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- New bipartisan legislation from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., aims to force some financial institutions and executives with connections to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to produce records.
- Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who led a push in Congress to compel the Department of Justice to release Epstein-related material in its possession, was the lone Republican to sign on to the legislation.
- President Donald Trump signed legislation last November to compel the DOJ to release those records, but lawmakers are pushing for greater transparency and accountability on Wall Street, where they said some banks assisted Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
Ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) (L), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Financial institutions and bank executives that may have aided the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation are in the sights of a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Legislation introduced Thursday — and led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. — would require financial regulators to produce records related to Epstein, compel those regulators to investigate banks and executives with ties to the deceased convicted sex offender, and require industry bans and civil penalties for those found to have aided him.
“I have spent the last year calling on Donald Trump‘s financial regulators to launch investigations into the big banks and executives who may have enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific crimes,” Warren, who leads the Senate banking committee’s Democrats, said in a statement. “Since they have failed to act, Congress must. The bipartisan Epstein Wall Street Records Act will ensure overdue accountability for the wealthy and well-connected on Wall Street who put profits over people.”
The legislation is co-led in the House by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., signed on to the Senate version. The House version has 17 Democratic co-sponsors.
The proposal would apply to the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission. A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve declined to comment. Spokespeople for the other regulators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, Democrats and a small group of Republicans have pressed the president to release records related to Epstein and to investigate the individuals and businesses associated with him.
Warren has sought answers from Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan Chase on their connections to Epstein. And Wyden, in his capacity as the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, released an investigation in August that found “significant evidence that JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America violated federal anti-money laundering laws by failing to screen and report Epstein’s suspicious financial transactions in a timely manner.”
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase both declined to comment on Thursday. Barclays did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fallout from the Epstein files has been politically perilous for Republicans, who largely opposed an effort, led by Massie and Khanna, to force a vote to release the documents. After Trump belatedly signaled his support for the legislation, the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed both chambers of Congress with near unanimity and was signed into law in November 2025. The legislation was meant to force the Department of Justice to release its records related to Epstein.
But ahead of November’s midterm election, Democrats in recent weeks have ramped up campaign ads hitting their GOP opponents for past opposition to releasing the Epstein files. And those who advocated for public disclosure of the files have continued to push for accountability in Washington and on Wall Street.
“The Epstein Files Transparency Act forced the Attorney General to release DOJ, FBI, and U.S. Attorney’s Offices’ files. This bill does the same for bank regulators. Justice for the survivors means following the money,” Massie, who had a falling out with Trump over his effort to release the Epstein files, said in a statement.
