Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Ron Wyden’s Report on Wall Street and Jeffrey Epstein (Part 5) (8/18/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're getting right back to
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Ron Wyden report about Jeffrey Epstein and Wall Street.
- 0:11Speaker 1: After Epstein's release from prison, jpmc's private bank included Epstein
- 0:16Speaker 1: in February twenty eleven briefing as one of the potential
- 0:19Speaker 1: clients the target going forward. In May of twenty twelve,
- 0:24Speaker 1: a market review of ultra high net worth clients showed
- 0:27Speaker 1: Epstein as the number eight of the teams top twenty
- 0:30Speaker 1: clients by revenue, with Epstein's accounts pulling in more than
- 0:34Speaker 1: one point six million in revenue that yere alone. Similarly,
- 0:39Speaker 1: a twenty thirteen JPMC report related to ultra high net
- 0:43Speaker 1: worth individuals ranked Epstein second, with revenue of one point
- 0:47Speaker 1: three million in the first six months of twenty thirteen
- 0:51Speaker 1: and one point two eight seven million in the same
- 0:54Speaker 1: period in twenty twelve. Coming from his accounts, JPMC appears
- 0:59Speaker 1: to have earned over eight point one million in fees
- 1:01Speaker 1: alone from Epstein between two thousand and nine and twenty fourteen.
- 1:06Speaker 1: These figures indicate that Epstein likely represented a critical share
- 1:10Speaker 1: of the book of business for several senior private bankers
- 1:14Speaker 1: at JPMC, including Paul Morris and Mary Casey. For example,
- 1:19Speaker 1: in twenty ten, JPMC banker Paul Morris ranked Epstein among
- 1:24Speaker 1: his largest clients with a net worth of five hundred million.
- 1:28Speaker 1: As a major client of JPMC, Epstein enjoyed direct access
- 1:32Speaker 1: to JPMC executives, including senior members of jpmc's Operating Committee.
- 1:38Speaker 1: Internal JPMC correspondence and due diligence reports indicate that senior
- 1:43Speaker 1: management is aware of the relationship with Jeffrey, and that
- 1:48Speaker 1: major decisions related to Epstein's accounts were overseen by Jess Daley,
- 1:52Speaker 1: former CEO of Asset Management Investment Bank, Mary Erdos, current
- 1:57Speaker 1: CEO of Asset and Wealth Management, John Duffy, former CEO
- 2:01Speaker 1: of the Private bank, and Stephen Cutler, former general counsel. Additionally,
- 2:06Speaker 1: Epstein's relationship with managers for these accounts were Mary Casey,
- 2:10Speaker 1: current vice chair of jpmc's private bank, Paul Morris, former
- 2:15Speaker 1: JPMC banker who Epstein followed to Deutsche Bank, and Justin Nelson,
- 2:19Speaker 1: current head of asset management for JPMC Private Bank. None
- 2:24Speaker 1: of these executives have criminal charges for their actions. Enabling Epstein,
- 2:29Speaker 1: and many of them are still employed as high ranking
- 2:31Speaker 1: executives at JPMC. B Top JPMC executives joked about Epstein's
- 2:38Speaker 1: penchant for Nimphetz. An alarming email between high ranking JPMC
- 2:43Speaker 1: executives suggest that there were personally familiar with the pervasive
- 2:48Speaker 1: and inappropriate presence of young women and girls at Epstein's
- 2:52Speaker 1: home in the USVII one exchange between David Brigstock, then
- 2:57Speaker 1: jpmc's Chief Financial Officer for Asset and Wealth Management, and
- 3:02Speaker 1: Mary Erdos, then CEO for Asset and Wealth Management, is
- 3:06Speaker 1: particularly illuminating. In September of twenty twelve, Birdstock emailed Erdos
- 3:12Speaker 1: describing the house of another ultra wealthy client and how
- 3:16Speaker 1: compared to Epstein's. Birdstock said the house was the size
- 3:19Speaker 1: of the Union Club. In fact, it used to be
- 3:22Speaker 1: a club. Reminded me of Je's house, except it was
- 3:26Speaker 1: more tasteful and fewer in infets, more like the Frick
- 3:29Speaker 1: Art was fabulous. Erdoz simply responded. While these messages suggest
- 3:34Speaker 1: that top JPMC bankers were not only aware of the
- 3:37Speaker 1: presence of young women or girls at Epstein's home, but
- 3:41Speaker 1: the bank leaders had witnessed the situation firsthand. See top.
