Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Mega Edition: Jeffrey Epstein And The Dark Money That Gave Life To His Operation (9/20/26)

Transcript

Mega Edition: Jeffrey Epstein And The Dark Money That Gave Life To His Operation (9/20/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Into the FinCEN files in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: our case as a whole. Well, today we're going to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: dive back in and it looks like Congress is ready
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to move on some of these shell companies. Now, I've
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: heard that time and time again when it comes to Congress.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I've heard a lot of lip service from them throughout
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the years. I've followed Congress very closely for the last
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: two decades. And if there has ever been a group
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: of people who like to talk without backing it up
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: with action, it most certainly is the United States Congress.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: So while I hope that they're ready to go after
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: shell companies and get this money laundering under control, I'm
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in a show me state, right? I don't believe it
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: until they do it. At this point, how can we
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: believe anything that's coming out of Congress or the Senate?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Or anywhere from any of the historical bastions of power.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: They have done nothing but lie to us over and
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: over and over again. And I'm just talking about since 9-11.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Never mind going back before then. But it's just been
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a constant screwing of the American people by both sides
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: of the aisle. And I'm tired of it. So if
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: they're just going to talk about going after these companies,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: if they're just going to give us lip service about
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: going after these shell companies and ending money laundering, then
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: they should just shut up and continue with their partisan nonsense.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: But if they're really ready to move into a phase
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: that includes action and tangible penalties for people involved, then
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: they most certainly will have my support. But again, we're
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: dealing with some people that are almost as bad as
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: these bankers, right? Maybe in some cases, obviously not even maybe,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: definitely in some cases worse than these bankers. So we're
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: at a point where we're staring down into a pit
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of vipers and we're looking for one that's not so
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: poisonous to help us out pretty much. So who knows?
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Maybe somebody in Congress is actually going to push this forward.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe somebody in Congress actually does care about this stuff.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: But to be honest with you, They've had all of
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: these years to fix it. They wield extreme power. They're
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the ones who write the laws and they have done nothing.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Their inaction speaks volumes. Our article today is from BuzzFeed
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: News and it is part of our FinCEN Files investigation.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: This will be part four of the FinCEN Files in
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: regards to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Headline, Congress is
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: close to ending anonymous shell companies. This article was authored
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: by Paul McLeod. After years of inaction, Congress is looking
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to pass substantial reforms of the financial system. The Finson
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Files investigation spotlighted the pivotal role of shell companies in
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: moving dirty money. Well, it is, I said from the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: jump that these Finson Files are, this is what journalism
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: should be, folks. In my opinion, in my humble opinion,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: this is what journalism should be. Finding a story like
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: this and digging in like a bulldog and chasing it
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: down to wherever it may end. Journalists shouldn't be part
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: of the resistance. Journalists shouldn't be pro-party in power. Journalists
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: should be pro-truth and getting to the bottom of things. Instead,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: we see two separate realities form because the media wants
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to carry water for one side or the other. And
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: you know who gets screwed then, folks? Us. That's who
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: gets screwed. And do you really think Congress would have
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: been taking this action if the FinCEN files didn't drop?
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: If the journalists, the brave investigative journalists who dug into
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: this didn't shine a spotlight on it? Do you really
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: think Congress would be taking action? Or would they be
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: sitting around playing grab ass still? I know what I think,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and it's definitely the grab-ass option. For over a decade,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: there have been calls in Congress to address shadowy corporate
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: entities known as shell companies that are considered a cornerstone
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: of fraud, corruption, and money laundering. For over a decade, huh?
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Just over a decade? Right there shows you the problem.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: These congressmen and congresswomen and these lawmakers, they have used
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: these shell companies themselves. How do you become rich as
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: a congressman on that salary? Can anybody answer that question
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: for me? Well, I'll answer it for myself. It's because
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: you have many fingers in many pies. These people become
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: congressmen and senators and congresswomen because of the power. It's
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: not because they want to help people. It's not because
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: they care about their constituents or their communities. The vast
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: majority of these people only care about increasing their power.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: And unless the spotlight is turned on an issue like this,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: they'll ignore it because it benefits them and their friends.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: That's just the cold heart reality of it, folks. People
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: don't want to believe it. People don't want to hear it.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: It's the truth. These companies help unsavory characters and organizations
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: hide wealth or use the proceeds of crime to buy
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: up legitimate assets ranging from a condo to an entire
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. And the U.S. is
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: one of the easiest jurisdictions in the world for setting
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: them up. How often did we see Epstein involved in
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: real estate? How much property did he have? How many
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: assets did he have? What else was he involved in?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: How much of this stuff... was facilitated by the shitty
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: laws that Congress has on the books. All of it was.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So again, I ask you, how long are you going
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to keep sending those incumbents back to D.C.? I know me,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I'm voting them all out. That's where I'm at. I
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: don't trust any of them. I don't care what letter
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: you have next to your name. All you do is
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: go to D.C. and play partisan politics, rile up people
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that would never be riled up before, And play a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: divisive game that is damaging the whole entire system. All
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: because you people are power hungry. I am sick of it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I am done with it. And the only power that
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: I have is to vote them out. So that's what
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I'm doing on election day. I am not voting for
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: one single incumbent. Startingly. These entities can require less disclosure
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: than getting a library card. Imagine that, huh? Imagine how
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: easy it is to be a thief in the United
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: States of America or any other westernized country. If you
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: got some bucks and you got some connections, well, you
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: can be a modern day thief, steal from the people,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: not pay your taxes, and just, you know, get on
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: with it. Because guess what? They're a so-called polite society
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and we are literally nothing to them. That means all
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: of them, folks, all of your favorites, all of these
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: politicians you get down into hero worship for. They do
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: not care about you. Understand that. Why don't you write
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: them a letter if you can't pay your rent and
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: see if any of them step up to help you?
