Senator Elizabeth Warren has sent a letter to JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon seeking clarity on whether Dimon acted on guidance from Jeffrey Epstein when engaging with UK officials about a proposed tax on bankers' bonuses, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The inquiry comes after a batch of documents made public by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year has renewed scrutiny of interactions between Epstein and a number of public figures. The Financial Times said it had seen the letter sent last week by Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee, in which she wrote that "It is critical that Congress and the American public fully understand the extent of any interactions the bank and you had with Epstein." Reuters has not seen the letter cited by the FT and Warren could not immediately be reached for comment, according to reporting.
In reporting published earlier this year and drawing on emails released by the DoJ, the Financial Times said that in 2009 Lord Peter Mandelson, who was then Britain’s business secretary, told Epstein that Dimon should "mildly threaten" Alistair Darling, the chancellor at the time, over the proposed banker bonus tax. That reporting has been central to the follow-up questions Warren outlined in her letter, the FT said.
JPMorgan issued a statement on Monday reiterating the bank’s previously stated position about Dimon and Epstein. The bank said Dimon "never met with him, never emailed him, and was not involved in any decisions about his account," echoing testimony from Dimon's 2023 deposition concerning the bank’s relationship with Epstein.
On the matter of "lobbying" in the UK - Jamie regularly speaks his mind on bad, anti-growth policy and has his own views. At no point did he take counsel from him, directly or indirectly.
The statement also addressed the bank's decision to stop doing business with Epstein. JPMorgan noted that Epstein had been a client from 1998 until the relationship was terminated in 2013, a move the bank said occurred years before Epstein’s federal sex trafficking arrest. The bank also pointed to a roughly $290 million payment it agreed to make in 2023 to settle a class action lawsuit brought by Epstein’s victims.
In defending its past dealings, JPMorgan said: "Any association with the man was a mistake and we regret it, but we would not have continued doing business with him had we believed he was engaged in ongoing crimes. We exited him as a client in 2013 - years before his federal sex trafficking arrest and years after the government had damning information they kept from us."
According to the Financial Times, Warren's letter asks Dimon and other JPMorgan employees for documents and answers detailing communications with Epstein and with UK government officials. The FT quoted the letter as saying: "These resurfaced emails and related reporting raise serious questions regarding the extent of the bank’s relationship with Epstein, and your knowledge of these ties."
The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking had not immediately replied to a Reuters inquiry about the letter, the reporting said.
The matter highlights renewed attention on previously disclosed communications involving Epstein and prominent figures after the Department of Justice released related documents earlier in the year. The FT and Reuters reporting cited in this article indicate that those documents are driving congressional questions and document requests to bank executives.
Summary of developments:
- Senator Elizabeth Warren has requested explanations and documents from JPMorgan's CEO about possible ties between Dimon and Jeffrey Epstein concerning UK lobbying on a banker bonus tax.
- Reporting cites DoJ-released emails that include a 2009 reference to a suggestion that Dimon should "mildly threaten" a UK chancellor over the tax.
- JPMorgan reiterated that Dimon had no direct contact with Epstein and confirmed the bank ended its relationship with Epstein in 2013.