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Bank records at the Treasury Department could expose the sex trafficker’s ‘cross-border criminal organization,’ victims say
Alex Woodwardin New YorkTuesday 02 December 2025 15:22 GMTComments
CloseSenate approves Epstein files bill after near-unanimous House vote
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A group of women who survived abuse by Jeffrey Epstein are urging Congress to pass legislation that would force Donald Trump’s administration to hand over banking records that could expose the financial engine behind the late sex offender.
The bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden would compel the Treasury Department to turn over documents to Senate investigators who have been digging into Epstein’s financial network for several years.
Those records “are crucial to exposing how Epstein financed a cross-border criminal organization that abused countless women and girls,” attorneys representing Epstein survivors wrote to members of Congress.
“For far too long Epstein and his co-conspirators have been able to hide in the shadows and conceal the vast amount of wealth that fueled his decades long sex trafficking operation,” they wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Wyden’s probe has taken on new urgency under the Trump administration, which spent months insisting that the public and Congress should move on from questions about the case after the Department of Justice stated there is “no basis” to release documents from federal investigations into the influential financier, who died in jail facing charges that put him at the center of a wider child trafficking conspiracy.
open image in gallerySurvivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse are calling on Congress to pass a measure that would compel the Treasury Department to release financial records as part of a follow-the-money probe in the Senate (REUTERS)Following a months-long pressure campaign and the president’s reluctant permission for his Republican allies to support the measure, House and Senate lawmakers last month voted in favor of a bill that compels the Justice Department to release the so-called Epstein files in its possession.
Wyden’s bill is seeking records that are not in that batch of documents, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repeatedly refused to produce them, according to Wyden’s office.
“Consistently, the Epstein survivors have voiced the importance of transparency and championed the message that all records contained within the government’s files must be produced and that includes these Treasury Department records,” attorneys added.
They called on senators to “promptly pass” Wyden’s bill.
Within 30 days of the bill’s passage, the Treasury Department must turn over “suspicious activity reports” from accounts belonging to Epstein and his alleged co-conspirator. Those bank records are intended to track signs of potential illegal activity for federal law enforcement.
The bill also would compel the release of financial records from a much longer list of high-profile figures in Epstein’s orbit, including Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s jailed accomplice, and their banking institutions.
open image in gallerySenator Ron Wyden has spearheaded investigations into Epstein’s financial network for several years, including digging into ‘suspicious activity reports’ filed by banks to the Treasury Department (Getty Images)The Treasury Department must also produce a report detailing all investigations into financial institutions and accounts tied to Epstein, according to the bill.
Wyden’s office has repeatedly raised red flags surrounding Epstein’s financial records, including suspicious activity reports from JPMorgan covering $4.3 million in transactions by Epstein from 2002 to 2016. The bank also appeared to have waited until after Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and his death in jail to file reports that flagged roughly $1.3 billion in transactions as suspicious.
In 2023, JPMorgan Chase paid $230 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by survivors who accused the financial institution of enabling Epstein’s crimes.
“Congress passed legislation dealing with the Epstein files at the Justice Department, and now we need to do the same with the Epstein files at the Treasury,” Wyden said Tuesday.
Confidential bank reports, filed with the Treasury Department and IRS, could provide a vital look at the massive financing machine behind Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation, which spanned New York City, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“These Epstein records at the Treasury Department, which Secretary Bessent has been hiding all year, would provide a detailed map of Epstein’s financial network and help us learn more about who funded, enabled and participated in his trafficking operation,” according to Wyden.
The Independent has requested comment from the Treasury Department.
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