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: It's just like Sonny said to see in a Bronx
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: tale about Mickey Mantle. Is Mickey Mantle going to pay
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: your rent? No, he's not. So kill the hero worship.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Because it's bad news folks. And they prey. They prey.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: On your fear. And on your anger. And they rely.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: On us being divided. Now legislation. That would force disclosure.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Of who owns a company registered in the US. Has
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: once again advanced in Congress. It's fate is uncertain. But
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: inter-interested parties agree. This is the strongest chance yet. For
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: reforms to pass. So now. I highly suggest that we
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: all call our Congress people and senators and everybody else
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and tell them that we want massive reform in the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: financial sector. How did these people get away without reforming
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: shit after the meltdown in 2008, 2009? How did they
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: get away with it? Oh, easily, because Congress let them
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: get away with it. Nobody was held accountable, ever. All
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of these hot shot financial jerk-offs. all of these scumbags
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: that inhabit Wall Street, none of them paid the price.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: You know who paid the price? Me and you. Our
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: retirement plans, our dreams, our hopes, our futures, all crushed
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: under their $ 5, 000 foot heel. And nobody went to jail. Well,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: now Congress has a chance to fix it. The question is,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: will they? Or will they continue to let people like
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein skate the system, launder money, and use those
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: laundered funds to facilitate their crimes? There is a stark
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: choice here, folks, and Congress needs to do the right thing.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: The final push comes as BuzzFeed News and the International
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Consortium of Investigated Journalists in the Fincen Files investigation... have
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: exposed the vast amounts of dirty money washing through the U.S.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: economy and how shell companies help foster that flow. And,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you know, you would think, right, you hear shell companies
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and you're thinking criminals. For me, before I really dove
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: into this, I thought about shell companies. I figured, you know,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: rich people, obviously. But I never knew the scope of
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: what was going on in my own country, right? I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: was so focused on other things, the Near East, meaning
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the Middle East, That was where my whole entire focus
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: was for the past two decades. That's all I really
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: focused on. And then when I started to really zero
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: in on what was going on in my own backyard,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I was just blown away by how many shell companies
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: are set up, how many politicians, current and former, are
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: involved in this sort of shit, and just how pervasive
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: financial crimes are in this country. It blew me away, folks.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: And it's time to stop it. It is time for
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: it to end. We've discussed how bad and how harmful
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: money laundering is on the poorest amongst us. And I'm
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: sure that's a lot of our friends and family, right? Look,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: it's not easy to get ahead if you're not born ahead, right?
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: It's possible in the United States. There's no doubt that
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: if you work hard in the United States and you
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: focus on you and you make good decisions, you can
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: drag yourself up from nothing and become successful. I watched
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: my own father do it. When I was a child,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: we first moved to Las Vegas. My grandmother was dying
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: of lung cancer. We had nothing. My dad had just
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: graduated from audio school. There was 15 of us in
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a one-bedroom apartment. And I watched my pops get up
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: every single day, 4.30 in the morning, and walk up
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: to the Las Vegas strip looking for a job. And
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: then finally, he scored a good gig and worked his
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: way up and became a pretty... high-powered person in the
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: entertainment field in Las Vegas. And I'm proud of him
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: for that, right? But he did that himself with no help.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: So it's definitely possible. And there are stories like that.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I'm sure all of us have them in our family
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: for the most part. But we can't let Congress get
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: in the way of that kind of stuff. We can't
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: let these laws stop people from achieving those sort of
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: goals and and let these sort of money laundering schemes
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: and plots keep people in poverty. And we've seen how
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: it works. We've seen what money laundering does. And we
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: have seen the effects it has on the community as
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: a whole. I don't think people think about it. Not
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: enough of my colleagues do, said Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: It's bigger all the time. There's more money swashing around
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: all the time in all kinds of nefarious ways. organized crime, elections, everything.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. Look, Sherrod Brown is 100% right.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: There is so much money swishing and swashing and moving
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: around that it is almost impossible to track it. Especially
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: when you have the compliance divisions of these institutions in
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: on it, like we've seen with some of the bigger
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: situations with Jeffrey Epstein. So it is up to Congress
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: to put their foot down. But how could Congress put
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: their foot down if we have Congress populated by bipedal
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: serpents like Ghislaine Maxwell? People who are writing laws so
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: that they can avoid this kind of shit. It is
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: a never-ending circle of madness. You know, the wheel needs
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: to be broken. Not just the spoke, but the whole
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: entire wheel needs to be broken. Senate Banking Committee Chair
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Mike Crapo and Brown, the ranking member, co-authored legislation that
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: would force limited liability companies every year to reveal their
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: true beneficial ownership. The person who controls the company owns
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: at least 25% of it or receives economic benefits from
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the company's assets. Such disclosures would make it harder to
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: run these companies anonymously, removing one of the reasons these
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: companies are employed for moving money around the globe. Look,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: enough is enough alright with the anonymous ownership and if
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I have to I mean if you're driving an Uber
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: you have to go through all kinds of loopholes and
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: get a tin identification all sorts of shit you mean
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to tell me that if you're running one of these
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: shell companies nobody has to know anything about it there's
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: no checks and balances there's no I mean come on
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: you see folks how the game is rigged and you
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: see how it's not rigged in your favor Those with
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: power and wealth continue to build power and wealth while
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: you and I are left to scrape by and we're
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: forced and turned to hate each other. That is the
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: game that they play. That is the game that they
