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Wall Street Ties Raise Questions for Prosecutors Overseeing Epstein-Linked Matters · The Epstein Chronicles

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. One of the biggest de fews that we
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see when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and the so
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called investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates are these
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internal investigations that are led by Jeffrey Epstein's friends. And
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when it comes to the SDNY and the man that
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leads the SDNY, Jay Clayton, could the conflict of interest
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be any more apparent? Let us recall that before taking
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this job at the SDNY, this dude was working for
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Apollo Global, you know, Leon Black's company, and he was
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very close and is very close to a lot of
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the people that were in that world. So this is
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the guy that we're gonna have investigate these people. It
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doesn't really inspire much confidence in what's going on. And
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when you have a situation that is just rife with
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all kinds of corruption as it is, the last thing
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you want to do as an institution is add to
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the problem. But when it comes to this DOJ and
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this administration, they don't care. And that's because they really
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believe that they're going to make this go away. That's
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what they think but they're wrong. Today, we have an
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article from The Jacobin and the headline the Epstein class
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investigates itself. This article was authored by Freddie Brewster. The
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investment portfolio of the Interim US Attorney for the Southern
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District of New York shows financial stakes and Epstein's associated
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financial institutions and Venezuelan oil interests. The Trump appointee stands
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to win big from his own investigations, like on what
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planet is that okay? And since when is that something
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that is acceptable in America? Jay Clayton, a top federal
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prosecutor leading investigations into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Venezuelan president
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Nicholas Madoro, and Major Wall Street Banks, holds more than
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one point six million in investments in companies with a
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potential financial stake in those same matters, according to ethics
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disclosures reviewed by The lever Well, it's obvious that there's
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a problem here, but it's not going to be addressed.
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Just like the rest of this stuff, they don't care.
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There is nothing that's going to force their hand, so
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they're just going to roll with it, and especially right
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now with their shiny new object that everybody's focusing on,
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which is the war in Iran. They're going to keep
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going as far as they can with the Epstein cover up.
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And what did the Clintons used to say, never let
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a good crisis go to waste, Right, So there's no
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doubt that the Trump administration is going to use what's
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going on in Iran to help cover up what's happening here. Clayton,
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President Trump's pick to run the Justice Department's top dog
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Southern District of New York office, owns stake in multiple
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oil and gas companies that stand to benefit from Venezuela's
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regime change, as well as Wall Street banks and financial
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firms currently under investigation by Congress over their ties to Epstein.
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And this is the guy leading the dance. I'm sure
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that really inspires a lot of confidence in everybody out there.
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I know it doesn't me. You know that Jay Clayton's
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gonna do the right thing. He's never going to bend
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and try and help his buddies. He's never going to
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try and help his boss, Donald Trump. Right, that wouldn't
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be ethical. And everybody in this administration is above and
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beyond approach, Right, How dare you criticize anybody in the
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most transparent administration of all time. The disclosure show Clayton
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has more than one million in financial holdings and in
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private equity giant Apollo Global Management, where he served as
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board chairman until his Justice Department appointment. And that right
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there should set off all kinds of alarm bells. And
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if you were wondering how somebody like Leon Black has
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avoided real trouble here, this is how when everybody that's
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in control of the DOJ and the government is your
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friend or your buddy or a fellow traveler, you're gonna
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get hooked up. And let's not forget that Ben Black
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is part of the administration. Leon Black's son j Clayton,
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has a very personal interest in seeing the Epstein story
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as a cabin doff story involving mysterious who could have
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ever known it villain, rather than the story of interconnected
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a moral elites. It appears to be two impartial people,
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said Jeff how, executive director of the government watchdog group
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Revolving to a Project. And I don't think I've met
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one single person, regular person who doesn't see what's going
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on here and doesn't see just how screwed up things
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really are behind the scenes when it comes to the
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so called masters of the universe. Because even if you
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don't believe that this was some vast human trafficking enterprise,
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how can you deny the rest of it? How can
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you deny the stuff with the paper trail, How can
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you deny the obvious corruption. Well, if you're a serious person,
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you can't because it all goes hand in hand, and
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when you start to get a lay of the land,
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it looks like all these people were put in place
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for that specific reason, right, the loyal soldiers, Todd Blanche,
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Jay Clayton, Pam Bondy, Cash Patel, all people that are
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going to play ball with what the administration wants them
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to do, and not only that, but rally around those decisions,
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like there the right decisions to make. When anybody who's
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not being biased and is taking a neutral approach understands
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that what they're doing is just furthering the cover up,
