Sen. Wyden presses DOJ to release Epstein bank reports to Congress
Sen Ron Wyden has spent the past three years inspecting the financial machinery behind Jeffrey Epstein s sex-trafficking operation The Oregon Democrat who is the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee says that he has been pushing the Justice Department to uncover the full extent of Epstein s money movements and the banks that enabled them We felt from the beginning this was a follow-the-money scenario Wyden mentioned in an interview with the New York Times This horrific sex-trafficking operation cost Epstein a lot of money and he had to get that money from somewhere Related Haunted by Epstein Trump spirals further out of control President Donald Trump has been urging his supporters to move on from the story However he has revealed he would let Attorney General Pam Bondi decide which documents related to the incident are credible and should be made available to the residents Wyden s staff has reviewed thousands of pages of highly confidential bank filings known as Suspicious Activity Reports SARs documenting more than billion in flagged transactions connected to Epstein The reports from JPMorgan Chase Deutsche Bank Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon reveal a dizzying flow of money payments to women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia fees from wealthy clients and transactions through Russian banks that the U S eventually sanctioned Various individual transactions reached as high as million Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Syllabus Wyden disclosed his inquiry has taken on greater urgency as the Justice Department has declined to release the FBI s records or make the bank filings fully available to Congress While particular Republicans have called for more transparency on the so-called Epstein Files Trump has dismissed the matter as irrelevant and part of a Democratic Party hoax Congressional Republicans followed suit and blocked latest efforts to force the DOJ s hand Wyden believes the story is far from over and that reforms to bank reporting are needed When banks are only filing these reports after crooks like Epstein are dead or behind bars that does not do anyone any good he recounted the Times The Justice Department and majority of of the banks named in the record have declined to comment Deutsche Bank explained that it regrets our historical connection with Jeffrey Epstein JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank have paid million and million respectively to settle lawsuits alleging they ignored clear warning signs about Epstein Read more about this topic Why House Republicans voted for the Epstein cover-up Trump doesn t realize why MAGA demands the Epstein files MAGA continues to reel from Trump s Epstein betrayal The post Sen Wyden presses DOJ to release Epstein bank reports to Congress appeared first on Salon com