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: rely on. And that is how their system stays intact.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: By keeping us at each other's throats with their BS
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: nonsense on a regular basis. Well, I'm not buying it.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not being gaslit by them. And if they think
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: that I'm going to sit by... and keep quiet, they
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: are absolutely in for a big old shock. Ownership information
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: would be shared with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FINCEN,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: an agency within the Department of Treasury that combat money laundering,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Crapo's legislation would also
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: require the Government Accountability Office to study the availability of
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: true beneficial ownership information for other legal entities. Look, this
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: is good stuff, right? If they can get this through,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: if Brown and Crapo can move this ball and get
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the other scuzzballs to sign on to it, I think
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: it's a good start, right? I'm not a big fan
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: of regulation for the most part, especially over-regulation. It's burdensome
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: to business. But what these people have proven is that
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: they can't be trusted. It's like having a child and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: you give them a little leeway and then they sneak out. Well,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: now we know you like to sneak out, so you're grounded.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: And that's how it is with these institutions. They were
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: given great lateral ability to operate without any oversight, basically.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And they screwed up. So now, oversight and repercussions. Companies
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: with over 20 employees... and at least $ 5 million in
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: annual sales, as well as physical presence in the United States,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: would be exempt under the assumption they're legitimate businesses rather
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: than shell companies. The legislation also would take steps to
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: improve how banks communicate with FinCEN, require federal regulators to
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: undergo training in detecting money laundering, and establish a new
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: FinCEN whistleblower program. Ah, back to the loopholes, huh? Companies
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: with over 20 employees and at least 5 million in
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: annual sales, they're exempt though because there's the assumption that
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: they're legitimate. That's probably because their fellow congresspeople, those are
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the kind of companies that they own, right? So they
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: got to have that exemption slipped in there for them.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: So again, we're right back where we started. Crapo and Brown,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: this is just lip service, folks. This doesn't reach far enough.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: This does not reach far enough at all. Don't get
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: me wrong. It's a good starting point. It's nice to
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: see Congress taking a look. But at the end of
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the day, I'm tired of Congress, quote unquote, taking a look.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: How about some action? Linda Lacewell, superintendent of the New
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: York Department of Financial Services, recently wrote in Law 360
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that the reports filed to the federal government by banks
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: about suspicious financial activity are are frequently riddled with the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: names of anonymous shell companies that make it practically impossible
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: to determine the identity of the perpetrator. It basically negates
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: all of the safeguards. If you don't know who's in
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: control of the company, how can you follow the money?
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: How can you be sure that that money isn't being
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: used to, say, fund a sex trafficking operation? You can't
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: be sure. And that's part of it. They want that
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: plausible deniability, right? So they wrote these laws so these
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: people can stay anonymous. It is an absolute joke. In
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: that essay, prompted by the Finson Files investigation, she also wrote, Therefore,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: as a first step, we must all move to require
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: disclosure of beneficial owners of corporations and limited liability companies
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: in financial transactions. Yes, 100%. I agree. There needs to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: be disclosure and it needs to be complete. There can
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: be no BSing around. This is not something to joke
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: around with, folks. This is literally them stealing our future
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: from us and then using those funds to commit the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: most heinous crimes you could possibly imagine. Everything from genocide
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to sex trafficking. Banks, law enforcement, human rights groups, labor unions,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: and state attorneys generals are among the coalition supporting the legislation.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is on board. But
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: there is one influential force pushing back. Small business. Now,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: I am usually a champion of small business. Mom and
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: pop stores, I shop there if I can. I spend
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: as much money possible at mom and pop stores. But
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: there has to be accountability here. I'm sorry. There has
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to be regulation and accountability in this sector of our
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: lives because it is so crucial to how everything else functions.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: It is literally the lifeblood of our society. The difficulty
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: is in order to do the reporting that we need
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: to get past the shell companies, it requires all of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: our legitimate, honest businesses to disclose lots of information and
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: do significant reporting, said Crapo, the Senate Banking Community Chair.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Why is that a big deal? If these banks aren't
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: doing anything illegal or untowards, then they should have no
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: problem reporting all of this stuff. I know I had
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: no problem filling out SARS when I was in a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: position that called for it. That's my job. Like Bill
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Belichick says, do your job. The National Federation of Independent Business,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the largest and most influential small business group in the country,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: is leading the charge to block the legislation. We just
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: don't believe it's worth criminalizing a new paperwork burden. It's
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a scary thing for small business owners who don't have
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: the time, resources, or bandwidth, said Kevin Kuhlman, the group's
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: vice president of federal government relations. I don't know. That
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: doesn't sit well with me. You don't have the time
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: or the resources to make sure that there's no money
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: laundering occurring, to make sure that the lifeblood of the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Western civilization is flowing with good, clean money. I think
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: that's something we should all be concerned about. and something
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: we should all be putting resources towards to stop. Kuhlman
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: argues the legislation would inflict small businesses with burdensome reporting
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: obligations under threat of fines or jail time. The House
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: legislation authored by Representative Carolyn Maloney outlines fines of up
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: to $ 10, 000 and up to three years in prison for
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: owners of companies that provide false information or refuse to comply.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Coleman also raised the possibility of hackers accessing the FinCEN data.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, of course, that's it, right? Oh, hackers. Let
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: me guess, Guccifer 2.0 is going to show up and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: hack this too. Give me an absolute break with the
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: hacker nonsense. I am so tired of that bullshit, okay?
