Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Ron Wyden’s Report on Wall Street and Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1) (8/16/26)

Transcript

Ron Wyden’s Report on Wall Street and Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1) (8/16/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to begin taking
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  Speaker 1: a look at the report put together by Senator Wyden
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  Speaker 1: discussing Jeffrey Epstein and his enabling by the banks. One
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  Speaker 1: executive summary and key findings. Senator Widen's investigative staff on
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  Speaker 1: the Senate Committee on Finance conducted a multi year investigation
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  Speaker 1: into transactions that financed Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activity. The
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  Speaker 1: investigation revealed how major compliance failures at several Wall Street
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  Speaker 1: banks enabled Epstein for years by failing to report or
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  Speaker 1: choosing not to report his suspicious financial transactions to federal
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  Speaker 1: law enforcement. These banks allowed Epstein to send cash payments
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  Speaker 1: and wire transfers to his victims, friends, and other collaborators
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  Speaker 1: around the world. The bankers who need to be asking
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  Speaker 1: questions didn't ask them. Jeffrey Epstein's crimes were hiding in
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  Speaker 1: plain sight. The investigation found significant evidence that JP Morgan Chase,
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  Speaker 1: Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America violated federal anti money
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  Speaker 1: laundering laws by failing to screen and report Epstein's suspicious
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  Speaker 1: financial transactions in a timely manner. A review by Senator
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  Speaker 1: Widen's staff of records housed at the US Department of
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  Speaker 1: the Treasury, as well as internal bank records, determined that
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  Speaker 1: top executives that major Wall Street banks were aware of
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's suspicious financial activity for years, but withheld the information
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  Speaker 1: from the US government and protected Epstein from federal scrutiny.
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  Speaker 1: Wall Street banks looked the other way as Epstein withdrew
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  Speaker 1: millions of dollars in cash with no clear business purpose
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  Speaker 1: and was partied to thousands of suspicious wire transfers worth
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  Speaker 1: more than a billion dollars. These banks failed to conduct
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  Speaker 1: appropriate due diligence on more than one hundred and seventy
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  Speaker 1: million in payments to Epstein from billionaire Leon Black. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: documents reviewed during this investigation demonstrate that jpmc's senior leadership
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  Speaker 1: repeatedly protected Epstein as a client, despite repeated warnings from
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  Speaker 1: internal compliance personnel. The documents also show that even after
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  Speaker 1: JPMC formally terminated Epstein as a client due to human
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  Speaker 1: trafficking concerns, the bank still waited years to report his
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  Speaker 1: activity to regulators, and top bankers eagerly continued to work
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  Speaker 1: with them informally and through other channels where he could
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  Speaker 1: continue to be a source of referrals for other ultra
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  Speaker 1: wealthy clients. The Department of Justice, Treasury, Department Federal Reserve,
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  Speaker 1: and Controller of the Currency must conduct thorough investigations of
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  Speaker 1: the activities laid out in this report and must levy
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  Speaker 1: fines or criminal penalties as appropriate. These investigations should include
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  Speaker 1: examination of the conduct of individual bankers involved in the
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  Speaker 1: handling of transactions through Epstein's accounts. Furthermore, this report outlines
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  Speaker 1: necessary legislative reforms to federal anti money laundering laws intended
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  Speaker 1: to deter future compliance failures involving accounts held by ultra
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  Speaker 1: high net worth individuals. Federal anti money laundering laws are
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  Speaker 1: in place to require banks to notify the government in
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  Speaker 1: real time of financial activity that may be happening in
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  Speaker 1: support of dangerous crimes like human trafficking, veneral trafficking, and
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  Speaker 1: the financing of terrorism. Banks cannot be allowed to ignore
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  Speaker 1: federal law simply because they fear alienating wealthy clients. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: this report reveals that on March twenty sixth, twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: Senator Wyden sat for a taped interview to discuss his
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  Speaker 1: investigation with then sixty Minutes correspondent Sharon Alfonsi. The interview
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  Speaker 1: was part of a broader segment being prepared by sixty
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  Speaker 1: Minutes regarding the conduct of Wall Street Banks and the
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  Speaker 1: government of the US Virgin Islands with regard to Jeffrey
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  Speaker 1: Epstein and his associates. However, shortly after taping of the interview,
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  Speaker 1: ABS News leadership fired Sharon Alfonsi. As a result, the
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  Speaker 1: interview with Senator Widen will not be aired, and it's
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  Speaker 1: unclear whether CBS News leadership will allow the broader segment
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  Speaker 1: to run. The evidence presented in this report supports the
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  Speaker 1: following findings. Bank of America likely violated federal anti money
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  Speaker 1: laundering laws by failing to properly screen and a report
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy million in payments from Leon Black
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  Speaker 1: to Jeffrey Epstein, two billionairely on Black was Jeffrey Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: single largest source of funding. Epstein relied heavily on large
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  Speaker 1: payments from Black to bankroll as sex trafficking activity. Just
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  Speaker 1: like I told you, Remember all the people that told
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  Speaker 1: you it was Les Wexner, not me. He was part
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  Speaker 1: of it, but it was always Leon Black in the background.
