One month after Jeffrey Epstein died in a jail cell whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking prices, JPMorgan Chase reported to US authorities of a couple of billion {dollars} in transactions it seen as suspicious, in line with newly unsealed courtroom records.
The notification was made on September 26, 2019, in a suspicious exercise report, which is a form of confidential report financial establishments file with the Treasury Department to flag probably nefarious exercise.
JPMorgan’s report highlights over $1 billion in transactions Epstein engaged in from October 2003 till July 2019 with quite a few associated firms, Wall Street titans, his former lawyer and others. Two accounts included within the report have been linked to Russian banks Alfa Bank and Sberbank.
The financial institution wrote within the SAR it was flagging the transactions as a result of of unfavorable media about Epstein’s alleged intercourse trafficking of minors, media stories of allegations Epstein misappropriating cash as an funding adviser, his use of a number of accounts, the Russian banks, and his relationships with two US presidents.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and charged with intercourse trafficking underaged women. He died weeks later by suicide within the Metropolitan Correctional Center whereas awaiting trial.
Judge Jed Rakoff ordered the unsealing of the records, which have been half of a lawsuit between the US Virgin Islands and JPMorgan Chase, following requests by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. In 2023, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million to settle a category motion lawsuit from survivors of Epstein and a further $75 million to settle with USVI, the place Epstein owned an island. There was no admission of wrongdoing in these settlements.
The paperwork are the newest in a sluggish launch of supplies tied to Epstein as public demand for accountability and transparency about Epstein has gone world. Thursday, Britain’s King Charles took the extraordinary step of stripping his brother Andrew of his prince title. The Justice Department stays underneath stress to launch extra details about its investigation into Epstein, and House lawmakers are taking depositions for his or her investigation.
Included within the lots of of pages of unsealed paperwork are emails between Epstein and Jes Staley, a former high official at JPMorgan financial institution, who in 2021 resigned as head of Barclays financial institution following media scrutiny over his lengthy relationship with Epstein. This 12 months, Staley said he didn’t find out about Epstein’s involvement with underaged women however admitted in courtroom that he had intercourse with one of Epstein’s assistants.
Among the pages are emails between Epstein and Staley, with Epstein suggesting he might arrange conferences for Staley to recruit new purchasers together with the co-founders of Google and heads of nations. None of the people have been accused of any wrongdoing.
Prior to Epstein’s demise in 2019, JPMorgan filed a quantity of SARs involving the disgraced financier’s accounts, and the paperwork present banking officers shared information articles about Epstein’s alleged actions. JPMorgan closed its accounts with Epstein in 2013, 5 years after Epstein pleaded responsible to state prostitution prices and reached a non-prosecution settlement with the US legal professional’s workplace within the Southern District of Florida.
The newly unsealed records embody the SARs, together with one courting way back to 2002, in addition to the final one filed in September 2019.
“Generally, the only new material here is the SARs themselves. Those basically summarize financial information produced in litigation, much of which has been public for years. The SARs do confirm what’s been inferred all along: the bank filed SARs about Epstein early on, and specifically when it exited Epstein from the bank in 2013 – and repeatedly between 2013 and 2019, as required,” stated Patricia Wexler, a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase. “It does not appear that anyone in the government or law enforcement acted on those SARs for years.”
In the batch of paperwork, there’s a letter from the US legal professional’s workplace for the Southern District of Florida which in 2007 sought records from Bear Stearns, one of Epstein’s banks that was later acquired by JPMorgan, as half of its then investigation into Epstein that resulted within the non-prosecution settlement.
One of the largest Wall Street names talked about on the checklist of transactions on the 2019 SAR is Leon Black, a long-time affiliate of Epstein, who has maintained that Epstein gave him financial recommendation.
“After an exhaustive investigation more than four years ago, the Dechert law firm concluded that Mr. Black paid Epstein only for tax and estate planning advice that saved him and his family billions of dollars. To imply that Epstein somehow had influence over Mr. Black is false and patently absurd,” Susan Estrich, an legal professional for Black, stated in an announcement. “Indeed, it was Mr. Black who fired Epstein because he was disruptive and believed the fees for his services were excessive. The Dechert Report also found that Mr. Black had no knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities.”
The unsealed records embody emails between Staley and Epstein about assembly in 2010 with then Prince Andrew. The then-Prince emailed Staley, “Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, has requested JPMorgan for banking records and advised officers turned a blind eye to Epstein’s conduct to make tens of millions of {dollars} in charges from his accounts.
In a current response, the financial institution denied information of Epstein’s actions, writing, “with the exception of former JPMC executive Jes Staley, the bank’s executives (current and former) are respected professionals who acted with integrity and would never have allowed Epstein to remain a client if they knew of his ongoing crimes.”
“The Firm deeply regrets having had Epstein as a client and would never have continued doing business with him if it believed he engaged in ongoing criminal conduct,” the financial institution additionally stated.