Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Ron Wyden’s Report on Wall Street and Jeffrey Epstein (Part 9) (8/19/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to dive right
- 0:07Speaker 1: back in to the Ron Wyden report about Jeffrey Epstein
- 0:10Speaker 1: and Wall Street, and this will be the final episode
- 0:14Speaker 1: of that report. Top bankers have faced no consequences for
- 0:19Speaker 1: failing to report Epstein. This report identifies a number of
- 0:23Speaker 1: senior bankers who closely supervised decisions related to Jeffrey Epstein's accounts.
- 0:29Speaker 1: The report also identified top bankers overseeing Leon Black's accounts
- 0:33Speaker 1: at the time when Black paid Epstein one hundred and
- 0:36Speaker 1: seventy million. These bank employees are at the locusts of
- 0:39Speaker 1: two decades of compliance failures enabled Epstein's criminal activity. These
- 0:44Speaker 1: bankers include Paul Morris, Mary Erdos, Jess Staley, Stephen Cutler,
- 0:50Speaker 1: John Duffy, Justin Nelson, Paul Barrett, Mary Casey, David Briggstock,
- 0:55Speaker 1: Jeff Madisow, Jane Heller, Karen Weiss, and Stuart Oldfield. Ailey
- 1:00Speaker 1: was forced out of his position as CEO of Barclays
- 1:03Speaker 1: and had lucrative bonuses frozen over his ties to Epstein,
- 1:06Speaker 1: and was subject of an investigation by the Financial Conduct
- 1:10Speaker 1: Authority of the United Kingdom. The rest of the bankers
- 1:13Speaker 1: named in this list only have faced no known criminal
- 1:17Speaker 1: consequence or regulatory discipline and remain employed in extraordinary lucrative
- 1:21Speaker 1: positions at JPMC, Bank of America and elsewhere. One Mary Erdos,
- 1:27Speaker 1: called by some the most powerful woman in finance, remains
- 1:29Speaker 1: employed as JPMC CEO of Asset and Wealth Management, where
- 1:34Speaker 1: she earns an annual salary in excess of twenty nine million.
- 1:39Speaker 1: Despite recent revelations of erdose deep involvement with Epstein, recent
- 1:43Speaker 1: SEC filings disclosed that JPMC last month approved one time
- 1:48Speaker 1: retention bonus of twenty million four air Dose. Her total
- 1:52Speaker 1: compensation this year will exceed fifty million. Justin Nelson, Epstein's
- 1:58Speaker 1: former relationship manager, who kept close contact with Epstein even
- 2:02Speaker 1: after he was forced to exit JPMC in twenty thirteen,
- 2:06Speaker 1: currently remains employed as jpmc's Managing Director and head of
- 2:11Speaker 1: the Asset Management and Financial Principles Coverage Team for JP
- 2:15Speaker 1: Morgan Private Bank in Connecticut. In his role as marketthead
- 2:19Speaker 1: he leads a team of twenty professionals who advised some
- 2:22Speaker 1: of the most influential leaders in the hedge fund, private
- 2:25Speaker 1: equity real estate and financial industries. Mary Kasey, who also
- 2:31Speaker 1: served as Epstein's relationship manager at JPMC, remains employed at
- 2:35Speaker 1: JPMC as Vice chair of jpmc's private Bank. John Duffy,
- 2:41Speaker 1: the former CEO of JPMC Private Bank, remained employed at
- 2:45Speaker 1: JPMC until twenty twenty before becoming a partner at Spain
- 2:50Speaker 1: Lindsay and Company LLP and New O'Rion Capital, a global
- 2:55Speaker 1: m and a advisory firm. Stephen Cutler, jpmc former general
- 3:00Speaker 1: counsel who repeatedly approved keeping Epstein on as a client,
- 3:04Speaker 1: went on to join elite law firm Simpson, Thatcher and
- 3:07Speaker 1: Bartlett LLP as a partner before retiring in twenty twenty five.
- 3:13Speaker 1: Leon Black's relationship manager at Bank of America, who greenlit
- 3:17Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy million on wire transfers to Epstein,
- 3:20Speaker 1: also remained employed in lucrative positions, making millions every year.
