L’Affaire Epstein

When it comes to Epstein, the grand jury documents aren’t the ones that people seeking the truth about Epstein’s network of child trafficking should be interested in. Prosecutors always say, “Follow the money.” That’s as true here as in any other case, especially since there was a lot of money around Jeffrey Epstein, and there’s been no real public accounting of it.

One of the best ways you can follow the money, at least if you’re a federal prosecutor, is by looking at Treasury Department records. One type of record, SARs, or Suspicious Activity Reports, can be a treasure trove for prosecutors, providing some of the best investigative leads they can get.

Banks are required to file SARs in circumstances where it appears a money laundering or related violation of law has occurred, although they are permitted to file them if there is suspicion of any type of criminal activity, such as when a customer engages in a transaction that raises suspicion of crimes like money laundering. Banks file SARs with FinCEN (The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), a bureau in the Treasury Department that is charged with protecting our financial system from illegal activity, focusing on detecting money laundering and terrorist financing. It’s a data operation—FinCEN collects and analyzes financial intelligence, which it shares with law enforcement and regulatory partners. And its evidentiary impact can be devastating.

A SAR report provides information about the transactions in question and fills in the blanks of who, what, when, where, and, as much as possible, why. It explains how the transaction was done and who was behind the suspicious activity. Treasury issues extensive documentation to aid banks in filing the reports, which must come within 30 days when the report is mandatory, although many of the SARs about Epstein seem to have come in after his 2019 arrest. The filer has to explain why they believe the activity is suspicious.

It’s not difficult to understand how these kinds of reports could shed light on Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with many of the people who’ve been identified as his close connections. Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations extended to Manhattan, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and only limited information about financial transactions has been made public so far.

Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, understands this. He’s been investigating Epstein’s finances for at least three years. The New York Times reported last week that “Some members of his staff have viewed confidential files that shed light on the immense sums of money that, they say, Mr. Epstein moved through the banking system to fuel his vast sex-trafficking network.” There are specifics: Banks flagged more than $1.5 billion in transactions involving Epstein. They included “thousands of wire transfers for the purchase and sale of artwork for rich friends, fees paid to Mr. Epstein by wealthy individuals, and payments to numerous women.” Very intriguing.

“We felt from the beginning this was a follow-the-money case,” Senator Wyden said in an interview. “This horrific sex-trafficking operation cost Epstein a lot of money, and he had to get that money from somewhere.”

If you want to know more about Jeffrey Epstein, read the reports and follow the money. That sort of documentation will reveal far more than a couple of grand jury transcripts, the only thing Trump has offered to make public, knowing full well judges are unlikely to go along with it. If Trump really wanted to honor his commitment to release Epstein reports, this is what he would be sharing with his followers. Instead, Senator Wyden has been working on it. Wyden can’t make all of the papers public, but the Trump administration can.

Staffers working with Wyden were given very limited access to Treasury documents when they visited the agency and were only permitted to take handwritten notes. But they walked away with some key information:

• The largest SAR was filed by JPMorgan in late 2019 and involved a transaction of $1.1 billion.

• That report covered 4,700 transactions dating to 2003, including payments to women from Belarus, Russia, and Turkmenistan. (Where many of Epstein’s victims came from.)

• Deutsche Bank filed the second largest for about $400 million. Other sizable reports were filed by Bank of New York Mellon for $378 million and Bank of America, which filed reports on billionaire investor Leon Black’s $158 million in payments to Epstein, reportedly for tax and estate planning services. That’s a lot of tax and estate planning! Black was a co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. He left his leadership position at the firm after his ties to Epstein were disclosed publicly.

Despite DOJ’s pronouncement earlier this month that there would be no further prosecutions, it’s clear from the public narrative that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell weren’t the only people involved in the large-scale trafficking operation they operated.

“Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?" Trump responded to a reporter who asked him about how his administration was handling the files. “This guy's been talked about for years. That is unbelievable.” The answer to that first question is yes. People are still talking about Epstein. And there is a way to get answers. Donald Trump could provide them. The fact that he won’t is increasingly concerning.

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We’re in this together,

Joyce