Senate Democrats to Probe JPMorgan's $1 Billion Epstein Banking History

A federal lawyer accused JPMorgan of reporting $1 billion in suspicious transactions involving Jeffrey Epstein only after his death in 2019. That allegation anchors a new investigation planned by Senate Democrats, who intend to examine the banking relationship between the nation's largest bank and the late sex offender once they take control of Congress in January.

Staffers on the Senate Finance Committee will focus on decisions made by Mary Callahan Erdoes, the chief executive of JPMorgan's asset and wealth management division. A source familiar with the panel's thinking told CNBC that the team plans to use the committee's subpoena powers to review how senior executives handled Epstein as a client. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe has not been publicly announced.

Erdoes holds a central role in the inquiry due to her authority over the Epstein account. In a 2023 deposition, she stated that she knew as early as 2006 that Epstein faced accusations of paying cash to have underage girls brought to his home. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon testified in the same year that Erdoes had the power to sever ties with Epstein but did not do so until 2013. Epstein had been a client of the bank since 1998 and became a registered sex offender after pleading guilty to a state charge in Florida in 2008.

The upcoming review follows a report released in August by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who is expected to lead the Finance Committee next year. Wyden's report accused top officials at multiple banks of looking the other way as Epstein moved hundreds of millions of dollars to fund a sex trafficking operation. His office claimed that bankers delayed reporting suspicious financial activity, a move that likely violated federal anti-money-laundering laws. The report named officials at JPMorgan and other institutions who protected Epstein to gain access to billionaires.

JPMorgan has previously pointed to Jes Staley, its former investment banking chief, for concealing or failing to report Epstein-related criminal activity. Staley, who left the bank in 2013, denied knowledge of Epstein's crimes during a closed-door interview with House Oversight Chair James Comer in July. Comer stated that the former executive had encouraged the bank to retain Epstein as a client.

The bank settled claims by Epstein's victims in mid-2023 for $290 million without admitting wrongdoing. It also paid $75 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands, which alleged the bank facilitated and profited from Epstein's trafficking of young women. Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, told a federal judge in New York in 2023 that JPMorgan acted as a full-service bank for the operation. She described the late reporting to the Treasury Department as a cover-your-asset move after 16 years of money flowing through the accounts.

The Epstein files became a major legislative focus in late 2025 and early 2026 after Congress ordered their release. President Donald Trump's name appears thousands of times in the records, though he has not been charged with wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Leon Black, the former Apollo Global Management CEO, sued the House oversight panel in September to block subpoenas and filed a defamation suit against Rep. Robert Garcia in California on Wednesday regarding statements about Epstein.