House Committee GOP blocks Epstein subpoena to Treasury

Key insight: Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee voted to table a motion to subpoena Treasury for financial records related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

What's at stake: The motion comes as another House committee released new records Monday related to Epstein. 

Forward look: Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network director Andrea Gacki said the agency will reverse much of the regulation passed as part of the Corporate Transparency Act finalized under the Biden administration. 

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee voted to block a motion from committee Democrats to subpoena the Treasury Department for unredacted financial records related to child sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio offered a motion to subpoena the Treasury over Epstein's bank records at the agency during a hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions. Beatty's subpoena asks the agency to turn over suspicious activity reports, wire transfers, bank accounts related to the deceased sex trafficker and financier.

"The Committee on Financial Services [asks Treasury to provide] all complete and unredacted documents related to Jeffrey Epstein: wire transfers, bank accounts and other transactions, other accounts, account holders that were party to any such transactions, currency transactions … suspicious activity reports and other Bank Secrecy Act data, any documents related to a description or review of the network of Jeffrey Epstein's conducted by any party, including, but not limited to any law enforcement investigation," Beatty said. "Or review by any other party in any document or review that addresses any connections to any Russia-based financial institutions, individuals and entities, including, but not limited to entities that are Currently under United States or allied sanctions."

The committee held a vote on whether to table the subpoena — that is, to remove it from consideration — which fell along party lines. Republican Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams of Texas, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Zach Nunn of Iowa, Maria Salazar of Florida and full committee chair French Hill of Arkansas voted to table the subpoena. Committee Democrats Beatty, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Bill Foster and Sean Casten of Illinois and full committee ranking member Maxine Waters of California voted to continue with consideration of the subpoena.

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The inquiry comes a day after the House Oversight Committee released new records related to Epstein's estate, including a "birthday book" with purported entries from a number of prominent public officials, including President Donald Trump, who was a longtime associate of Epstein's. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019.   

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has repeatedly called for the Treasury Department to release records on Epstein's sex trafficking activities. Secretary Scott Bessent said the agency was collecting such reports at a recent conference.

At the hearing — which was focused on the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or Fincen — agency director Andrea Gacki also made clear that despite being appointed under the Biden administration, she has worked across multiple administrations and deferred to the White House on the agency's ongoing efforts to reissue reporting requirements pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act. 

The Treasury Department in March rolled back key elements of the CTA, which requires most U.S. companies to disclose to the federal government who actually owns or controls them. That transparency tool was long sought by banks, enforcement agencies and consumer advocates alike. 

Gacki told the committee that the agency will follow White House guidance and expects to finalize an updated rule this year. She also said the agency is planning on deleting the data that is no longer required, but has already been filed. While she said domestic shell companies remain a potential avenue for financial crime, she says there could be ways to use customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions to aid law enforcement. 

"I would say the current administration has taken a look at the [previous] reporting structure and assess that the burdens on small business fell too greatly and needed to be alleviated, and that is what Fincen did through the interim final rule," Gacki said, in response to a question from Beatty. "However, as you point out, there are still instances where domestic shell companies can be leveraged in financial crime, and there I can point to other sources of information that can help law enforcement if the beneficial ownership information regime is not being used."

Banking industry advocates say they support the administration's move, but remain concerned about the ability of illicit actors to use anonymous shell companies to further their crimes.