- 3:46Speaker 1: JPMC executive Jess Staley knew of the danger that Epstein presented.
- 3:51Speaker 1: Jess Staley, the former CEO of jpmc's investment bank, maintained
- 3:56Speaker 1: a close personal friendship with Epstein. Between two thousand and
- 3:59Speaker 1: eight and two twenty twelve, Staley exchanged more than twelve
- 4:02Speaker 1: hundred emails with Epstein from his JPMC email accounts. Stalee
- 4:08Speaker 1: also was a frequent visitor to Epstein's townhouse in New York,
- 4:11Speaker 1: Epstein's private island in the USVII, and ranch in New Mexico.
- 4:16Speaker 1: Stalee often exchanged personal messages with Epstein were highly inappropriate
- 4:21Speaker 1: and suggested he was intimately aware of women or girls
- 4:24Speaker 1: Epstein recruited. For example, in one email in July of
- 4:27Speaker 1: twenty ten, Staley sent to Epstein saying that was fun
- 4:32Speaker 1: say he lo to snow White. The exchange occurred just
- 4:36Speaker 1: weeks before Epstein email the potential victim of his trafficking
- 4:39Speaker 1: scheme to tell her that he wanted to take pictures
- 4:42Speaker 1: of her in the snow white costume. A two thousand
- 4:46Speaker 1: and nine email from Staley to Epstein suggested that he
- 4:49Speaker 1: was aware of the danger of maintaining written correspondence with Epstein.
- 4:53Speaker 1: At the time, Epstein had just finished serving a prison
- 4:56Speaker 1: sentence for pleading to soliciting underage prostitutes and was the
- 5:00Speaker 1: target of a federal criminal investigation for human trafficking. Regardless,
- 5:05Speaker 1: Staley expressed his desire to give Epstein a long, heartfelt
- 5:09Speaker 1: pug despite Staley being compromised by Epstein. Staley's personal relationship
- 5:15Speaker 1: to Epstein was central to maintaining Epstein's relationship with JPMG.
- 5:20Speaker 1: Staley was heavily involved in decisions to retain Epstein as
- 5:24Speaker 1: a client, even though he was personally compromised by Epstein.
- 5:28Speaker 1: An internal twenty eleven JPMC due diligence review noted that
- 5:33Speaker 1: Epstein's felony conviction in two thousand and eight for a
- 5:36Speaker 1: solicitation of underage prostitutes just Staley conferred with Stephen Cutler
- 5:41Speaker 1: and the decision was made to keep Epstein as a
- 5:43Speaker 1: PBE client. This conflict of interest constitutes colossal compliance failure
- 5:49Speaker 1: that imperiled jpmc's decision making d Top compliance executives repeatedly
- 5:55Speaker 1: tried to kick Epstein out over human trafficking concerns, but
- 5:59Speaker 1: were a by senior JPMC leadership. Unsealed internal JPMC emails
- 6:06Speaker 1: indicate that jpmc's former top compliance and AML executive, William Langford,
- 6:12Speaker 1: tried for years to terminate Epstein over human trafficking concerns,
- 6:16Speaker 1: but was overruled by senior JPMC leadership, including General Counsel
- 6:21Speaker 1: Steve Cutler. As General Counsel, Cutler was a member of
- 6:25Speaker 1: jpmc's Operating Committee and reported directly to CEO Jamie Diamond.
