Senate Democrats to probe JPMorgan's Epstein ties once in control
Democratic staffers on the Senate Finance Committee plan to examine how JPMorgan executives, including Mary Callahan Erdoes, handled Jeffrey Epstein.
At a glance
- Senate Democrats plan to investigate JPMorgan's handling of Jeffrey Epstein once they take control of Congress early next year.
- The Senate Finance Committee, likely chaired by Ron Wyden, will focus on decisions by JPMorgan executive Mary Callahan Erdoes.
- JPMorgan paid $290 million to Epstein victims and $75 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2023 settlements.
Senate Democrats are preparing to investigate JPMorgan Chase's banking relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once they take control of Congress early next year, CNBC has reported.
Democratic staffers on the Senate Finance Committee intend to focus on how high-ranking executives at the bank handled Epstein, a source familiar with the panel's thinking told CNBC. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe has not been announced.
Wyden to hold subpoena power
The committee is likely to be chaired from January by Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is currently its ranking member. Wyden has made clear he plans to make full use of the subpoena powers that committee majorities hold.
Staffers aim to focus in particular on decisions about Epstein made by Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of JPMorgan's asset and wealth management division, the source said.
JPMorgan declined to comment. The bank has previously said it regrets any association with Epstein but that it did not assist him in committing crimes.
In a 2023 deposition, Erdoes said she was aware as early as 2006 that Epstein had been accused of paying cash to have underage girls brought to his home. Epstein had been a client of the bank since 1998. He became a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 in Florida to a state criminal charge of procuring an underage girl for prostitution.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in his own deposition that year that Erdoes had the authority to cut off Epstein as a client. She did not take that step until 2013.
Settlements and earlier findings
Epstein, a former friend of President Donald Trump, ex-President Bill Clinton and many other high-profile people, died in a jailhouse suicide in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
A lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands told a federal judge in New York in 2023 that JPMorgan "was a full-service bank for Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking" and that it waited until after his death to notify the Treasury Department of $1 billion in suspicious transactions. "This was a CYA reporting after 16 years of all of the monies flowing in his JPMorgan accounts after he was dead," the lawyer, Mimi Liu, said.
JPMorgan has blamed former investment banking chief Jes Staley for concealing or failing to report criminal activity related to Epstein. Staley, who left the bank in 2013 and later became CEO of Barclays before stepping down in 2021, has denied knowledge of Epstein's crimes. House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said after a closed-door interview with Staley in July that the former executive had encouraged JPMorgan to keep Epstein as a client.
In mid-2023, JPMorgan agreed to a $290 million settlement with victims of Epstein without admitting wrongdoing, and separately paid $75 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging the bank facilitated and benefited from his sex trafficking of young women.
In August, Wyden released a report accusing top officials at multiple banks of "looking the other way" as Epstein moved hundreds of millions of dollars to finance a yearslong sex trafficking operation.
Source: CNBC.
Questions and answers
- Why are Senate Democrats investigating JPMorgan and Jeffrey Epstein?
- Democratic staffers on the Senate Finance Committee want to examine how senior JPMorgan executives handled Epstein, who was a client of the bank from 1998 until 2013, according to a source familiar with the panel's plans.
- What has JPMorgan said about its relationship with Epstein?
- JPMorgan declined to comment on the planned probe. The bank has previously said it regrets any association with Epstein but that it did not assist him in committing crimes.
- What settlements has JPMorgan reached over Epstein?
- In 2023 the bank agreed to a $290 million settlement with Epstein's victims without admitting wrongdoing and paid $75 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands.
