Washington, D.C. — Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the statements below on new reports pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking network.
Wyden said the following on a report regarding unsealed court records containing suspicious activity reports pertaining to Epstein’s financial transactions:
“I’ve been after this kind of public transparency for three and a half years, and the release of these court documents is a huge victory for transparency and accountability in the Epstein case. It’s proof that those of us who want to get to the bottom of his horrific crimes must continue to follow the money regardless of the Trump administration’s obstruction. It’s been several months since I sounded the alarm that Secretary Bessent was sitting on a massive, unreleased file of Epstein financial records including these from JPMorgan, and it’s completely unacceptable that he’s kept them hidden away.”
Wyden said the following on a report that an assistant U.S. attorney subpoenaed several banks and entities including JPMorgan Chase for financial records as part of a 2007 investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking network, and that the non-prosecution agreement former U.S. Attorney and Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta reached with Epstein in 2008 ended that follow-the-money investigation:
“It sure looks like federal prosecutors had Epstein dead to rights in 2007 before Alex Acosta scuttled the investigation and opted for a non-prosecution agreement that effectively allowed Epstein to go on trafficking women and girls for another decade. I don’t know who Acosta consulted or what he was thinking when he decided against prosecuting Epstein, but calling it a sweetheart deal does not begin to describe the gift Acosta gave him. Acosta might as well have bought Epstein another jet.
“The fact that subpoenas went out to all these banks including JPMorgan prior to the 2008 plea deal means they must have had at least some awareness of what Epstein was up to. Taking these new details into account, it’s even more outrageous that the banks maintained relationships with Epstein and failed to report his transactions to law enforcement while he was moving around colossal amounts of money and trafficking women and girls.
“It’s clear that Bondi, Bessent and Trump want to close the books on Epstein, but the reality is, every one of these banks ought to face criminal investigation for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and potentially other anti-money laundering statutes. The banks protected Epstein, and now the Trump administration is protecting the banks.”
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