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: It's got to get hacked. Well, employ better defensive specialists
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: when it comes to your internet and your protection of
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: people's information. How about that? invest a little bit more money.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: For most legislation in Washington, it's obvious in advance whether
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: it will pass or not. But this is a rare
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: case where the legislation is close to the finish line
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and no one knows what will happen. Usually we have
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: an idea, right? Usually there's some leaks. We hear from
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: one side or the other. People are talking about the
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: bills and we understand one way or the other what's
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: going to occur. That is something that, you know, policy
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: wonks like myself, are used to seeing. But I really
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: haven't heard much about this bill. This is not a
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: bill that has really been talked about. Obviously, coronavirus and
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the election and all of that jazz is eating up
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the news cycle. But this is a bill that you
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: think would be talked about a little bit, no? To
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: get a bill like this through Congress, you typically need
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: support from the four corners. The top Republican and Democrat
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: on both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Services Committee. The bill has support from only three. Political
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: aides and outside stakeholders say Representative Patrick McHenry, the ranking
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Republican on the House side, is the main force of opposition.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: With him opposed, passage of the bill is in jeopardy.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I think it is probably 50-50, Kuhlman said, of the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: bill's chances. All right, so Representative Patrick McHenry, I highly
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: doubt you're listening to this podcast, but if you are,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: come on, man, get your shit together, bro. This isn't
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: a partisan issue. This isn't the time to dig in,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: all right? Let's get some accountability for these banksters, dude.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Let's get these guys in line. You talk about how
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: you're a conservative and how you want to save money
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and this, that, the other thing, but yet you're letting
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: these banks literally steal not only from your constituents, but
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: from others. And you're going to be the impediment holding
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: this bill up? Unacceptable, sir. Unacceptable. and you should be
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: challenged on the floor to defend your position, like the
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: old days. If I was in Congress, forget it. You
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: folks would be tuning into C-SPAN on a regular basis
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: because I would be letting all of these idiots have it.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: What an absolute clown show. The conclusion will not come
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: down to a dramatic vote on the floor of Congress. Rather,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: it likely will be worked out in closed-door negotiations. Proponents
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: want to include the legislation in the NDAA National Defense
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Authorization Act, a must-pass bill that funds the military. The
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Democrat-controlled House included it in its version of the NDAA. Nope,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I don't like that. I don't want to pork in it.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Let's make the bills for what they are, okay? Let's
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: make this a standalone bill and let it stand on
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: its own merits and let these politicians hang themselves with
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: their shit votes. And then... like I talked about earlier,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: vote them out. Hold them accountable. There's people listening to
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: this podcast from all over the country. If all of
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: us voted out these incumbents and actually sent our neighbors
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to D.C. to do the people's work, do you really
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: think we'd be worse off? I know there's people out there, oh,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: we need lawyers and we need... No, we don't. No,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: we don't. Okay? Where has that gotten us? It's time
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: to try something new. Crapo and Brown proposed their legislation,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: which is almost identical to the House version, as an
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: amendment to the Senate's NDAA, but it was not adopted.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Crapo said he believes there is enough bipartisan support in
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the Senate to pass the legislation. The problem, he said,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: was that so many senators were proposing controversial add-ons to
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: the NDAA that Senate leadership ended up cutting almost all
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: of them out, including the money laundering provision, so as
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: not to sink the overall bill. That's why stuffing pork
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: into these bills makes me crazy. I don't want to
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: go off on a policy wonk tangent here because that's
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: not what you folks are listening for. But this is
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: right in my wheelhouse, this kind of thing. This is
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: what I went to school for, political science. And it
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: just makes me mental when they shove pork in these
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: bills and they don't let them stand on their own merit.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: It is a big problem in DC, folks. And it's
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: both sides. Enough with your pet projects. Can we do
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: the work of the people for once, please? It was
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: not wanting to kill the overall NDAA by having it
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: amended to death, said Crapo. There's a dozen controversial amendments,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: and if you let one amendment go, then the floodgates open.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: But with the House including money laundering provisions in its version,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Crapo said that gives congressional negotiators an opening to include
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: some version in the final bill that will have to
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: pass both chambers. the House and Senate, they have already
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: begun those negotiations. The next several weeks will be critical
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: with their dueling industries lobbying for their interests. Again, lobbyists,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: FK Street too. If I had my druthers, there would
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: be no more lobbyists. Send them all home. And as
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: far as our senators and congresspeople, it's obvious that they
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: can do their job remotely. So how about they go
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: back to their districts and start doing the work of
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: the people as opposed to the work of the people
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that give them money? Banks are lobbying for Crapo's legislation
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: because they say they need help thwarting money laundering. They
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: are required to report clients' questionable transactions by filing suspicious
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: activity reports or SARs to FinCEN. And the industry sees
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: this as an onerous and expensive burden. Oh, yeah, real expensive.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. Why don't you just use some
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: of the money that you've taken from me when I
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: was younger with those predatory loans you like to slap
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: on people without a credit score or people who might
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: have bad credit? Why don't you take the money from there,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: you bunch of effing crooks? The Banking Policy Institute, whose
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: members include both domestic banks and large foreign banks doing
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: business in the U.S., said these financial institutions employ 14,000
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: people dedicated to compliance, and it only takes a couple
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: of those people in compliance to be on the losing team, right?