- 3:25Speaker 1: Jane Heller, a top banker who oversaw the bank's relationship
- 3:28Speaker 1: with Leon Black, currently serves as a managing director and
- 3:32Speaker 1: private client advisor at Bank of America Private Bank in
- 3:35Speaker 1: New York. Heller was recently described in The Wall Street
- 3:40Speaker 1: Journal as bank of America's top producer in the private
- 3:43Speaker 1: bank and known for her extensive roster of ultra wealthy
- 3:46Speaker 1: individuals that include celebrities and some of the wealthiest people
- 3:50Speaker 1: in the world. Similarly, Karen Weiss, a top Bank of
- 3:54Speaker 1: America banker closely involved in Black's accounts and who was
- 3:57Speaker 1: deposed during a lawsuit against Bank of America by Epstein victims,
- 4:02Speaker 1: is currently a managing director and private client advisor with
- 4:05Speaker 1: Bank of America's private bank in New York. In that capacity,
- 4:09Speaker 1: Weiss works with a select group of ultra high net
- 4:12Speaker 1: worth individuals and families, providing them with sophisticated advice. It
- 4:18Speaker 1: appears that Epstein's relationship managers at Deutsche Bank, Paul Morris
- 4:22Speaker 1: and Stuart Oldfield, recently left their positions at other firms.
- 4:26Speaker 1: For example, Morris last month left his position at Bank
- 4:30Speaker 1: of America's Merrill Lynch subsidiary. Oldfield recently stepped down as
- 4:35Speaker 1: CEO of Third Lake Associates in April of twenty twenty
- 4:38Speaker 1: six after the release of the Epstein files library. However,
- 4:43Speaker 1: it's unclear whether those departures were voluntary or the result
- 4:47Speaker 1: of termination. Sixty minutes interview currently being suppressed by CBS
- 4:52Speaker 1: News leadership. On March twenty six, twenty twenty six, Senator
- 4:57Speaker 1: Widen sat for a taped interview at the Senate Finance
- 5:00Speaker 1: Its Committee Hearing Room with former sixty Minutes correspondent Sharon Alfonsi.
- 5:05Speaker 1: The interview was part of a broader segment being prepared
- 5:08Speaker 1: by sixty Minutes regarding the conduct of Wall Street Banks
- 5:11Speaker 1: and the government of the US Virgin Islands with regard
- 5:14Speaker 1: to Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. Over the course of
- 5:18Speaker 1: the interview, Senator Widen answered questions related to his multi
- 5:22Speaker 1: year investigation into transaction financing, epstein sex trafficking operation, and
- 5:28Speaker 1: potential consequences for banks over potential wilful violations of federal
- 5:33Speaker 1: anti money laundering laws. However, shortly after the taping of
- 5:37Speaker 1: the interview with Senator Widen, CBS News leadership, led by
- 5:41Speaker 1: Barry Weiss, made the decision to fire Sharon Alphonsi. As
- 5:46Speaker 1: a result, the interview with Senator Widen will not be aired,
- 5:49Speaker 1: and it's unclear whether Barry Weiss and CBS News leadership
- 5:53Speaker 1: will allow the broader segment to ever be aired. Propose
- 5:57Speaker 1: reforms to federal anti money laundering laws. In response to
- 6:01Speaker 1: the compliance failures of major banks and the handling of
- 6:04Speaker 1: transactions involving Jeffrey Epstein, Senator Widen's staff is crafting legislation
- 6:09Speaker 1: that would strengthen anti money laundering laws and hold banks
- 6:12Speaker 1: and individual employees accountable for failure to comply. Major financial
- 6:18Speaker 1: institutions cannot be allowed to look the other way and
- 6:21Speaker 1: fail to report suspicious transactions in a timely manner because
- 6:25Speaker 1: they don't want to inconvenience ultra wealthy clients. Private banking
