Senate Democrats on the Finance Committee, led by Senator Ron Wyden, have released a report alleging that major American and German banks knew of suspicious financial activity by Jeffrey Epstein for years but failed to alert federal authorities until after his 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges. The report accuses JPMorganChase, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank of turning a blind eye to Epstein's transactions, in apparent breach of the Bank Secrecy Act, which obliges bankers to flag suspected illegal financial activity to the government.

The report states that more than a dozen bankers at the three institutions were aware of questionable dealings dating back to 2002, encompassing over 1,000 transactions worth more than $1 billion across nearly two decades, including cash payments and wire transfers to "victims, friends, and collaborators" around the world. It notes that JPMorganChase dropped Epstein as a client in 2013 over human-trafficking concerns but did not report suspicious activity to authorities until 2019, six years later. Committee Democrats are now calling on the Justice Department to investigate the delayed reporting and to strengthen future requirements for banks.