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: To be cheating. A BPI survey from 2017 found member
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: banks reviewed 16 million alerts and filed 640,000 SARs. but
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: they reported that only 4% of SARS received follow-up inquiries
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: from law enforcement. Banks also filed 5.2 million currency transaction reports,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: which law enforcement followed up less than half of 1%
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: of the time, according to BPI. In other words, folks,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: in language we can explain, they let these people do
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: whatever they want. No oversight, and the SARS are a joke.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Pretty much what they're saying. Forcing companies to disclose their
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: true beneficial ownership was first proposed in Congress back in 2008.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: It's gone through different versions since then. Earlier proposals would
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: have forced companies to disclose their own ownership publicly, but
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: both the House and Senate versions of the bill would
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: only require disclosure to FinCEN. Well, that's interesting that it
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: came up back in 2008. After Obama won, he had
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the House and the Senate plus the presidency. The politically
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: powerful Koch family previously opposed the legislature. The politically powerful
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Koch family previously opposed the legislation and had lobbied Congress
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: to make changes, shocking the Koch family. A bunch of
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: scumbags who have money to burn and they inject themselves
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: into politics on a regular basis. The rights version of
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: George Soros, basically. In response, the Senate version was massaged
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: to expand exemptions for non-profit organizations, non-profit organizations again, right?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Which are used as part of the Koch's political operations.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: The Kochs have now dropped their objections to the legislation,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: according to congressional aides with knowledge of the talks. I
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: wonder how they were massaged into doing that. What sort
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of backroom deals did they make with these Congress people?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: This type of bipartisan cooperation doesn't come around every day.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: said BPI head of government affairs, Mike Lee, and represents
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: years of stakeholders, negotiations, and scrutiny. Well, look, again, it
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: doesn't go far enough. It's not strong enough, but at
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: least it's something. It's a starting point. It gives us
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: a place to start and to point and say to
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: politicians who want our vote, look, this is important to us.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: This money laundering issue is important to us. The fact
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: that Jeffrey Epstein was able to run a sex trafficking
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: ring where he trafficked children using this system and this
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: money is important to us. And you must fix it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: That is why we're sending you to D.C. Fix this.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Protect our children. Very basic shit here. And yet they
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: have failed for decades. So folks, I ask you, what
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: are you going to do when it's election day? Are
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: you going to vote for the same old shit? The
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: same old garbage? Or are you going to make a change?
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about making a change from R
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: to D or D to R. I'm talking about voting
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: for a people who actually care. And the only way
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: that's ever going to happen is if we force the issue.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: No more career politicians anymore. No more political class. If
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: you're going to Washington, D.C., you should be going there
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: to do the people's work, not enrich yourself, and certainly
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: not to protect people like Jeffrey Epstein. If you'd like
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: to contact me, you can do that at bobbycappucci at protonmail.com.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com. You can also find me on
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I. What's up everyone and welcome
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. Look, there's no
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: doubt that one of the most powerful tools that Jeffrey
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Epstein had in his toolbox was the ability to keep
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: people silent. And whether that was with payments or whether
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: it was with threats, the end result was the same.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: People knew that they needed to keep their mouths shut
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and not talk about what Jeffrey Epstein really was. So today,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: we have an article from The Guardian talking about that
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: very thing. And the headline, Jeffrey Epstein's Most Powerful Ally
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Was Silence. This article was authored by Gretchen Carlson and
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Julie Roginski. For years, Jeffrey Epstein conjured a kind of
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: grotesque fascination. The Private Island, The Powerful Friends, The Whispered Allegations.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: but focusing on the lurid details of his life and
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: eventual death obscures the far more settling truth this case
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: lays bare. Epstein's story is not really about one man's depravity.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: It's about a system, legal, cultural, and institutional, engineered to
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: protect the powerful through silence. His crimes thrived not because
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: they were hidden, but because the people who knew were coerced, encouraged,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: or more than willing to shut up. And all of
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: that is true. Do you know how many people were
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: around this guy that knew what was up, that refused
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: to stay silent? And I don't think it's even in
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: question anymore, right? Look at the emails. Look at the
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: birthday book. What, you think those dudes were just messing around?
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: And if they're writing that in a birthday book, can
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you imagine what they were saying in private when the
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: lights were off and the cameras weren't on? I promise
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: you right now, all the people out there that are
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: having fights over politics and defending these politicians, that none
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: of these politicians care one bit about you or your family.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: None of them. And it doesn't matter what letter is
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: next to their name. It's all the same shit. If
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: you're not part of the club, you're not part of
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the club. Silence was not incidental to Epstein's success. It
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: was central to it. And in this, he was hardly unique.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: That's for sure. When you have an operation like this,
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: there's no way that it can exist unless there's people
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: that are going to keep your confidence, right? that people
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: are going to stay quiet. And a lot of times
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: people do that because they're in fear, whether it's from threats,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: whether it's from whatever. The last thing they want to
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: do is end up on the wrong side of somebody
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: like Epstein. And if he was just some disgusting degenerate,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: why would people be so worried about that? Don't you
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: think that if Jeffrey Epstein was just some degenerate pervert,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: like they're trying to make him out to be, that
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: people would be willing to To jump over his corpse, basically,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: to rat him out? But no. Everybody kept silent. So
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: ask yourself, what would motivate people to stay silent in
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: a situation like this? The most revealing document in the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: entire Epstein saga is one of the first to come
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: to light. The non-prosecution agreement the Department of Justice quietly
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: signed in 2007, shielding Epstein from federal charges and insulating
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: unnamed co-conspirators. Can you imagine unnamed co-conspirators? Who gets that
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: kind of hookup? Certainly not anyone in the mob. Certainly
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: not anybody in the cartel. The only people that get
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: hooked up like this are people that have politicians coming
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: over for dinner. And as we all know, these sons
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: of bitches most assuredly were enjoying Jeffrey Epstein's largesse. Just
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: ask Stacey Plaskett about that. I mean, that woman had
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: the audacity to take a bunch of money from Epstein.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: and act like she wasn't going to, you know, donate
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: it or give it back. And it wasn't until she
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: was completely under the microscope that she decided to do so,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: but not of her own accord. It was because she
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: was forced to by public opinion, and because she knew
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: what was coming down the pipe. Even now, after Congress
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: forced President Trump's hand to mandate the release of the
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Epstein files, the Department of Justice has not committed to
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: full disclosure. After everything we have learned in the nearly
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: two decades since Epstein pleaded guilty to sex with a minor,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: the culture of silence is so powerful that it's unclear
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: when or even if his survivors will ever truly receive justice.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: And look, that's not even hyperbole at this point. Is
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: there anyone really out there who's confident that we're going
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: to get justice here? That we're even going to get
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: a look at all the files? Because I certainly have
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: my doubts. And even if we get a look at them,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Do you really think they're not going to be heavily redacted?