- 6:29Speaker 1: and wealth management executives must face consequences when they do
- 6:33Speaker 1: not follow the law and fail or properly report suspicious
- 6:36Speaker 1: financial activity by high risk customers, especially registered sex offenders
- 6:41Speaker 1: with known connections to potential human trafficking. Instances where a
- 6:46Speaker 1: bank exits a client due to patterns of suspicious transaction,
- 6:50Speaker 1: such as those indicative of money laundering or human trafficking,
- 6:54Speaker 1: must be subject to immediate disclosure. Individual bankers must also
- 6:58Speaker 1: face consequences when they failed to conduct due diligence on
- 7:02Speaker 1: large wire transfers that lack of clearer business purpose or
- 7:06Speaker 1: don't request business records to substantiate the alleged economic activity
- 7:10Speaker 1: behind a transaction. Had banks notified federal law enforcement about
- 7:15Speaker 1: Epstein's activities in a timely manner, his crimes against women
- 7:19Speaker 1: and girls could have been stopped much sooner. It's a
- 7:22Speaker 1: systemic failure and moral indictment of Wall Street that the
- 7:26Speaker 1: vast majority of Epstein's suspicious financial transactions were not reported
- 7:30Speaker 1: as suspicious until long after he was arrested. Epstein's sex
- 7:35Speaker 1: trafficking activity required access to huge amounts of cash and
- 7:38Speaker 1: the ability to wire money around the world efficiently, financial
- 7:42Speaker 1: services he received from Wall Street banks like JPMC and
- 7:46Speaker 1: Deutsche Bank. Epstein was forced out of jp Morgan in
- 7:50Speaker 1: twenty thirteen over concerns about his activity, but the bank
- 7:54Speaker 1: waited six years before reporting the full extent of his
- 7:58Speaker 1: suspicious financial activity to regular. Documents demonstrate that despite Epstein's behavior,
- 8:04Speaker 1: JPMC executives were eager to continue working with them to
- 8:08Speaker 1: drive additional business with Leon Black and other wealthy clients. Additionally,
- 8:13Speaker 1: big banks failed to scrutinize massive payments that Epstein received
- 8:16Speaker 1: from Leon Black for purported tax advice. Epstein depended on
- 8:20Speaker 1: the money he received from Black to finances criminal activity.
- 8:24Speaker 1: The multiple eight million to twenty million wire transfers sent
- 8:28Speaker 1: from Black to Epstein call for exacting scrutiny and examination
- 8:32Speaker 1: of business records to prove that the payments were for
- 8:35Speaker 1: genuine estate planning service. To deter these types of compliance
- 8:39Speaker 1: failures in the future, Senator Widen will soon propose legislation
- 8:43Speaker 1: to deter Wall Street from turning a blind eye to
- 8:46Speaker 1: suspicious financial activity. The proposed legislation will cover the following
- 8:51Speaker 1: principles and propose reforms extending to accounts held by ultra
- 8:56Speaker 1: high net worth individuals while exempting community banks signed a
- 9:00Speaker 1: testation for accounts involving ultra high net worth individuals. The
- 9:05Speaker 1: contemplated legislation will require that the client relationship with significant
- 9:10Speaker 1: total assets a senior manager must sign and a testation
- 9:14Speaker 1: every year confirming that the best to his or her knowledge,
- 9:17Speaker 1: the client's accounts have properly been screened to fully comply
- 9:20Speaker 1: with federal anti money laundering laws. This provision will be
- 9:25Speaker 1: modeled after the original section three zero two of Sarbine's Oxley,
- 9:30Speaker 1: which required CFOs to certify that financial statements were accurate.
