Top Democrat demands Trump’s IRS investigate Epstein bank records in sprawling probe: ‘Follow the money’
The top Democrat on the Senate’s powerful finance committee has been investigating the financial network surrounding Jeffrey Epstein for three years.
Now he wants the IRS to find out what, exactly, the late sex offender was doing in exchange for $1.5 billion in wire transfers that passed through major financial institutions.
An investigation, from the office of Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, uncovered more than 4,700 transactions dating to 2003, including payments to women from Russia and eastern European countries.
More than $158 million came from Wall Street financier Leon Black between 2012 and 2017 for Epstein’s alleged tax support, according to Wyden’s report, and ultimately helped Black avoid more than $1 billion liabilities.
“None of these tax transactions Epstein performed were audited,” Wyden told reporters at a briefing Thursday. “It could have blown the lid off Epstein’s cover of being a financial genius … It looks like none of that ever happened … A bunch of federal officials were sleepwalking through this.”
In a letter to Donald Trump’s recently-appointed IRS Commissioner Billy Long, Wyden demanded a list of any and all audits involving Epstein, and whether the agency ever evaluated “the full scope” of his alleged tax planning services.
“I want the IRS to go back and make sure that there was actually tax advice being given rather than what I suspect was going on, which is a lot of payments revolving around sex trafficking,” Wyden said.
Wyden’s financial probe has taken on new urgency in the weeks after the Trump administration failed to release any new revelations from the so-called “Epstein Files” and concluded no further investigation was needed, much to the uproar of his supporters and Republican allies.
Trump, whose friendship with Epstein spanned more than a decade, has insisted that the public and press should move on from questions about the case. Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019, sparking conspiracy theories that the government is participating in a cover up to protect powerful public figures who exploited and abused young girls.
Trump has repeatedly denied any connection to Epstein’s infamous lifestyle, having ended their friendship before the disturbing allegations about the financier emerged in 2006. Earlier this month, the president sued The Wall Street Journal , its publishers and right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion over an article that reported he sent a “bawdy” birthday card message to Epstein for his 50th birthday. Trump called the report false and defamatory.
Wyden’s office uncovered “inexplicably large” sums that were funneled into Epstein’s accounts as well as “suspicious activity reports,” or SARS, which are recorded by banks as a means of detecting signs of illegal activity for federal law enforcement.
Bank of America reported potentially suspicious payments involving Black in February 2020 and October 2020, following Epstein’s death, according to Senate investigators.
“We’ve got paper trails, we’ve got account numbers, we’ve got federal files from where it all began with Leon Black,” Wyden told The Independent Wednesday.
The Independent has requested comment from Black and his former asset management firm Apollo Global.