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Of course they're going to be. The last thing they
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: want to do is tell you the truth. This pattern
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: echoes across institutions and industries. When abuse occurs, the first
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: instinct is too often containment, not accountability. Corporations draft non-disclosure
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: agreements that muzzle employees. Organizations force workers into arbitration. Protecting
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: executives while survivors are bound by confidentiality and pushed out
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: the door, which I think is absolutely a joke. And
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: you can say, well, why'd you sign the deal? We
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: don't know the circumstances, right? And if you're being pressed
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: and you're being told you can't do this or you
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: can't do that, it's very difficult to avoid signing a
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: deal like that, especially if you're trying to get a
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: package on the way out the door. You know, whatever
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: is owed to you, they'll withhold that. So you have
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: to sign the NDA. So I won't dispute that NDAs
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: are legal, but that doesn't mean I have to like them,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: or that I won't admit that they're used as a
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: shield by the powerful to help insulate themselves from allegations
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: if they ever come. Even government agencies, as in Epstein's case,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: have shown a willingness to trade transparency for expediency. We
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: know this pattern because we have seen it ourselves. Nearly
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: a decade ago, we came forward to allege sexual harassment
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: and retaliation against the former Fox News chairman and chief
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: executive Roger Ailes and the network he ran, respectively. We
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: each had to jump through hoops for our cases to
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: be public, battling silencing mechanisms to bring our claims to light.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: And yet, long after Ailes' death in 2017, we are
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: still bound by NDAs that prevent us from sharing our stories.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: The priority, time and time again, is to sweep accountability
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: under the rug, even if it comes at the expense
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: of the truth. And it's unacceptable. We can't allow this
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: to occur. There has to be some kind of safeguard, right?
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Guardrail something that lets these NDAs go someplace to die,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: especially if you sign one under duress. Now, look, I'm
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: not saying that all NDAs are unacceptable, but when there's
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: any kind of abuse involved, somebody using an NDA to
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: protect themselves from allegations or from that abuse story going public,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: that's unacceptable to me. And what you're doing is using
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: your power and your influence and your money to shield
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: yourself from repercussions. And that, of course, is exactly one
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: of the issues at the heart of what happened with Epstein, right?
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: The secrecy, the way he was able to manipulate things
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: and move them in his direction, all the while keeping
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: control of the narrative. because he has people under NDAs
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: and shit. What the Epstein case and many like it
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: expose is the architecture that protects predators long before the
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: public ever hears their names. It's built from familiar materials,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: forced arbitration clauses, airtight NDAs, closed-door settlements, and a culture
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: of retaliation that makes speaking out dangerous. These tools do
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: not simply resolve disputes, they suppress them. And that suppression
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: creates the conditions in which serial abuse becomes not just possible,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: but predictable. And that's a fact. Anyone who's ever worked
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: in that kind of environment knows. I know working in
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: the casino industry in Las Vegas for decades, I have
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: seen some NDAs that would knock your socks off. Absolutely abhorrent.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: And I can only imagine how that's elevated when you're
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: talking about Fox News or one of these big corporations.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Forget it. The last thing they want is this stuff
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to come out. The language of these mechanisms is bureaucratic,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: even dull. But their real purpose is simple. Silence. Silence
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: that keeps survivors isolated. Silence that prevents patterns from coming
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: into view. Silence that allows predators to move from institution
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: to institution with their reputations intact. Consider how many adults
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: cross paths with Epstein's operation. Staff. business associates, social friends, lawyers,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: financial managers. Many surely suspected what was happening, and some
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: certainly knew. But secrecy functions as a kind of social gravity.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: If everyone stays quiet, no one stands out. Epstein didn't
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: need to silence every person he encountered. The architecture around
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: him did much of that work for him. And that's true.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: It most certainly did. Everybody knew the deal. Once you
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: were involved in that world, you knew. that this was normalized.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: This is how things go. And if you wanted the
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: gravy train to keep going, you didn't talk about it.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: In this sense, the Epstein case is not an anomaly,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: but a magnifying glass. It shows us how private power,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: institutional incentives, and legal structures align to smother survivors' voices
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: long before a journalist or prosecutor ever gets involved. But
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: we should not rely on exposés and avoidable tragedies to
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: break silence. the cost of that approach is too high
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: and the damage to survivors too enduring. In 2022, we
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: helped pass two federal laws that cracked the closed door open.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: The ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Act ensures that survivors can bring their claims to court
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: rather than being sent to a secret chamber of forced arbitration.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: And that's crazy. Can you imagine your mom or your
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: wife being sent to arbitration after their boss molested them?
