Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / The Epstein Wall Street Records Act Takes Aim at the Banks (10/16/26)

Transcript

The Epstein Wall Street Records Act Takes Aim at the Banks (10/16/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. One of the biggest travesties when it comes
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to Jeffrey Epstein and one of the most important doors
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: that was never really opened has to do with his finances.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: And over the past year or so, we've heard from
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of lawmakers about how important it is to
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: follow the money. Well, now building off of that momentum,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: we have some lawmakers in DC who are trying to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: pass a new bill that could hold Wall Street accountable
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: for their complicity in Jeffrey Epstein's criminal empire. So today,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: we have an article from The Guardian and the headline, U.S.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Lawmakers Unveil Bill to Hold Wall Street Epstein-Connected Bosses to Account.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Kaylina Makertoff. U.S. Lawmakers have
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: unveiled the new bill to hold Wall Street's Epstein-Connected Bosses
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to Account for helping finance the late sex offenders' crimes.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And look, if anybody needs to be held accountable, you
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: all know how I feel. The financial sector was dick
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: deep in all of this. And listen, it's not just this,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: it's everything. Every time you turn around, every disaster that
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: we face for the most part is because of the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: financial sector. It came as top Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: condemned the UK bank Barclays for dodging responsibility over its
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: failure to vet former boss Jeff Staley and his ties
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: to the once well-connected billionaire. Well, Barclays knew. They just
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: thought that this had all passed. They thought that the
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: storm had come and gone and they could get away
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: with hiring Epstein's buddy and not have to deal with
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: any kind of consequence. And the truth is, That was
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: exactly what happened for quite some time. But after Epstein's
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: second arrest, that really changed everything as far as being
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: able to control the blast radius. Because now people have questions.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And not only do people have questions, the survivors started
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: coming forward. So it wasn't like Barclays had like this
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: come to Jesus moment or any of the banks had these,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you know, epiphanies where they decided, you know what, the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: right thing would be to come clean. That never happened.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: A bipartisan group of politicians led by Warren and House
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Representative Robert Garcia are introducing a bill on Thursday known
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: as the Epstein-Wall Street Records Act. The bill follows a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: month-long investigation into the financier who died in prison in
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges. Well,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: what you mean is pedophile, not financier, right? Because really,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: that's what he was. Just like Glenn Maxwell's not a socialite,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: She's a human trafficker. Let's call these people what they are.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: If passed, the bill would force regulators, including the Federal
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission, to investigate Epstein-connected financial
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: firms and executives for potential breaches of banking, investment, or
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: illicit funding laws, and fine or even ban wrongdoers from
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the U.S. financial sector. That's not good enough. Prison These
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: people need to be really taught a lesson. And the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: only thing that they're going to really feel is taking
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: away their money and taking away their freedom. Anything short
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: of that is performative. Now, of course, there has to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: be some crime committed, right? But do you really think
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: that we have to dig too deep to find crimes
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: committed by people in the financial sector? Every last one
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: of these scumbags has stepped on many people on their
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: way to the top. And you don't achieve the level
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: that these people achieve unless you're willing to be cutthroat.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: The bill, which is also being backed by House Republican
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Thomas Massey, will also force regulators to publicly disclose any
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: records relating to Epstein and his associates, and refer any
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: potential criminal violation to the U.S. Justice Department. Warren said,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: since the big banks won't hold themselves accountable, and the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Trump administration won't either, Congress must act to force real
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: transparency and accountability for them and their executives who enabled
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. Boy, that would be nice. But the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: problem is, all these senators and congressmen are taking money
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: hand over fist from the financial sector on a regular basis.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: So it's one thing to talk the talk. It's a
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: whole ass other thing to walk the walk. And you
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: better believe I'm keeping track of who's talking the biggest game.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Because if and when the Democrats do flip the House,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: or the Senate, or both... then it's going to be
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: time to act. And all the people that are talking
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: big now, they better keep that same rhetoric going. News
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of the bill came as Warren condemned the bosses at Barclays,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: one of the UK's biggest banks, over their failure to
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: adequately answer questions about its former chief executive, Jess Staley,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and his links to Epstein. Well, I think that's a
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: failure on everybody's part. Including the American regulators. But they
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: had no idea what he was up to? They didn't
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: know that Jeff Staley was involved with Epstein? Of course
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: they knew that. They didn't give a shit. That's the problem.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: And that's really the heart of the issue here. That
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: for all these years, none of these people gave a goddamn,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, now everybody cares? Why?