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that's a really paralyzing bias to bring to the role
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of prosecutor. Houser added, we should want professional skeptics to
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serve our prosecutors, not the credulous. And I think that's
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correct too. Why do we have to have all your
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buddies everywhere in the government. Isn't that just a form
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of DEI? That's really what it comes down to. Are
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you really going to try and tell me that Jay
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Clayton is the most qualified person for that position in
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the whole country, or that Todd Baby Billy Blanches, or
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that Pambondi is, or that Cash Patil is. We all
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know the answer to that, and the answer is no. Clayton,
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a former corporate attorney with no prosecutorial experience and Trump's
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former Securities and Exchange Commission chair, served as chairchairman of
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Apollo's board of directors from twenty twenty one intil April
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of twenty twenty five, when Trump selected him to be
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interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
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Clayton was never confirmed to the position by the Senate,
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but in a rare move, a panel of judges appointed
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him to the position until the Senate confirmation candidate can
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take over. Oh, isn't that nice. It's just such a joke,
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Like it's honestly a joke. The whole entire thing that
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we're seeing here play out in front of us. The
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political theater surrounding. This is so disgusting that it's almost
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hard to put it into words. Seven months after Clayton
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assumed his Justice Department position, amid a public pressure campaign
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urging the Justice Department to release the so called Epstein files,
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US Attorney General Pambondi tasked him with investigating people and
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institutions tied to Epstein. According to Trump, that list should
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include former President Bill Clinton, former Obama administration advisor Larry Summers,
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billionaire tech founder and Democratic Party funder Reied Hoffman and
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Wall Street Bank JP Morgan, Chase Funny, leaves out Leon Black,
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leaves out jess Day, leaves out all of his buddies,
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leaves out himself. But everybody else who is his enemy,
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well they should all be targeted. What kind of moron
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talks like that? I mean, even if you have a
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case that's being built and you're talking like that, you're
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gonna end up getting that case thrown out. Imagine if
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a lawyer was talking like this, a prosecutor, I mean,
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the defense team would be filing motions the second the
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words came out of their mouth. And if any kind
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of investigations ever initiated against any of those people, they're
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going to claim that they're being targeted and it'll just
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get thrown out anyway. But the truth is there was
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never gonna be any kind of investigation into anybody, Democrats
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or otherwise. So Donald Trump was just shooting his mouth
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off like usual. Clayton has also been assigned to spearhead
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the redactions of victims personally identifiable information in the trove
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of Epstein investigation records the Justice Department began releasing on
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January thirtieth. The process has proved to be a debacle
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due to failures that left email addresses and nude photos
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of potential victims unredacted, plus the name of a victim
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in another high profile sex trafficking case recently prosecuted by
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Clayton's office. The SDNY is like Monty Python meets a
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Reno nine one one. Talk about a bunch of morons
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who's running this shit? The Trailer Park Boys. On January third,
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the Justice Department released its indictment against Madero, which included
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Clayton's signature. That indictment has drawn criticism after the Justice
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Department dropped certain claims and revised portions after submitting it
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to the court. The indictment alleges that for more than
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twenty years, Maduro led a narco terrorism ring that imported
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tons of cocaine into the United States. Clayton is the
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top federal prosecutor overseeing the government's case. Well at the time,
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when they were trying to say it was about fentanyl,
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that was obviously a bunch of bullshit. The vast majority
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of fenyl or a precursor that comes into the country
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is coming in through Mexico. Now cocaine, no doubt, certainly
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coming from Venezuela. It's a transit point. But when we're
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talking about fentyl, Venezuela had nothing to do with fentyl whatsoever.
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So that was an obvious lie. If they would have
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just said cocaine, okay, cool, believable. Still stupid, but believable.
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And of course you're going to see that reflected in
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the indictment, and I'm sure that it's going to be
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superseded a couple of more times before Maduro ends up
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going to trial. According to the Office of Government Ethics disclosures,
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Clayton still maintained significant investments in many of the companies
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involved in his office's work. That includes between one point
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five million and six million worth of Apollo holdings, between
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fifteen thousand and fifty thousand in JP, Morgan, Chase and
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Bank of America stock, and between one thousand and fifteen
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thousand in Bank of New York, Mellon and City Group stock.
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The Justice Department has not announced any criminal prosecutions of
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banks tied to Epstein, but Congress is investigating one point
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five billion in suspicious financial transactions tied to Epstein, sex
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trafficking crimes and disco conspirators that allegedly flowed through Deutsche Bank,
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JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Bank of New York Mellon.
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City Bank is among the institution Senators have called on
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the Treasury Department to investigate over suspicious activities relating to
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Jeffrey Epstein and dissociates. What's more, Clayton holds between nineteen
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thousand and one hundred and ten thousand in Chevron, Conico, Phillips,
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Exon Mobil, Phillip sixty six, and Valero Energy stock, oil
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companies with a potential financial stake in Venezuela's future oil production.
