DOJ Begins Epstein Probe of JPMorgan, Democrats at Trump Urging

The Justice Department announced it would launch an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to former President Bill Clinton, onetime Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. at the public urging of Donald Trump, after new emails prompted questions about the current president’s own relationship with the disgraced financier.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was tasking former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, who now is the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, with the probe. The US attorney’s office in the southern district is one of the most prestigious, responsible for prosecuting many high-profile financial crimes and cases involving Wall Street.

“Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I’ve asked him to take the lead,” Bondi said in a social media post. “As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”

The announcement came shortly after the president requested the investigation in a social media post of his own, asking the attorney general to “determine what was going on with them, and him.”

Trump once again finds himself mired in questions about his history with Epstein and as a renewed debate over how much information the government should release on the investigation into the convicted sex trafficker divides the president’s allies in Congress.

A congressional committee on Wednesday released some 20,000 pages of documents related to Epstein, and Democrats highlighted a selection of emails in which the late financier suggested the president knew of his activities. The documents included emails in which Epstein — who died in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges — appeared to allege that Trump spent hours in a house with one of Epstein’s victims.

That information came the same day that a new House lawmaker was officially sworn into office. Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, immediately signed a petition to force a vote on legislation to compel the Justice Department to release files on Epstein. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he will bring the legislation to a vote next week.

The White House dismissed the revelations as a selective leak intended to smear Trump, who has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Earlier: Trump-Epstein Ties Back in Spotlight as Fight in Congress Looms

Trump’s request to have the DOJ investigate the relationship between Epstein and the president’s political opponents, though, is likely to prompt concerns about politicization of the department. Bondi earlier this year said there was no evidence to support additional chargeable crimes by anyone other than Epstein himself. The DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded in July that no new records from the 300 gigabytes of data that make up the Epstein files would be released.

Clinton has previously denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Summers, a Harvard University professor and paid contributor to Bloomberg TV, in a Wednesday statement told the Harvard Crimson that he regretted his relationship with the notorious financier.

JPMorgan has settled multiple cases related to its ties to the sex offender.

“The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” JPMorgan said in a statement Friday. “We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”

A spokeswoman for Hoffman did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Hoffman has previously described regret over his interactions with Epstein, which he said were limited to fundraising.

Read more: Inside JPMorgan’s Year of Being Haunted by Jeffrey Epstein

The case has long drawn interest from many Trump allies and spurred conspiracy theories about Epstein’s associates and death, which was ruled a suicide. It’s also raised questions about the nature of Trump’s relationship with Epstein, what the president knew about sex-trafficking activities and whether the DOJ files contain more information.

Trump has expressed frustration with those questions, saying the media should focus on other individuals. In July, he told reporters he had “nothing to do with the guy” and that he “never went to the island,” appearing to refer to properties in the Caribbean where it is alleged that Epstein sexually abused and trafficked young women.

Scrutiny of Trump’s relationship with Epstein also increased earlier this year after the Wall Street Journal released a letter purportedly written by him to Epstein on a birthday. Trump has denied writing the alleged note, which House Democrats released earlier this year with another trove of documents related to Epstein. The president has sued Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., News Corp. and owner Rupert Murdoch for libel.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges, including procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. He was facing federal charges of trafficking underage girls when he was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty. Authorities said that Epstein committed suicide.

--With assistance from Erik Wasson, Jamie Tarabay, Hannah Levitt, Bill Allison, Myles Miller and Chris Strohm.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net

Justin Sink, Meghashyam Mali

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