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Case study: ‘The Banks Behind the Epstein Enterprise’

By Aly McDevitt2024-03-18T15:50:00+00:00

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Disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein did not grow his global sex trafficking enterprise on his own. He needed financial institutions to provide the financial underpinnings of his venture.

Compliance Week’s latest case study, “The Banks Behind the Epstein Enterprise,” tells an old story through a new lens. The report offers a deep dive into the anti-money laundering (AML) compliance failures—and alleged complicity—of JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, the two banks that enabled the Epstein enterprise to flourish for decades.

It features exclusive interviews with a former New York State Department of Financial Services regulator, a world-renowned money laundering expert, AML compliance officers, expert financial crime fighters, and more.

Read on—Chapter 1: Compliance v. complicity: The ‘underbelly’ of bank culture

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Aly McDevitt is Data & Research Journalist at Compliance Week. She has a background in education and college consulting. Prior to teaching, she was an editor/author at Thomson Reuters.View full Profile

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Case study: ‘The Banks Behind the Epstein Enterprise’

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Case study: ‘The Banks Behind the Epstein Enterprise’
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Chapter 1: Compliance v. complicity: The ‘underbelly’ of bank culture
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Chapter 2: KYC shortfalls: JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank’s onboarding of Epstein
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Chapter 3: Egregious failures: Customer due diligence and transaction monitoring
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Chapter 4: Investigations into misconduct: What banks can do

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Compliance Week accepts outside contributions from corporate chief compliance officers and other senior-level GRC practitioners. To learn more, contact the CW Editor.

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Chapter 4: Investigations into misconduct: What banks can do

2024-03-21T16:00:00Z By Aly McDevitt

Both JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank retained their respective Jeffrey Epstein relationships for too long. Yet, there is a case to be made for why exiting a high-risk relationship too soon can become an inverse form of recklessness.
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Chapter 3: Egregious failures: Customer due diligence and transaction monitoring

2024-03-20T16:00:00Z By Aly McDevitt

Why did JPMorgan Chase retain Jeffrey Epstein for more than a dozen years? How did the relationship persist despite glaring red flags? The “why” is straightforward; the “how” is more complicated.
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Chapter 2: KYC shortfalls: JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank’s onboarding of Epstein

2024-03-19T16:00:00Z By Aly McDevitt

Jeffrey Epstein’s designation as a high-risk client should have subjected him to enhanced due diligence that never appeared to occur, most notably at Deutsche Bank. Instead, Epstein was allowed to continue his misconduct despite numerous red flags.