JPMorgan Processed More Than $1 Billion in Jeffrey Epstein Transactions While Keeping Him as a Client, Report Says

JPMorgan Chase processed more than $1 billion in transactions for Jeffrey Epstein over roughly 15 years and kept him as a client despite internal compliance alarms and a federal sex-crimes probe, according to a new investigation by The New York Times cited in reporting.

The Times reported that senior bank leaders overrode compliance objections at least four times across five years, approved loans and opened accounts for Epstein and some of his associates at his request, and maintained a relationship with the convicted sex offender after his 2008 guilty plea. The bank has said it documented all accounts and denies that it facilitated criminal activity.

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Internal JPMorgan reviews flagged routine cash withdrawals by Epstein as early as 2006, with a Rapid Response review documenting repeated $40,000 to $80,000 withdrawals that totaled more than $750,000 year-to-date and nearly $1.75 million in cash before Epstein’s 2008 plea, the report said. Those patterns prompted some bankers to suspect money-laundering. The Times said the bank ultimately opened dozens of accounts for Epstein, his companies and associates, and that filings in the U.S. Virgin Islands show transfers tied to Ghislaine Maxwell and to women later identified as victims.

The account activity made Epstein a notably lucrative client: the report said he held more than $200 million with JPMorgan and generated millions in revenue for the firm. Internal communications, deposition excerpts and other records made public in recent years show friction inside the bank over how to handle the relationship.

Stephen Cutler, who was JPMorgan’s general counsel, is reported to have privately warned in 2011 that Epstein “should not be a client,” and the Times said Cutler considered banning him but did not escalate the matter to CEO Jamie Dimon. Cutler has said he did not see evidence that Epstein was using the bank to commit crimes. Mary Callahan Erdoes, then and now a senior wealth-management executive, approved loans for Epstein after the 2006 indictment, according to the Times. Jes Staley, who ran the bank’s wealth unit until 2009 and later became Barclays chief executive, is described by the report as Epstein’s top internal backer at JPMorgan and as someone who repeatedly advocated for continuing the relationship.

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The Times account says some JPMorgan employees feared the reputational risk of serving a convicted sex offender who remained the subject of Justice Department scrutiny. An internal memo cited by the report said the bank would not “proactively solicit new investment business” from Epstein after the 2006 indictment, yet other internal messages show bankers continuing to service his needs and even joking about his interest in younger women while compliance teams raised warnings that he was “known to pay cash for his massages.” The bank formally ended its relationship with Epstein in 2013, though the Times said staff continued to meet him in later years.

JPMorgan has faced legal fallout tied to the relationship. In June 2023 the bank agreed to pay roughly $290 million to settle a class-action brought by Epstein’s accusers. In September 2023 JPMorgan paid $75 million to the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, which alleged the bank enabled sex trafficking by providing cash and credibility that facilitated abuse on Epstein’s private island. The bank admitted no wrongdoing in those settlements. Deutsche Bank, which took Epstein’s business after JPMorgan cut ties, paid about $75 million to settle separate claims and was fined by New York regulators in 2020 for compliance failures related to Epstein.

Inside JPMorgan, responsibility for the decisions has been contested. Dimon has testified that he did not know of Epstein’s status at the bank until 2019, while Cutler and Erdoes have said others could have removed Epstein at various points. Staley has denied knowledge of criminal conduct and has disputed regulatory actions against him arising from his past ties to Epstein; he is defending his record before British regulators.

JPMorgan spokeswoman statements in recent years have said the bank would not have continued to do business with Epstein if it believed his accounts were used to commit crimes. The bank has said it cooperated with investigations and has implemented compliance changes since the period covered by the reporting.

The Times investigation adds to a body of public records, court filings and regulatory probes that have mapped Epstein’s financial relationships and the responses of major banks. Regulators and some of the banks involved have cited improved anti–money-laundering controls and greater scrutiny of high-risk clients in the years since the transactions and relationships at issue.

The reporting has prompted renewed scrutiny of how large financial institutions weigh revenue and client relationships against reputational and legal risks when compliance teams flag potential wrongdoing. JPMorgan’s relationship with Epstein joins other corporate controversies in recent years that have led to fines, legal settlements and changes to internal controls at major U.S. banks.