- 9:34Speaker 1: This section will require either the bank designated US compliance
- 9:38Speaker 1: officer or the relationship manager of the client's account to
- 9:42Speaker 1: attest that the bank has taken minimum required measures to
- 9:46Speaker 1: monitor the client's accounts. A test they reviewed the client's
- 9:49Speaker 1: transaction activity for potentially suspicious patterns involving cash withdrawals, wire
- 9:54Speaker 1: transfers that lack of clear business purpose, movement of money
- 9:58Speaker 1: the high risk jurisdictions, and other transactions with typologies of
- 10:02Speaker 1: potential money laundering or other crimes, including human trafficking. A
- 10:08Speaker 1: test at the bank, to the best of their knowledge,
- 10:10Speaker 1: has fully reported all suspicious transactions to the US Treasury
- 10:14Speaker 1: Department in a timely manner as required by law. A
- 10:18Speaker 1: test that the bank conducted enhanced due diligence for large
- 10:21Speaker 1: wire transfers, made inquiries to the client regarding the purpose
- 10:26Speaker 1: of the transaction and asked for business records to verify
- 10:30Speaker 1: or substantiate the stated purpose of those transactions. A test
- 10:35Speaker 1: that the bank is subjected all transactions involving registered sex
- 10:38Speaker 1: offenders or convicted felons to enhance due diligence where it
- 10:42Speaker 1: concerns cash withdrawals or movements of money that lack a
- 10:46Speaker 1: clearer business purpose. Enhance penalties for individual bankers who felt
- 10:51Speaker 1: or report suspicious activity to the US Treasury Department in
- 10:55Speaker 1: a timely manner. Under federal law, bank employees who violate
- 10:59Speaker 1: the BSA through wilful or negligent conduct by failing to
- 11:02Speaker 1: report suspicious activity to the US Treasury Department can face
- 11:06Speaker 1: civil or criminal penalties. The contemplated legislation will significantly enhance
- 11:13Speaker 1: these penalties by increasing the fines or prison sentences that
- 11:16Speaker 1: bank employees can receive for patterns of negligence or wilful
- 11:21Speaker 1: violations of the BSA. Enhanced fines may be proportionate to
- 11:26Speaker 1: the total compensation that bank employees received at the time
- 11:29Speaker 1: of the violation of the BSA occurred. For violations of
- 11:32Speaker 1: the BSA that involve transactions that were related to human
- 11:36Speaker 1: trafficking scheme, the law will direct banks to claw back
- 11:39Speaker 1: houses or bonuses paid two executives responsible for the violation
- 11:44Speaker 1: of the BSA. Mandatory reporting of exits involving high risk clients,
- 11:49Speaker 1: The contemplated legislation will require that banks disclosed to the
- 11:53Speaker 1: US Treasury Department when it has exited a client over
- 11:56Speaker 1: concerns of problematic transaction activity. Specifically, banks will be required
- 12:02Speaker 1: to make a short declaration to the US Treasury Department
- 12:05Speaker 1: signed by the bank's US Compliance officer describing the circumstances
- 12:09Speaker 1: that led to the decision to exit the client, including
- 12:13Speaker 1: any patterns of suspicious financial activity. The declaration must also
- 12:17Speaker 1: disclose to the US Treasury Department the name of the
- 12:20Speaker 1: bank and geographic location where the exited client's funds were transferred.
- 12:26Speaker 1: This provision will be modeled after Section two D Dot
- 12:30Speaker 1: two of the DOJ Swiss Bank Program, more commonly known
- 12:34Speaker 1: as the lever lists mandatory reporting of restrictions on access
- 12:39Speaker 1: to cash. The contemplated legislation will require banks to file
- 12:43Speaker 1: suspicious activity reports with the US Treasury Department whenever it
- 12:48Speaker 1: made a decision to restrict a client's ability to withdraw
- 12:51Speaker 1: cash or wire money. This provision will extend to any
- 12:54Speaker 1: individual who had signatory authority or a power of attorney
- 12:58Speaker 1: over the client's accounts and were authorized to transact on
- 13:02Speaker 1: client's behalf Enhanced screening of accounts set up on related
- 13:06Speaker 1: parties under twenty five years old. The contemplated legislation will
- 13:11Speaker 1: require banks to conduct due diligence of situations where the
- 13:14Speaker 1: client or as representatives establish or control bank accounts for
- 13:18Speaker 1: unrelated third parties under the age of twenty five, such
- 13:22Speaker 1: as individuals under who are not the client's children or
- 13:26Speaker 1: related by blood. In any instance that there are accounts
- 13:29Speaker 1: or set up for women under the age of twenty
- 13:32Speaker 1: five from foreign countries, the contemplated legislation may require the
- 13:36Speaker 1: client to sit for an interview explaining the circumstances behind
- 13:41Speaker 1: the establishment of the accounts. Professional consequences for gatekeepers who
- 13:45Speaker 1: participate in human trafficking, The contemplated legislation will provide federal
- 13:50Speaker 1: agencies the authority to revoke certain registrations or professional licenses
- 13:55Speaker 1: to accounts and attorneys who enable human trafficking or sex trafficking.