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He also owns between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand
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dollars worth of stock in the holding company Berkshire Hathaway,
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which also stands to gain from Venezuelan oil production thanks
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to its six percent steak in Chevron. Clayton's portfolio also
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includes between one million and five million in unvested American
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Express stock, between one hundred thousand and two hundred and
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fifty thousand in Google parent company Alphabet stock, and between
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one hundred thousand and two hundred and fifty thousand in
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Amazon stock, among other holdings. Federal ethics and conflict of
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interest rules which apply to Justice Department employees barre prosecutors
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from taking official action in a particular matter involving any
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entity in which you or someone whose interests are imputed
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to you have a financial interest. So Clayton should just
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recuse himself from all of this. In fact, he should
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go back to being a corporate lawyer. He is in
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over his head, one thousand percent over his head. Those
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rules also bar prosecutors from participating in cases involving any
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person for whom you have served within the last year
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as officer, director, trustee, general, partner, agent, attorney, consultant, contractor,
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or employee. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether
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Clayton plans to recuse himself from Epstein or of Venezuela
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related matters. No way, he was put here for this reason.
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He is not going to recuse himself. Well, you think
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this DOJ has honor. During his time at Apollo, Clayton
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helps s caere the company through a public relations quagmire
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regarding Apollo's co founder and former CEO, Leon Black, and
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his personal and business connections to Epstein. Apollo appointed Clayton
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chairman after Black resigned from the position in March of
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twenty twenty one, amid scrutiny over his Epstein ties and
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sexual harassment allegations made against them. Several but not all,
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of the related suits have been dropped, and Black has
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denied the allegations. Yeah, well, good luck denying those. Good luck,
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Leon Black, because from what I've seen from those court filings,
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sure's a lot of smoke there. In January twenty twenty
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one regulatory filing, Apollo disclosed an internal investigation into Black
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and the firm's relationship with Epstein, as well as the
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letter Black issued to investors, both of which stated Apollo
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had no formal business ties to Epstein and that only
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Black himself consulted with Epstein on business related issues. As
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of if Black wasn't Apollo and Apollo wasn't Black, you
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can't separate the two. Now they'll say you can, but
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you can't. I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way. Due
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to the new Epstein Files revelations, Apollo's claims are now
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facing legal scrutiny in the US District Court for the
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Southern District of New York, Clayton's jurisdiction. While his office
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is not directly involved in the case, the matter could
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put pressure on him to include his former employer among
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the people and institutions tied to Epstein that he's charged
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with investigating. January thirtieth, Epstein Files release contained documents detailing
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multiple emails between Epstein, current Apollo CEO Mark Rowan, and
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other Apollo executives between twenty thirteen and March twenty sixteen,
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long after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a minor.
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And again, this is where the timelines come in, right.
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There's no excuse here, and Mark Rowan should be embarrassed.
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He came out and said he had no contact with Epstein,
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there weren't friends, blah blah blah, another lie. In response
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to a group of Apollo shareholders filed a lawsuit on
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March second in the Southern District of New York alleging
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that Apollo, Black and Rowan were directly or indirectly involved
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in drafting, producing, reviewing, or disseminating the false and misleading
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statements and information that was submitted to shareholders in the
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twenty twenty one regulatory filing. Yeah, they lied one thousand
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percent without a doubt. And the crazy thing is, there's
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all kinds of teachers' unions and different funds that are
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being managed by Apollo Global, So this is just the
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beginning of the trouble for them. Additionally, two major teachers'
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unions are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate
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what they call miss claims made in the regulatory filing.
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Were troubled by Apollo's seeming inability to be forthcoming about
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the extent to which Epstein was a personal, social, and
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professional associate of the firm and its partners. The American
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Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors
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wrote in a letter to the Commission, Well, that's funny
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considering how many professors were on Epstein's tea. That's a
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bit ironic. No, we don't know exactly what motivates that
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lack of candor, but it should be investigated. Well, that's true,
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It most certainly should. Do you really think Jay Clayton's
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going to be the guy to do it. Apollo did
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not respond to a request for comment, but in a
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February eighteen statement, Apollo said there's nothing new in the
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Justice Department Epstein documents and that despite the flurry of
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coverage and certain constituents pushing their own agendas, the facts
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remain the same. Do they though? Do they really? And
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even if they do, the problem for Apollo is we've
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never seen the real facts. What we saw was a
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water down report by Deckert. That's all we saw. Still.
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Chris Tobe, an investment advisor and litigation expert for public
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pension funds representing workers, said Clayton's Apollo holdings are a
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clear conflict of interest and that he should resign. There
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are just too many conflicts here, Tobe told the Lever
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and I agree with that one hundred percent. And I've
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been saying this for a while. I don't think Jay
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Clayton should have this job. There's way too much conflict
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of interest going on, and I don't know how anyone
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could have any faith that Jay Clayton's going to do
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the right thing, especially considering how terrible they did when
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it comes to curating the Epstein files for release. So
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I certainly have my doubts about Jay Clayton and about
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how neutral he can be when he's pursuing his duty
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as the head honcho of the SDNY. So we're going
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to keep an eye on these cases and see what
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happens as they continue to make their way through court,
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and when we have some more information on them, we'll
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get it added to the catalog. All the information that
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goes with this episode can be found in the description box.