- 6:30Speaker 1: Cutler was personally responsible for approving decisions to keep Epstein
- 6:35Speaker 1: on as a client. In a twenty twenty three deposition,
- 6:38Speaker 1: CEO Jamie Diamond noted that the General Council at the time,
- 6:42Speaker 1: Cutler was the ultimate decider on decisions related to keeping
- 6:45Speaker 1: Epstein as a client. According to a released email, it
- 6:49Speaker 1: appears that in twenty eleven, jpmc's AML team made a
- 6:54Speaker 1: request of the private bank to exit the Epstein relationship
- 6:57Speaker 1: over concerns of human trafficking. This email also noted that
- 7:02Speaker 1: Epstein was a close personal associate of investment banking CEO
- 7:05Speaker 1: Jess Staley and that decisions to keep Epstein in the
- 7:09Speaker 1: bank were all due to Jes Staley's personal relationship with Epstein.
- 7:14Speaker 1: The email noted that Epstein and his two hundred and
- 7:17Speaker 1: twelve million held at JPMC as a reason the private
- 7:20Speaker 1: bank was hesitant to kick Epstein out as a client.
- 7:24Speaker 1: This follows an earlier twenty ten exchange where compliance personnel
- 7:28Speaker 1: described Epstein as scum and noted that keeping them on
- 7:31Speaker 1: as a client will undermine jpmc's human trafficking initiative. In response,
- 7:36Speaker 1: top compliance executive William Langford replied that he had no
- 7:40Speaker 1: patience for this. This view was echoed by Langford's deputies
- 7:44Speaker 1: in the AML department. In a twenty ten email, compliance
- 7:49Speaker 1: official Mary Anne Williamson noted that Epstein was approved to
- 7:52Speaker 1: stay after his criminal conviction by Steve Culor and that
- 7:55Speaker 1: banking Epstein unknown child sleeves was contrary to their human
- 8:00Speaker 1: trafficking efforts. E Top JPMC executive Mary Erdos was in
- 8:05Speaker 1: constant contact with Jeffrey Epstein in the aftermath of Epstein's death.
- 8:10Speaker 1: JP Morgan Chase As attempted to frame the shortcomings of
- 8:13Speaker 1: the bank regarding Epstein as isolated to Jess Staley's behavior.
- 8:18Speaker 1: On October tenth, twenty twenty five, in response to an
- 8:21Speaker 1: inquiry from Senator Wyden, JPMC wrote that, with the exception
- 8:25Speaker 1: of Jess Staley, jpmc's executives acted with integrity with regard
- 8:30Speaker 1: to the handling of Epstein's accounts. However, this statement is
- 8:34Speaker 1: inconsistent with the information disclosed in recently unsealed records, which
- 8:39Speaker 1: show that several JPMC executives were reporting directly to CEO
- 8:43Speaker 1: Jamie Diamond closely supervised the bank's relationship with Epstein. For example,
- 8:49Speaker 1: emails indicate that Mary Erdos maintained regular contact with Epstein
- 8:53Speaker 1: and kept close tabs on him while he was a
- 8:56Speaker 1: client at the bank. Many of these communications were personal
- 8:59Speaker 1: in nature and reflect a close relationship between Erdose and Epstein.
- 9:04Speaker 1: For example, in two thousand and six, Airdos corresponded with
- 9:07Speaker 1: an ultra high net worth client of JPMC who was
- 9:11Speaker 1: seeking her help and lining up a meeting with Epstein.
