A New York Times business reporter presents an investigative timeline detailing how JPMorgan Chase financed Jeffrey Epstein for over a decade. The reporter explains Epstein's value to the bank, his close relationship with executive Jes Staley, and how the bank ignored numerous red flags, including massive cash withdrawals and a 2008 guilty plea for soliciting a minor. The video uses documents and a chronological narrative to argue that despite internal warnings, the bank only severed ties with Epstein after Staley's departure, concluding it was a major institutional failure.
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When most people think about Jeffrey Epstein, they think of a sexual-abuse scandal. But it's also a financial scandal — one in which JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, not only enabled Epstein's sex-trafficking operation but also enriched him while reaping profits for itself.
Our business reporter Matthew Goldstein, and a team of other Times journalists, combed through 13,000 documents to explain why.
Read the full investigation at the link in our bio. Video by Matthew Goldstein, Gabriel Blanco and June Kim/The New York Times
Transcript
The nation's biggest bank provided financial resources to Jeffrey Epstein for years, ignoring red flags about his activities all along the way. We reviewed about 13,000 legal documents and other filings to find out why this relationship went on for so long. When he came to the bank around 1998, he was a financial advisor to billionaires, Best Staley, who was a top banker at JPMorgan for many years, basically became a very close friend of Jeffrey Epstein. In total, there are roughly a 130 some odd accounts tied to Epstein. His accounts were worth a lot of money for the rank, but also there were these very large best withdrawals, one as large as a $175,000 When you have a client taking out this kind of money, someone who shouldn't say, wait a minute. Woah. What's going on here? But this isn't just like a private client with lots of money. This is also someone who can do things for the bank if need be. There was this deal put together to buy a hedge fund called Highbridge. And Epstein sort of plays like a middleman in this tier. And he got a $15,000,000 fee and it sort of cemented his value. 2005 becomes a pivotal year. Down in Florida, the parents of a 14 year old girl filed a police complaint saying Epstein sexually abused their daughter. At this point in time already, he withdrew about $1,700,000 from the bank. Staley vouches for Epstein mainly by saying, good, it's outrageous to think that he'd be with teenage girls. By 2008, Epstein pleads guilty to a single charge of soliciting prostitution for a teenage girl. So the bank obviously has a quandary here. No one wants to bucks daily, so he ends up staying. Epstein is pleading guilty. He's still essentially running his sex trafficking operation. Wire transfers are still going through the bank. There's still cash withdrawals. The bank is still noticing them. By the 2010, Epstein is close to getting out of jail. Staley, at this point, is starting to be seen as the potential heir apparent to Jamie Dimon, the CEO. They extend an additional 50,000,000 some odd in trading credits for Epstein. By 2011, the general counsel of the bank wanted to exit him. Epstein remains as a client. If you go to JPMorgan, they'll tell you it's only because of Staley. But also, if they felt strongly enough it was a reputational risk, they could have escalated it. In 2012, there's a clear falling out between Staley and Dimon, and eventually, he leaves the bank. It's pretty clear that Epstein is seeing his days are gonna be numbered there. He's arrested in July 2019 when stories start to spill out into the media that internally some at the bank were always unhappy about Epstein, yet he stayed on as a client. But nothing really happens. Jamie Dimon, the CEO, says he he doesn't recall he even knew of Epstein until 2019 when he was arrested. At the end of the day, what we found is that this was an institutional fail at JPMorgan.