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  Speaker 1: JPMC likely violated federal anti money laundering laws by under
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  Speaker 1: reporting Epstein's suspicious financial activity to the US Treasury Department.
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  Speaker 1: For Multiple top executives at JPMA or implicated in major
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  Speaker 1: compliance failures related to Jeffrey Epstein. Several of the bankers
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  Speaker 1: who are personally handled Epstein's accounts spoke with Epstein regularly
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  Speaker 1: and failed to report Epstein's suspicious transactions are still employed
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  Speaker 1: in senior positions at the bank today. After forcing Epstein
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  Speaker 1: to leave the bank, top executives at JPMC withheld information
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  Speaker 1: on Epstein from the US government and continued working with
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  Speaker 1: Epstein as a source of referrals for business with other
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  Speaker 1: ultra wealthy clients, including billionairely On Black. Top JPMC executives
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  Speaker 1: coached Epstein on how to withdraw cash through shell companies
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  Speaker 1: instead of his personal accounts, helping him conceal information from
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  Speaker 1: compliance personnel and government regulators. Top JPMC executives had knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of the pervasive presence of young women or underage girls
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  Speaker 1: at Epstein's homes. Eight Deutsche Bank ignored massive withdrawals of
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  Speaker 1: cash for questionable purpose for Epstein's accounts, protecting the bank's
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  Speaker 1: lucrative business interest in maintaining Epstein as a client. Nine
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  Speaker 1: JPMC Bank of America and Deutsche Bank did not appropriately
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  Speaker 1: request business records to substantiate or verify the business purpose
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  Speaker 1: of major suspicious transactions involving Epstein. Ten. The conduct of
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  Speaker 1: individual bankers employed by JPMC Bank of America and deutsch
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  Speaker 1: Bank in relation to their handling of accounts held by
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  Speaker 1: Epstein and Leon Black merit's investigation by federal prosecutors and
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  Speaker 1: financial regulators. This includes, but not limited to, the following
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  Speaker 1: bankers Paul Morris, Mary Erdos, Jess Staley, Stephen Cutler, John Duffy,
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  Speaker 1: Justin Nelson, Paul Barrett, Mary Casey, David Briggstock, Jeff Matisow,
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  Speaker 1: Jane Heller, Karen Weiss, and Stuart Oldfield. Eleven, Epstein's accomplices
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  Speaker 1: Derren Endick and Richard Kahn and Harry Beller moved significant
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  Speaker 1: amounts of cash around the world on Epstein's behalf in
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  Speaker 1: order to finance Epstein's operation. All three former Epstein employees
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  Speaker 1: should be investigated for the key role they played in
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's sex trafficking activity. Too. Background and methodology In twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty two, Senator Widen's investigative staff at the Senate Finance
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  Speaker 1: Committee began an investigation into transactions at Finance Jeffrey Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: sex trafficking activity. This investigation examined large payments to Epstein
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  Speaker 1: from various ultra wealthy individuals and to the extent to
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  Speaker 1: which compliance failures at major Wall Street banks enabled Epstein's crimes.
