Continuing Epstein Investigation, Wyden Probes Major JPMorgan Chase Compliance Failures

Continuing Epstein Investigation, Wyden Probes Major JPMorgan Chase Compliance Failures

New Reporting Indicates JPMorgan Chase Executives Turned a Blind Eye to Epstein's Conduct; Wyden Asks What Bank Executives Knew and When They Knew It -- And Why JPMorgan Chase Covered Up Epstein's Suspicious Transactions For Six Years After Firing Him as a Client

Washington, D.C. - Following new reporting indicating that JPMorgan Chase executives overruled internal warnings over the course of several years to maintain deep ties with Jeffrey Epstein, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) launched a new line of investigation on Wednesday to determine the extent of the bank's compliance failures, the role of top executives in the decision to keep Epstein as a client until 2013, and the degree to which that decision enabled Epstein's sex trafficking.

Senator Wyden's inquiry, laid out in a new letter to Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, sought to determine what bank executives knew about Epstein's conduct and when they knew it. According to new reporting, bank compliance officers raised concerns about Epstein repeatedly with senior executives, and emails between executives related to those concerns were marked "pending Dimon review" and "for Jamie." Former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley also testified under oath that he alerted Dimon to Epstein's 2008 guilty plea to soliciting sex from a minor. Dimon, however, said in a 2022 deposition that he did not "recall knowing anything about Jeffrey Epstein" until 2019 and denied having been made aware of the bank's 2008 review of its relationship with Epstein.

In addition to probing any role Dimon had in the bank's decision to retain Epstein as a client, Senator Wyden also sought information about the roles of current and former JPMorgan Chase executives Mary Erdoes, Jes Staley, Justin Nelson, Stephen Cutler, and William Langford.

Among other questions, Senator Wyden also sought an explanation as to why the bank apparently waited until after Epstein's 2019 arrest, six years after it fired him as a client, to file Suspicious Activity Reports on his financial transactions.

"Although JPMC has acknowledged massive compliance failures regarding the handling of Epstein's accounts, much remains unknown about the extent to which the JPMC leadership turned a blind eye to Epstein's conduct. Epstein was moving enormous sums of money around the globe to traffic women and girls, and JPMC was better positioned than any other financial institution to blow the whistle. The bank failed completely, and its failure enabled Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes and abuse of women and girls to continue for years," Senator Wyden wrote. "Furthermore, JPMC likely broke the law by waiting years to report Epstein's suspicious transactions to U.S. regulators. Suspicious activity reports are designed to alert federal law enforcement to potential criminal activity and assist with investigation, and for banks to withhold these reports until a suspect like Jeffrey Epstein is already behind bars is an impediment to our criminal justice system."

The complete text of Wednesday's letter is available here.

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