Jeffrey Epstein in 2004.
Rick Friedman Corbis News | Getty Images
The top House Democrat has called on four major bank CEOs to share a trove of financial records related to Jeffrey Epstein to advance the investigation into the notorious sex offender after his attempts to subpoena documents from the bank were blocked by Republicans.
In a letter to CEOs obtained by CNBC, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked how Epstein and his co-conspirators were able to carry out a reported $1.5 billion worth of suspicious transactions “for years without ever being caught.”
The letter was sent on Wednesday to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said: bank of america Secretary Brian Moynihan, deutsche bank With leader Christian Sewing new york mellon bank CEO Robin Vince.
Download Ruskin’s letters to Dimon, Moynihan, Sewing, and Vince.
The letter comes as the Trump administration continues to face pressure from Democrats and some of President Donald Trump’s Republican allies over its handling of Epstein-related issues.
The wealthy investor and sex offender, who was once a friend of Trump, died by suicide in prison in 2019 on federal child sex trafficking charges.
In his letter, Mr. Raskin bluntly asked each CEO whether their bank would “cooperate in uncovering the truth” about Epstein and his co-conspirators, or “choose to participate in the cover-up of this massive international sex trafficking ring that has victimized more than 1,000 women and girls.”
“We take seriously our legal obligations, including responding appropriately to authorized investigations and proceedings,” Deutsche Bank said in a statement to CNBC. The statement was not an explicit promise to comply with Mr. Raskin’s demands.
“The bank deplores its historical ties to Jeffrey Epstein,” Deutsche Bank said in a statement. “We have cooperated with regulators and law enforcement regarding their investigations, transparently addressed the deficiencies, and in parallel invested in strengthening our control environment.”
JPMorgan declined to comment on Mr. Raskin’s request.
In his letter to Mr. Dimon, the congressman highlighted that the CEO had recently mentioned Mr. Epstein and said that he and JPMorgan “regret any association with him.”
Raskin also noted that Dimon had promised to provide information to the Judiciary Committee.
But Mr. Dimon vowed to comply with the subpoena, saying, “If it’s a legal requirement, we will comply with it. I have no problem with that.”
JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank paid large sums of money to settle lawsuits in which they were accused of facilitating and financially benefiting from sex trafficking by their client Mr. Epstein.
In 2023, JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million in a class action settlement on behalf of Epstein’s victims and reached a $75 million settlement in a separate lawsuit brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands.
That same year, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay Epstein victims $75 million to settle their lawsuits.
Bank of America and BNY Mellon did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment about Raskin’s letter to their CEOs.
Raskin wrote that he sent the letter after the Republican majority on the Judiciary Committee voted last month against attempts by Democratic lawmakers to issue subpoenas to the CEOs of four banks.
The subpoena was rejected by a nearly partisan vote. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote in favor of the subpoena.
The subpoena request was filed at the end of a hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel, who was criticized by Democrats for the Trump administration’s handling of the so-called Epstein file.
In his letter, Mr. Raskin argued that Mr. Patel’s testimony showed that Mr. Patel’s FBI had failed to “trace the funds” regarding suspicious transactions linked to Mr. Epstein that the bank had reported to the Treasury Department.
Raskin’s letter focuses on records known as suspicious activity reports (SARs), which banks are required to submit when they become aware of certain unusual financial activity that may be related to illegal activity.
He accused each of the four banks of ignoring red flags about Epstein’s money transfers or failing to properly report them.
For example, Deutsche Bank “saw but failed to report a series of red flags about Mr. Epstein, including Mr. Epstein’s lawyer transferring millions of dollars to women with Eastern European surnames,” Raskin told Sewing.
JPMorgan “did not file a single SAR” until after Mr. Epstein’s death, but Mr. Raskin sent the letter to Mr. Dimon, even though his activities were “flagrant.”
The lawmaker told Moynihan that Bank of America appeared to have filed only two “long-delayed” SARs related to “$170 million in transactions between Mr. Epstein and billionaire investor Leon Black.”
BNY Mellon filed a SAR related to $378 million in Epstein-related payments only “several years after Mr. Epstein’s death,” Mr. Raskin wrote in a letter to Mr. Vince.
Raskin’s letter cites an investigation led by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who says bank records kept by the Treasury Department show transactions involving Epstein totaling at least $1.5 billion.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading the independent investigation into Epstein’s financial tracking, said in mid-September that the Treasury Department had committed to sharing documents with the committee.
Mr. Raskin is asking banks to provide all information regarding transactions involving Mr. Epstein, his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, or their identified victims for “further investigation, examination, or discussion.”
He also asked for all internal communications and discussions with federal authorities regarding Mr. Epstein, as well as any risk assessments or due diligence reports the bank may have prepared.
The request includes records from 1998 to the present. Mr. Raskin asked that the materials be delivered to the committee by 5:00 p.m. ET on October 22nd.
In his letter, Mr. Raskin appealed to the bank’s reputation.
“If you truly regret J.P. Morgan’s disgraceful association with Mr. Epstein, we trust that you will work with us to quickly create these records and ensure that your bank and other U.S. banks never again enable and finance criminal sex trafficking rings like Mr. Epstein’s,” he wrote in a letter to Mr. Dimon.
—CNBC’s Hugh Son contributed to this report.