- 14:00Speaker 1: For example, accounts who were willing co conspirators in a
- 14:04Speaker 1: human sex trafficking conspiracy could lose the right to represent
- 14:07Speaker 1: clients before the IRS for a period of five years.
- 14:11Speaker 1: Recommendation federal action. Wall Street Banks felled Epstein's victims by
- 14:17Speaker 1: providing Epstein the financial infrastructure needed to recruit, transport, and
- 14:21Speaker 1: harbor the young women and girls who fell prey to
- 14:24Speaker 1: his trafficking scheme. Banks like JPMC, Bank of America and
- 14:28Speaker 1: Deutsche enabled Epstein's trafficking by wilfully turning a blind eye
- 14:33Speaker 1: or being criminally negligent to thousands of suspicious transactions by
- 14:37Speaker 1: Epstein and ignoring repeated obvious red flags. When top executives
- 14:42Speaker 1: were warned about Epstein's suspicious transactions, they declined to properly
- 14:47Speaker 1: notify federal law enforcement. Because they viewed Epstein as a
- 14:50Speaker 1: useful source of referrals with even wealthier individuals, Wall Street
- 14:55Speaker 1: chose profits over justice. The lack of enforcement against Wall
- 14:59Speaker 1: Street and their employees regarding their handling of Epstein's accounts
- 15:03Speaker 1: is a miscarriage of justice. This report includes the following
- 15:07Speaker 1: actions should be taken by federal bank regulators and prosecutors.
- 15:12Speaker 1: One investigations by the US Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, the
- 15:16Speaker 1: Comptroller of the Currency into handling of Epstein's accounts by
- 15:20Speaker 1: Wall Street banks. The US Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and
- 15:24Speaker 1: Controller of the Currency must conduct thorough investigations into potential
- 15:29Speaker 1: violations of federal anti money laundering laws by major banks
- 15:33Speaker 1: and their employees in relation to the handling of Epstein's acounts.
- 15:38Speaker 1: These investigations should also extend to major banks that held
- 15:41Speaker 1: accounts for wealthy benefactors who paid Epstein large sums of
- 15:45Speaker 1: money under questionable circumstances. These investigations should cover, at a minimum,
- 15:50Speaker 1: the following issues as they related to JPMC, Bank of
- 15:53Speaker 1: America and Deutsche Bank. A Evidence of significant delays by
- 15:58Speaker 1: banks in reporting of suspicious financial activity from Epstein's accounts
- 16:03Speaker 1: to the US Treasury Department. B evidence that major banks
- 16:08Speaker 1: under reported the full extent of Epstein's suspicious financial activity.
- 16:12Speaker 1: See evidence that banks failed to conduct appropriate due diligence
- 16:16Speaker 1: on large payments to Epstein from wealthy benefactors. D Evidence
- 16:21Speaker 1: that bankers failed to act on persistent patterns of suspicious
- 16:25Speaker 1: financial transactions in Epstein's accounts for nearly two decades, including
- 16:30Speaker 1: millions in cash withdrawals, millions in payments to women and girls,
- 16:34Speaker 1: and transactions to high risk foreign jurisdictions in Russia and
- 16:38Speaker 1: throughout Eastern Europe. The evidence that individual bankers willfully and
- 16:43Speaker 1: knowingly ignored repeated red flags in Epstein's transaction activity in
- 16:48Speaker 1: order to protect Epstein as a client or as a
- 16:51Speaker 1: source or referrals with other ultra wealthy clients. F Evidence
- 16:57Speaker 1: that taught bankers ignored repeated requests from top compliance officials
- 17:01Speaker 1: determinate Epstein for years in order to protect their relationship
- 17:06Speaker 1: with Epstein. G evidence at employees from private banking wealth
- 17:10Speaker 1: management divisions at banks withheld information on suspicious activity from
- 17:15Speaker 1: compliance and h evidence at top bankers signed off on
- 17:20Speaker 1: continuing to work with Epstein even though his assets were
- 17:23Speaker 1: transferred to other banks over concerns of money laundering and
- 17:27Speaker 1: human trafficking. Two criminal investigations by the US Department of
- 17:31Speaker 1: Justice into handling of Epstein's accounts by big banks. The
- 17:35Speaker 1: Department of Justice must take prompt action to conduct a
- 17:38Speaker 1: criminal investigation into several major financial institutions into potential violations
- 17:44Speaker 1: of the BSA and other anti money laundering laws in
- 17:48Speaker 1: relation to the handling of Epstein's accounts and payments to
- 17:51Speaker 1: Epstein by wealthy benefactors. Compliance failures by major financial institutions
- 17:57Speaker 1: allowed Epstein to gain access to the cache and need
- 18:00Speaker 1: to recruit, transport, harbor, and abuse victims of a sex
- 18:04Speaker 1: trafficking scheme. The evidence presented in this report suggests that
- 18:08Speaker 1: these banks may have engaged in wolful violations of the
- 18:11Speaker 1: BSA or exhibited criminal negligence. Based on previous results in
- 18:16Speaker 1: litigation filed by Epstein's victims, a thorough federal criminal investigation
- 18:21Speaker 1: into the matter could result in significant fines on banks.