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  Speaker 1: Senator Widen's investigation began after a report commission by the
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  Speaker 1: Apollo Global Management Board of Directors that reveal that Leon
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  Speaker 1: Black paid Epstein one hundred and fifty eight million over
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  Speaker 1: five years for purported tax and estate planning advice. Because
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  Speaker 1: this figure dwarf's typical compensation for similar tax advisory service,
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  Speaker 1: Senator Widen's Finance Committee step conducted an extensive review of
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  Speaker 1: this extraordinary compensation scheme. The tax strategy is Epstein allegedly
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  Speaker 1: devised to help Black avoid future estate tax liability, and
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  Speaker 1: other irregularities identified with respect to Black's financial dealings with Epstein.
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  Speaker 1: As part of this investigation, staff from the Senate Committee
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  Speaker 1: on Finance conducted an in camera review of suspicious activity
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  Speaker 1: reports filed with the US Treasury Department by various financial institutions.
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  Speaker 1: Related to Jeffrey Epstein. This in camera review of the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein sars occurred on February fourteenth, twenty twenty four, at
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  Speaker 1: a Treasury Department reading room, and included by partisan staff
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  Speaker 1: of both the Chairman and ranking member of the Senate
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  Speaker 1: Finance Committee. Many of these stars have not been made public.
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  Speaker 1: During this in camera review with Epstein sars, Senator widenstaff
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  Speaker 1: identified a series of major compliance failures by Wall Street
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  Speaker 1: banks regarding the handling of Epstein's accounts. These banks included,
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  Speaker 1: but were not limited to, jp Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and
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  Speaker 1: Bank of America, but these three banks became the focus
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  Speaker 1: of Senator Widen's investigation. Epstein primarily banked at JPMC from
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  Speaker 1: ninety eight to twenty thirteen. In twenty thirteen, Epstein was
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  Speaker 1: forced to exit JPMC and transferred his assets to Deutsche Bank,
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  Speaker 1: where he was a major client from twenty thirteen until
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  Speaker 1: his death in twenty nineteen. Bank of America held accounts
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  Speaker 1: for Leon Black that were used to pay Epstein approximately
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy million between twenty twelve and twenty seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: The Epstein Stars included substantial evidence at several major Wall
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  Speaker 1: Street Banks likely violated federal anti money laundering laws by
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  Speaker 1: failing to contemporaneously report most of Epstein's suspicious financial activity
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  Speaker 1: to the US Treasury Department. This is not a matter
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  Speaker 1: of minor errors or occasional emissions. The investigation found that
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  Speaker 1: Wallstree Banks failed to report thousands of suspicious transactions. They
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  Speaker 1: made repeated and intentional choices not to report the financial
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  Speaker 1: activity that enabled Epstein's crimes. The Epstein Stars include damning
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  Speaker 1: evidence that the banks failed to report epstein suspicious financial
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  Speaker 1: activity to the Treasury Department in a timely manner, as
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  Speaker 1: they are required to do so by law. JPMC terminated
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  Speaker 1: Epstein as a client in twenty thirteen, but the Epstein
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  Speaker 1: Stars revealed that it was not until twenty nineteen, shortly
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  Speaker 1: after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, that JPMC,
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  Speaker 1: Bank of America and Deutsche Bank retroactively flagged thousands of
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  Speaker 1: questionable transactions, moving more than one point four billion in
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  Speaker 1: and out of his accounts over the course of nearly
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  Speaker 1: two decades. These transactions including thousands of wire transfers, major
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  Speaker 1: withdrawals of cash payments to women and girls, and correspondent
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  Speaker 1: banking in high risk foreign jurisdictions, including Russia. They also
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  Speaker 1: include tens of millions in payments to his co conspirator
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  Speaker 1: and convicted sex trafficker, Glenn Maxwell. The retroactive flagging raises
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  Speaker 1: serious questions as to why these banks waited so many
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  Speaker 1: years before properly identifying and reporting Epstein's suspicious financial activity
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  Speaker 1: to the US government. Jp mc knew enough to terminate
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  Speaker 1: Epstein as a client in twenty thirteen, so the bank's
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  Speaker 1: failure to report until twenty nineteen merits further investigation. All right, folks,
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  Speaker 1: we're gonna wrap up right there, and in the next
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  Speaker 1: episode dealing with the topic, we're gonna pick up where
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  Speaker 1: we left off. All the information that goes with this
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  Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box.