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Because it's politically convenient? Staley's ties with the well-connected billionaire
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: spelled the end of his career. The American banker resigned
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: from Barclays in November of 2021. after UK regulators started
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: investigating the true nature of his relationship with Epstein, whom
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: he met in 2000 during his three-decade stint at JP Morgan. Well,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: they were willing to overlook it at first, but of course,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: they couldn't do that once Epstein got arrested again, once
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: the story became news, once people started coming out and
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: talking about the complicity of the financial sector. And remember,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: even with all the lawsuits that have been paid out,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: With all of the money that the banks have shelled out,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: not once have they admitted fault. Not once have they
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: admitted that they were culpable. The Financial Conduct Authority's original investigation,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: triggered by a cache of more than 1,200 emails between
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Staley and Epstein, concluded that the pair were indeed close
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and had a relationship that went beyond one that was
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: professional in nature. Staley was eventually banned from the UK's
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: financial sector in 2023 for playing down those ties, and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: failed to overturn that decision in a court battle that
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: revealed intimate details of the pair's friendship last year. That
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: included Staley admitting to having sex with a member of
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Epstein's staff in New York, an encounter he said was consensual.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I have my doubts about that. And if it was
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: somebody who was being trafficked previously by Epstein, how is
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: that a consensual encounter? So that's something that has to
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: be explored for sure. And if anybody should be referred
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: to DOJ, I think that Jess Daly is certainly at
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the top of the list. Now, does that mean they're
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: going to find anything that they can prosecute him on?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think so. But like I always
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: tell you, my biggest problem is there hasn't been a
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: real investigation. I mean, how about we start there? That
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: might be a good idea, right? An actual robust investigation.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Find out what's what. Get all the information. And start
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: building your case if you have one. The biggest problem is,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: nobody even spoke to these people during the initial investigation.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: The case also revived a 2010 exchange referring to a
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Disney princess in which Staley said that was fun. Say
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: hi to Snow White. Staley denied knowledge of the exchange
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: during a UK court hearing. What a liar. An absolute liar.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Imagine being caught red-handed like that. Literally with your pants down.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and still acting like you have no idea what anybody's
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: talking about. And mind you, this dude has a daughter
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: of his own. After the loss of his legal challenge
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: against the FCA, Staley said he was disappointed by the outcome,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: but was never dishonest. In July, Warren and a team
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: of House Democrats wrote to Barclay's chair, Nigel Higgins, asking
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: how it had vetted its former chief executive, and whether
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: the bank had investigated potential deficiencies in in its executive
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: hiring process given it had allowed the board to hire
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: a CEO who had extensive professional and personal ties to
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: a convicted sex offender. Well, probably a good question to ask.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: How's that vetting process going over at Barclays? What's next?
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe you could hire Jeffrey Dahmer as an executive chef.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that would be a hit. Barclays has since
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: responded with a letter from its head of U.S. government relations,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Lance Williams, that Warren said was not sufficient. The letter
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: focused on the findings of the UK regulator's investigation. Williams
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: stressed that Staley had concealed information about his actions and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: nature of his relationship with Mr. Epstein, and only after
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Staley's resignation had previously unknown information come to light through
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: various public disclosures. That's not true. We were talking about
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Jeff Staley literally the day after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: So I don't know what they're talking about. The problem is,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: The vast majority of the media were asleep at the wheel.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: They were way too busy chasing ghosts. Way too busy
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: getting caught up in personality contests. Oh, we like this one.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: We don't like that one. When they should have been
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: focused on what these survivors were saying. This information paints
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: a fundamentally different different picture of Mr. Staley than what
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: he presented to Barclays, William said, noting that Barclays had
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: relied on external executive search firms to recruit Staley in
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: 2015 when he was known for his accomplishments in the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: banking industry. Warren said Barclays' lackluster response illustrated why it
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: was time for regulators to launch formal investigations into Wall
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Street's ties to Epstein. Barclays continues to dodge responsibility over
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: its apparent failure to vet its former CEO, Jeff Staley,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: and his close professional and personal ties to Epstein. Barclays
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: declined to comment. Staley's legal representatives were contacted for comment.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So hopefully this is going to be something that they
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: push for, and hopefully it's something that gets over the
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: finish line. Because like I've told you from the very beginning,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: if you want real accountability, you want real transparency, then
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: you follow the money. The question is, is it all talk?
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Or is Congress and the Senate ready to follow through?
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: found in the description box.