Germany’s leading bank, Deutsche Bank, in trouble amid ties to Jeffrey Epstein

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, managed a large part of Jeffrey Epstein’s assets through 40 accounts. This revelation came with consequences. The bank’s stock fell by 5.49% on February 4 after additional Epstein files detailing his criminal activities were made public. 

Epstein was a sex offender. He was in custody awaiting trial for further charges when he died in August 2019 with a net worth of nearly $600 million. According to DOJ documents, Deutsche took him on as a client in 2013 after JPMorgan decided to close his long-held accounts for reputational reasons. Therefore, the bank knew exactly whom it was getting involved with. 

Paul Morris was reportedly part of the JPMorgan team that managed Epstein’s money before introducing the financier as a client to Deutsche Bank. Morris was the primary officer for a number of Epstein accounts at Deutsche Bank, including Southern Financial, which was reportedly one of the financier’s main sources of income.

Deutsche Bank kept Epstein as a client after publicly cutting ties

Deutsche Bank has been particularly criticized for failing to react when Epstein withdrew large sums of cash from his account. Analysts have highlighted certain transaction details in the Epstein files that now seem problematic, considering the financier’s dubious business activities.

The bank served him for 5 years before telling him that it would end the relationship in late 2018. However, it continued offering services even after closing all its accounts after his arrest in July 2019. For instance, it arranged an order made on April 9, 2019, for 50,000 euros ($59,300) in cash in “large bills” ahead of a trip to Europe

Also, on January 3, 2019, Epstein’s office asked how much he could take out daily with his Deutsche debit card. The bank’s answer was $12,000 a day. Deutsche continued to operate one Epstein account, called Southern Trust Company, with more than $30 million moving in and out in March 2019. 

In April 2019, an Epstein account at Deutsche made more than $100,000 in transfers to various aviation firms. Deutsche also arranged another $7,500 in euros to be sent in cash by FedEx to an Epstein aide in New York, as well as the 50,000 euros on short notice. Both requests were made in a single email on April 9. 

Epstein still held at least nine accounts with balances totalling $1,776,680 with Germany’s largest bank as of May 3, 2019. The files show it took news of his arrest on July 6, 2019, almost seven months later, for Deutsche to make a final clean break with Epstein by officially closing the accounts.

Deutsche Bank has already been forced to pay out money in this case. The US Federal Reserve imposed a fine of more than $180 million after it was found to have not fixed problems with its money-laundering controls fast enough. It was also ordered to pay $75 million as part of a settlement to a group of Epstein’s victims. 

This week, the German news agency dpa quoted a company spokesperson as saying: “As repeatedly emphasized since 2020, the bank acknowledges its mistake in accepting Jeffrey Epstein as a client in 2013.”

Financial institutions and their execs found in the Epstein files

Chief legal officer and general counsel at Goldman Sachs, Kathy Ruemmler, appeared in several emails with Epstein and his associates from 2014 to 2019. Various emails suggest Ruemmler often visited Epstein for lunch, that he showered her with gifts, and sometimes paid for hair appointments.

Jes Staley, who resigned as CEO of Barclays in 2021 following an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority into his links with Epstein, also had very close connections with the convicted sex offender.

“I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound,” Staley wrote to Epstein in 2009 when he was working at JPMorgan. Between 2008 and 2012, Staley exchanged around 1,200 emails with the disgraced financier while at the US bank.

Additionally, Cecilia Steen, an employee within JPMorgan’s London office, is a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein. She messaged the convicted sex offender to pledge her loyalty just days before he died.

“My dearest Jeffrey, I don’t know when you’ll get to read this. I was so sad to read that you had been found unconscious [sic] in your cell. No matter what happens, I will always be loyal to you, and you will always be in my heart,” she wrote.

Paul Barrett, an employee at JPMorgan, served Epstein after JPMorgan dropped him. As reported by Cryptopolitan, he continued to engage with him privately and later left JPM to be Epstein’s manager. “I left a great career at JPM to work with you […] We made a lot of money working together over the years…” Barrett wrote to Epstein.

Also, a spokesperson for Edmond de Rothschild told The Banker that de Rothschild was a business acquaintance of Epstein between 2013 and 2019. Epstein was paid $25 million to carry out strategic advisory assignments and support the bank’s overall business development.