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Tell me you want me showing up at the job
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: to punch you in the mouth without telling me. The
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: Speak Out Act limits the use of NDAs that silence
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: survivors before misconduct even occurs. These reforms chip away at
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: the secrecy that has long shielded predators. They also send
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: a signal. Institutions can no longer count on silence as
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: a default outcome. Still, this work is only beginning. If
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: we want to ensure that another Epstein cannot hide in
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: plain sight, we must confront not only the individuals who
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: commit abuse, but also the systems that shield them. That
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: means rewriting laws, changing culture, and rejecting the idea that
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: forcing survivors into silence is the way it should be.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Because it's always been this way. All survivors deserve more
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: than whispered sympathy. The real scandal was never Epstein alone.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: It was the silence that allowed him to get away
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: with his crimes for so long. and still allows his
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: co-conspirators to get away with them years later. And look,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: silence was Epstein's most reliable accomplice. He didn't need a gun,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: or a badge, or even a courtroom victory. What he
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: needed was the absence of noise. The spaces where questions
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: should have been asked and weren't. The pauses where outrage
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: should have been lived, but never arrived. Silence was the
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: anesthetic that let everything else happen. It numbed institutions. It
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: dulled witnesses. It smoothed over crimes so disgusting that, in
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: any functioning system, they should have detonated instantly. Epstein understood
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: something simple and deeply American. Silent scales. You don't need
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: everyone to agree with you. You just need them to
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: look the other way at the same time. He cultivated
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: it through money, through lawyers, through access, and through fear.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: Nondisclosure agreements wrapped around trauma. Threats dressed up as civility.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Settlements framed as generosity. Every time someone was told to
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: be discreet or move on or protect your future, that
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: silence thickened, layer by layer, until it became structural. And
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: the most perverse part of all of it is that
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: the silence wasn't just imposed on the powerful, it was
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: forced onto the victims themselves. Girls were trained to doubt
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: their own reality, to believe that speaking would only make
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: things worse, that no one would listen. that the cost
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: of telling the truth would be heavier than the weight
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: of carrying it alone. Look, Epstein didn't just exploit people,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: he outsourced his silence to the very people he hurt.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: And that's how monsters survive in plain sight, not by
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: being unseen, but by being unspoken. Silence didn't just protect Epstein,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: it fed him. It bought him time, it gave him cover,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: and every institution that accepted that silence, negotiated with it,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: or hid behind it, became part of the machine that
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: That kept him free. Long after. He should have been stopped.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with this episode. Can
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: be found in the description box. And welcome back to
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: the Epstein Chronicles. So the United States Virgin Islands. Is
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: saying that J.P. Morgan. Alerted the U.S. Treasury Department. To
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: over 1 billion dollars. In transactions that were related. To
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: possible human trafficking. And what makes that significant is that
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: if that is the case, then Finson was aware of
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: what Epstein was up to as well. Just like we've
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: said from the very beginning, nobody cared. Not in regulation
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: as far as Finson goes, and certainly not down in
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Virgin Islands. So what you see here is
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: the whole ass system failing before your eyes. Doesn't matter
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: if it's the U.S. Virgin Islands or elsewhere. anywhere that
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein was active, people in positions of power were
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: playing ball. And at this point, it's not even debatable
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: because time and time again, we see the same story unfold.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: So should anybody be shocked that Finson ignored all of
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: this as well? Especially if you look at it in
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: the context of Jeffrey Epstein working as an asset for
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: the United States government. Now, I'm not saying he's a spy.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: You know, there's people out there That'll tell you he's
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: like a Mossad agent or a CIA agent. No way.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: The dude's an asset, okay? He's somebody that was being
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: used by intelligence to get information. But when you're being
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: used by intelligence, when you're an asset, well, you have
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: a little bit more wiggle room to commit crimes. especially
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: if those crimes are advancing whatever sort of devious plot
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: the lunatics in the intelligence sector have going on. And
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: we all know it was a two-way street when it
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: comes to Jeffrey Epstein and the intelligence community. Today's article
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: is from CNBC. Headline, USVI says JP Morgan notified Treasury
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: of more than $ 1 billion in Jeffrey Epstein human trafficking
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: transactions after he died. $ 1 billion in human trafficking transactions.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: They told Treasury about them, but not till after he died,
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: of course. But the truth is, there were all kinds
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: of suspicious activity reports sent over throughout, and they were ignored.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: And the reason they were ignored is because JP Morgan
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: didn't want to lose Jeffrey Epstein as a client. Let's
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: just call it what it is. Profits over people. Every
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: time you turn around with anybody who's on this grand stage,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: it's all about the money. It's all about advancing their
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: own financial position and making sure that the means justify
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: the end. And if that means that your children or
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: the most vulnerable in society get swept up into some
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: human trafficking ring and abused for their whole lives, so what?
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: That's truly how they feel. Because with these psychopaths, it's
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: all good as long as the means justify the ends.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Dan Mangan. JPMorgan Chase notified
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: the Treasury Department of more than $ 1 billion in transactions
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: related to human trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein dating back 16
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: years after the notorious sex predator killed himself, allegedly, in 2019.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: a lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands told a federal
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: judge at a hearing. And everybody out there should be
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: upset that it took Jeffrey Epstein dying for all of
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: this information to be turned over. The bank should have
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: been forced to turn all of this information over after
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: his first arrest. And you know what I'm going to say, right? Well,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: if they would have recoated his ass, every one of
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: these miserable pieces of shit we talk about on a
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: regular basis would be on the radar. Epstein's entire business
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: with J.P. Morgan and J.P. Morgan's entire business with Epstein
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: was human trafficking. Mimi Liu, an attorney for the Virgin Islands,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: told Judge Jed Rakoff in U.S. District Court in Manhattan
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: on Thursday, according to a transcript reviewed by CNBC. Liu
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: cited the bank's notification to the Treasury Department as she
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: argued that Rakoff should issue a summary judgment against JP Morgan.
