'Follow the money': Senator describes what he saw in Epstein's bank records
Story by Travis Gettys
• 10h•
2 min read
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) speaks, as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policy, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/File Photo© provided by RawStory
A Democratic senator is continuing his
investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's financial network as President Donald Trump calls on his supporters to move on.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and some of his staffers have seen confidential files related to the massive sums of money Epstein moved through the banking system to fund his sex trafficking network, and the senator said his probe has taken on new urgency after the Trump administration has refused to release information seized by the FBI – which has angered many of his MAGA followers,
reported The New York Times
“We felt from the beginning this was a follow-the-money case,” Wyden told the newspaper. “This horrific sex-trafficking operation cost Epstein a lot of money, and he had to get that money from somewhere.”
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High-dollar transfers to individuals, foreign countries or obscure companies are typically flagged by banks as potentially suspicious, and Wyden's staff have reviewed filings on thousands of wire transfers involving artwork sales, fees paid to Epstein by wealthy associates and payments to numerous women, and some of those transfers involved accounts at two Russian banks for as much as $100 million.
"Even before the Justice Department announced last week that it was closing the door on the Epstein investigation," the Times reported, "Mr. Wyden had been pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi to turn over bank reports along with other information about wealthy individuals and financial institutions in Mr. Epstein’s network."
Wyden has asked the Trump administration to give Congress access to confidential bank reports filed with the Treasury Department after Epstein's arrest in 2019, but the senator questioned why the suspicious activity reports weren't filed within 60 days of the banks noticing the transactions, as they're supposed to do.
“When banks are only filing these reports after crooks like Epstein are dead or behind bars, that does not do anyone any good,” Wyden said.
The senator's team, along with several Republican committee staffers, were allowed last year by Treasury officials to review thousands of pages of secret filings by four banks –
JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon and Bank of America – on Epstein's transactions, but they were not permitted to make copies.
“Sadly, all this noise around the purported ‘Epstein Files’ serves only to detract from holding the Justice Department accountable to victims for its failure in preventing this trafficking atrocity,” said Marijke Chartouni, who was sexually abused by Epstein when she was 20.