who spoke to CNBC.
What the bank has already paid for
JPMorgan has been through this once. In mid-2023 it agreed to a $290 million settlement with Epstein's victims, without admitting wrongdoing. The same year it agreed to pay $75 million to settle a separate lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands, which alleged the bank facilitated and benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking.
A lawyer for the territory told a federal judge in New York that JPMorgan "was a full-service bank for Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking". The lawyer also said the bank waited until after his death to notify the Treasury Department of $1 billion in suspicious transactions.
The Erdoes timeline
Epstein was a client from 1998. In 2008 he pleaded guilty in Florida to a state charge of procuring an underage girl for prostitution and was registered as a sex offender. Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of the bank's asset and wealth management division, said in a 2023 deposition that she knew by 2006 of accusations involving underage girls.
In his own later deposition that year, CEO Jamie Dimon said she had authority to end the relationship. She did so in 2013.
Blame, denials and a Republican claim
JPMorgan declined to comment on the new plan. It has said before that it regrets any association with Epstein but did not assist him in committing crimes. It has pointed at former investment banking chief Jes Staley, saying he concealed or failed to report criminal activity.
Staley left the bank in 2013, later ran Barclays until 2021, and denies knowing of Epstein's crimes. House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican, said in July after a closed-door interview that Staley had encouraged JPMorgan to keep Epstein as a client.
The committee and its chair
The Senate Finance Committee is likely to be chaired from January by Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is now its ranking member. Wyden has made clear he plans to use the subpoena powers of a committee majority. His staff reportedly want to concentrate on Erdoes's decisions about Epstein.
A subpoena is a legal order to hand over documents or give testimony.
Wyden has already published findings. In August his report accused top officials at multiple banks of "looking the other way" as Epstein moved hundreds of millions of dollars. His office said bankers delayed reporting suspicious activity, likely in violation of federal anti-money-laundering laws.
Source: CNBC