- 9:14Speaker 1: Airdos has also acknowledged that during this time, JPMC was
- 9:18Speaker 1: also aware of Epstein's criminal behavior. In litigation brought by
- 9:22Speaker 1: the US Virgin Islands against JPMC, court filing state that
- 9:26Speaker 1: Mary Erdos admitted in her deposition that jp Morgan was
- 9:31Speaker 1: aware by two thousand and six that Epstein was accused
- 9:34Speaker 1: of paying cash to have underage girls and young women
- 9:37Speaker 1: brought to his own An unsealed document from JPMC also
- 9:41Speaker 1: identified dozens of emails between twenty ten and eleven where
- 9:46Speaker 1: Epstein and Airdos were in regular contact and discussed numerous
- 9:50Speaker 1: business initiatives. Among the things Aerdose and Epstein worked on
- 9:54Speaker 1: together was a multimillion dollar settlement for Epstein and a
- 9:57Speaker 1: series of potentially large projects for Bill Gates. In a
- 10:02Speaker 1: July tenth, twenty eleven email, Epstein writes to Airdose, there
- 10:05Speaker 1: are twenty one million reasons I'd like to know when
- 10:08Speaker 1: you return. A few hours later, Erdos replies that she's
- 10:11Speaker 1: traveling to Europe but available to talk to which Epstein
- 10:15Speaker 1: immediately replied can we speak today. Similarly, on May twenty fourth,
- 10:21Speaker 1: twenty eleven, after Epstein had requested Erdos attend a meeting
- 10:25Speaker 1: with them, Airdose were applied apologetically that she was unavailable
- 10:29Speaker 1: because she was in an operating committee meeting with JPMC
- 10:32Speaker 1: CEO Jamie Diamond. I'm so sorry, but I am just
- 10:37Speaker 1: seeing this having been in all day oh see with Jamie.
- 10:40Speaker 1: I hope the meeting went well. I'm anxious to hear.
- 10:43Speaker 1: In addition to the constant access, Epstein appeared to have airdose,
- 10:48Speaker 1: some of Epstein's contact with Erdos appears unprofessional and inappropriate.
- 10:52Speaker 1: On August second, twenty eleven, Aerdose administrative assistants and Erdos
- 10:57Speaker 1: a note saying that Epstein call from Paris. He thought
- 11:00Speaker 1: you'd appreciate that he just got out of the pool
- 11:02Speaker 1: at the ritz On. Sealed documents also revealed that Epstein
- 11:06Speaker 1: contacted Airdose so often with requests that Jess Staley in
- 11:09Speaker 1: twenty eleven had to tell Epstein to stop pushing airdose.
- 11:14Speaker 1: In response to Staley's directive, Epstein response to Staley on
- 11:17Speaker 1: Mary Erdose, I will lease off. I thought I was
- 11:20Speaker 1: following the plan. Erdos, however, still seemed keenly interested in
- 11:24Speaker 1: continuing to nurture the relationship with Epstein, including in January twentieth,
- 11:30Speaker 1: twenty twelve, email to Epstein to wish him a happy birthday.
- 11:34Speaker 1: Erdos not sure where you're celebrating it, but I hope
- 11:37Speaker 1: you have a terrific birthday. Epstein replies, thanks. Boris said
- 11:40Speaker 1: you were terrific. Erdos was also intimately involved in deliberations
- 11:46Speaker 1: related to epstein purported work on behalf of billionairely On Black.
- 11:50Speaker 1: In July twenty twelve, email Erdoz forwarded a note from
- 11:54Speaker 1: JPMC CEO of Private Bank, John Duffy to Jess Staley,
- 11:58Speaker 1: seemingly incredulous at an Epstein's role as an intermediary for Black.
- 12:03Speaker 1: In addition to the recent released emails, internal due diligence
- 12:07Speaker 1: reports prepared by JPMC made clear that Aerdose was closely
- 12:11Speaker 1: involved in managing the bank's relationship with Epstein. Of February ninth,
- 12:16Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, due diligence report on Epstein initiated by jpmc's
- 12:21Speaker 1: Private Banking Division noted that Epstein's total assets over one
- 12:25Speaker 1: hundred million. Both Mary Errados and John Duffy are aware
- 12:29Speaker 1: of the relationship. All right, folks, We're going to wrap
- 12:32Speaker 1: up right here and in the next episode dealing with
- 12:34Speaker 1: the topic, we're going to pick up with f emails
- 12:37Speaker 1: show JPMC Private Bankers withheld information on Epstein, suspicious activity
- 12:42Speaker 1: from jpmc's compliance department. All the information that goes with
- 12:47Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box.