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: So we talked about the summary judgment a little bit yesterday,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: and I highly doubt that Judge Rakoff is going to
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: go that route. I'm much more inclined to think that
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: Judge Rakoff is going to make both sides argue their
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: case in open court. The huge bank is being sued
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: by the Virgin Islands government for allegedly facilitating sex trafficking
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: by Epstein of young women when he was a JP
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: Morgan customer from 1998 through 2013. The attorney, referring to
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: a $ 9 million block of transfers to women and suspicious
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: withdrawals from Epstein's accounts at JP Morgan, said it related
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: to facilitating more than 20,000 sexual acts. given Epstein's habit
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: of paying several hundred dollars for each sexual encounter. Think
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: about that for a minute, okay? A nine million dollar
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: block of transfers? All of it being used to facilitate
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: more than 20,000 sexual acts? How many women and girls
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: do you think were caught up in that abuse? Meanwhile,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: the fine folks over at FinCEN, you know, the regulatory
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: department that's supposed to be keeping an eye on things
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: like this? Ah, they were asleep at the switch. JP
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Morgan was a full-service bank for Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: Liu said at the hearing. The only reason that JP Morgan,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: after 16 years, reported the $ 1 billion in suspicious transactions
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: was because he was arrested and then he was dead,
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: she said. This was a cover-your-ass reporting after 16 years
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: of all the monies flowing in his JP Morgan accounts
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: after he was dead. There's no doubt that all of
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: this is cover your ass by all of them, the U.S.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands included. How they're not getting sued is just
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: baffling to me. They were right in the middle of it,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: right in the mix of things. And as I've said before,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: if it was one of my loved ones or somebody
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: that I was friends with, I'd be telling them to
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: make this move. Go after the U.S. Virgin Islands. What
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: do you have to lose, especially considering J.P. Morgan has
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: done all of the legwork here for you? The Virgin
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: Islands has accused the bank of continuing to do business
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: with Epstein for years despite repeated red flags internally and
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: his 2008 guilty plea to a Florida sex crime. A
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: sex crime against a child, you mean? By 2006, the
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: bank thus had reams of financial information. related to Jeffrey Epstein,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: that corroborated his sex crimes involving children, Liu argued. So
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: if the bank had that, what did the U.S. Virgin
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Islands have at the same time? I guess Epstein, 66,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: killed himself in a New York jail, allegedly. Hey, Dan Mangan,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: why do you buy that official narrative? You seem like
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: a pretty intelligent guy, and you've had really good coverage
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: of this case for the most part. But why do
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: you buy into what the OIG said? Because honestly, that
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: whole entire report was trash. Everything in that report was garbage.
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: No questions were answered. And honestly, he showed me nothing
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: as far as evidence goes to confirm or deny one
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: way or the other. what happened in that jail cell.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: So the fact that so many people are so cavalier
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: to just say, oh yeah, well, the OIG said, well, fine,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: if you want to believe the OIG, then go for it.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: But I've told you for a very long time how
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: I feel about internal investigations, and that goes for the
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: United States government as well. In addition to a residence
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: in Manhattan, Epstein owned a private island in the Virgin
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Islands where he was accused of sexually abusing women. A
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: lawyer for J.P. Morgan, which denies wrongdoing in the case,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: pushed back against the Virgin Islands' claims that it should
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: be found liable for abetting Epstein's abuse of women. The
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands is seeking at least $ 190 million in damages
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: in the case, which will go to trial on October
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: 23rd if Rakoff does not grant summary judgment to either side.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: I don't see a summary judgment coming here. I've said
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: that before and I'll say it again. I do not
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: see a summary judgment in the cards. The bank's lawyer,
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: Felicia Ellsworth, told Rakoff that the Virgin Islands had presented
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: not a scintilla of evidence that J.P. Morgan violated laws
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: about sex trafficking. And in fact, you could look at
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: this as a shakedown almost. Because, from where I'm sitting,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Virgin Islands has no tenable ground to stand
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: upon as they hurl these accusations down on other people. Considering, well,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: you know, the guy that was running your island, his
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: wife was working for Epstein and then Epstein was trying
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: to manipulate the sex offender laws through her. Yeah, that
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: seems like a bit of an issue for the U.S.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands. If a jury gets this case, no. Ellsworth
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: also argued that the Virgin Islands lacked the legal standing
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: to sue the bank. J.P. Morgan has said the American
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: territory can only sue to vindicate the rights of residents.
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: and that there is no proof that any of Epstein's
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: victims were residents of the Virgin Islands. There is hotly
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: disputed testimony and evidence, Ellsworth told Rakoff. There is, as
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: I said, testimony from JP Morgan, current and former employees,
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: disclaiming knowledge of Epstein's criminal conduct, she said. A JP
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: Morgan spokeswoman declined to comment to CNBC about the Virgin
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: Islands' claims. that the bank had notified the Treasury Department
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: of more than $ 1 billion in suspicious transactions by Epstein.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: JPMorgan in July agreed to pay $ 290 million in a
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: settlement with victims of Epstein to resolve a similar lawsuit
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: filed by one of the accusers in Manhattan's federal court.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: In June, Deutsche Bank, which had taken Epstein on as
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: a client after he was forced out by JPMorgan in 2013,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: agreed to pay $ 75 million to Epstein's victims to settle
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: a third suit in the same court. All right, folks, well,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: this one continues to roil on. And this is going
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: to be contentious all the way down to the wire,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: because I do not expect the U.S. Virgin Islands to
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: concede here. They've already paid out $ 290 million to the
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: actual survivors. And from their point of view, that's the
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: restitution that they owe. They don't feel like they owe
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: the Virgin Islands anything. And honestly, I don't think anybody
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: should be giving the U.S. Virgin Islands one single dollar.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: If any money is getting taken from anybody, well, that
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: money that's seized, it should end up with the survivors,
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: not with the U.S. Virgin Islands. So we'll see what
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Judge Rakoff has to say at trial, but I don't
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: think it's going to go the way the U.S. Virgin
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: Islands wants it to go. All right, everybody, that's going
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: to do it for this one. All of the information
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: description box.