Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., renewed his calls for the Treasury Department to release records related to the financing of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities, after Secretary Scott Bessent said the agency was collecting such reports at a recent conference.
In his third request to the agency, Wyden said in a letter dated Sept. 2 that the Treasury Department has obstructed his prior inquiries into the alleged financial enablers of Epstein's sex-trafficking network, despite the department possessing what he says are thousands of records detailing wire-transfers, payments between Epstein and notable Wall Street companies and individuals, as well as a number of Russian banks — some of which are now sanctioned.
"The Treasury records shine a light on how high-profile individuals … paid Epstein staggering sums of money, which was then used to move women around the world or engage in dubious transactions indicative of money laundering," Wyden wrote in
The Democratic senator, who is also the Senate Finance Committee's ranking member, said bipartisan committee staff had already sifted through thousands of pages of records showing more than 4,700 wire transfers worth $1.08 billion between 2003 and 2019. The files, according to the senator, detailed $170 million in payments from Wall Street financier Leon Black and hundreds of millions routed through Russian banks now under U.S. sanctions. Wyden said the documents include account numbers, names of women and girls and associates who authorized trafficking-related payments.
"The files reviewed in camera by Committee staff last February were likely just a portion of the information related to Jeffrey Epstein compiled by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network," the senator wrote. "Accordingly, I wrote you earlier this year asking that the Treasury produce the Epstein Files to the Finance Committee for further investigation and seeking additional information."
Wyden argued that Treasury's refusal to produce what he says are the full set of records amounts to a political cover-up to shield President Donald Trump, citing Elon Musk's claim that Trump appears in the files and Wall Street Journal reporting that the FBI repeatedly redacted Trump's name to "protect his privacy."
He also pointed to Bessent's recent comments at the Young America's Foundation Conservative Student Conference where Bessent reportedly said numerous reports were "sitting there" at Treasury.
Wyden rejected claims that releasing suspicious activity reports, or SARs, would be unlawful, noting the Trump administration had previously shared Hunter Biden's SARs with Republican senators.
Wyden gave Treasury until Sept. 11 to turn over all documents tied to Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and dozens of associates, banks, and trusts. He urged Treasury to provide the finance committee with all documents, including suspicious activity reports related to Epstein and any of his co-conspirators. Wyden also wants any documents related to a number of banks that may have transacted with the deceased sex-trafficker, including JPMorganChase, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, UBS Financial Services, Wells Fargo and Alfa Bank.
"Thorough vetting of Epstein's finances and his sex trafficking network should not be a partisan issue, and it should not matter whether President Trump or any powerful Wall Street financiers are implicated in the Epstein files," Wyden said. "This is about transparency and accountability for the victims of Epstein's sex trafficking activities. So far, the public has received but empty promises and a cover up of epic proportions by the Trump Administration on Jeffrey Epstein."