- 18:25Speaker 1: These investigations should also examine the conduct of individual bankers
- 18:30Speaker 1: and individuals who transacted on Epstein's behalf three criminal investigation
- 18:35Speaker 1: by US Department of Justice and Epstein's associates. The Department
- 18:39Speaker 1: of Justice must take steps to hold other participants in
- 18:42Speaker 1: Epstein's criminal sex trafficking activity accountable. It's unacceptable that the
- 18:47Speaker 1: only Epstein and Glenn Maxwell have faced consequences in what
- 18:51Speaker 1: is one of the largest, if not the largest sex
- 18:53Speaker 1: trafficking ring in US history. DOJ must conduct criminal investigations
- 18:58Speaker 1: into Darren Endyke where Kahn, Harry Beller, and other Epstein aides.
- 19:03Speaker 1: DOJ must also investigate the conduct of men who signed
- 19:06Speaker 1: secret settlements with victims of Epstein's scheme and possible abuse
- 19:11Speaker 1: trafficked women and girls. For the House Committee on Oversite
- 19:14Speaker 1: and Reform investigation should seek additional records of bankers who
- 19:18Speaker 1: covered Epstein's accounts. The House Committee on Oversite and Reform
- 19:22Speaker 1: has subpoenaed information from several banks as part of their
- 19:25Speaker 1: investigation into the government's response to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. These
- 19:30Speaker 1: subpoenas were sent to JPMC and Deutsche Bank, among others. However,
- 19:35Speaker 1: available information indicates that these subpoenas covered a limited set
- 19:38Speaker 1: of information that will not encompass potential compliance failures by
- 19:43Speaker 1: big banks in relation to the handling of Epstein's accounts.
- 19:47Speaker 1: House Oversight Committee must subpoena all emails sent or received
- 19:50Speaker 1: by specific bankers at JPMC, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of
- 19:54Speaker 1: America in order to fully understand how major banks failed
- 19:58Speaker 1: Epstein's victims. House Oversight Committee should consider subpoenas for emails
- 20:03Speaker 1: regarding Epstein's accounts for all of the following bankers concerning
- 20:06Speaker 1: Epstein's accounts Paul Morris, Mary Erdos, Jess Staley, Stephen Cutler,
- 20:13Speaker 1: John Duffy, Justin Nelson, Mary Casey, David Briggstock, Paul Barrett,
- 20:18Speaker 1: Jeff Madisow, Jane Heller, Karen Weiss, and Stuart Oldfield. US
- 20:24Speaker 1: Treasury Secretary Scott Descent must immediately turn over all stars
- 20:28Speaker 1: filed by banks related to Epstein's accounts to the Senate
- 20:32Speaker 1: Finance Committee for additional review. Treasury Secretary Scott Descent must
- 20:37Speaker 1: stop playing politics with US Treasury Department Epstein file and
- 20:41Speaker 1: produce records to the Senate Finance Committee without delay. His
- 20:44Speaker 1: failure to do so perpetuates a system where Epstein's wealthy
- 20:48Speaker 1: benefactors on Wall Street facilitate human trafficking with impunity. All right, folks,
- 20:55Speaker 1: well that's going to do it. For the report from
- 20:57Speaker 1: Senator Wyden on Jeffrey Epstein and his pals on Wall Street.
- 21:02Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
- 21:05Speaker 1: found in the description box