Epstein's Work for Leon Black Deserves IRS Probe, Wyden Says

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(Bloomberg) -- A key Senate Democrat broadened his attack on the Trump administration's handling of records about the financing of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network, urging the Internal Revenue Service to investigate his tax and estate planning work for private equity titan Leon Black.
Ron Wyden, the Senate Finance Committee's top Democrat, wrote Thursday to IRS Commissioner Billy Long to question why the agency had not audited at least $158 million in payments that Black made to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for complex tax-related transactions. A spokesman for Black denied that he engaged in wrongdoing.
'It is unthinkable that transactions amounting to tens of millions of dollars paid to a known criminal for the purpose of helping a mega-wealthy individual dodge billions in taxes were never audited or investigated,' wrote Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. 'When Americans think the system is rigged, this is the kind of abuse they think about.'
Wyden is accelerating his attack on President Donald Trump's Treasury Department for failing to release any information about more than $1.5 billion in Epstein transactions that flowed through several US and Russian banks. His criticism comes amid widespread pressure for the Justice Department to release criminal records about the investigations of Epstein, who died in prison as he faced sex-trafficking charges, and Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime associate who is serving a 20-year prison term.
Black retired as Apollo Global Management Inc.'s longtime chief executive officer in 2021 amid controversies.
An independent review done by an outside law firm for Black four years ago concluded that he 'had not engaged in any wrongdoing,' according to a spokesperson for Black. It says he 'had no awareness of Epstein's criminal activity and all of the fees paid were for legitimate tax, estate and philanthropy planning services and were vetted and approved by outside law firms.'
Wyden began investigating Black's activities with Epstein in 2022, when Joe Biden was president and Democrats controlled the Senate.
A spokesman for the Treasury Department said Friday in a statement: 'IRS takes all requests seriously and will review Senator Wyden's letter. That said, clearly the Senator's antics are politically motivated. If this was so pressing, where was the Biden administration the last four years and Senator Wyden when he was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee?'
Wyden's staff has pursued a 'follow the money' strategy as it investigates the flow of funds in and out of Epstein's accounts before his 2019 death in prison. In a July 21 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, he said his investigators found the Treasury Department has documented 4,725 wire transfers.
The transfers were detailed by banks in so-called suspicious activity reports that are supposed to serve as an early-warning system to investigators about possible criminal activity. Some of the banks did not file the reports until years later.
In his letter to Bondi, Wyden urged the Justice Department to 'immediately investigate' evidence in the Treasury files and subpoena records on Epstein from Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Deutsche Bank AG. Spokespeople for Bank of America and JPMorgan declined to comment. A Justice Department spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
'The bank regrets our historical connection with Jeffrey Epstein,' Deutsche Bank said in a statement. 'We have cooperated with regulatory and law enforcement agencies regarding their investigations and have been transparent in addressing these matters in parallel.'
In 2023, JPMorgan reached a $290 million settlement with Epstein's victims. It separately reached a $75 million settlement over Epstein with the US Virgin Islands, where he had a private retreat and took some of his victims. Deutsche Bank also agreed to pay $75 million to Epstein's victims. Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to the US Virgin Islands. That settlement agreement said Epstein 'used the money Black paid to him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands.'
Wyden spoke to reporters on Thursday, accusing the Treasury Department under Trump of suppressing critical information about Epstein's suspicious financial transactions, while he said banks were 'sleepwalking' over the matter.
'The longer this administration stalls, the more it becomes clear that there is something to hide,' Wyden said. 'There has been a concerted effort by the Trump administration to play down that these important records are at the Treasury Department.'
Wyden said it's clear to him that banks helped fund Epstein's global sex-trafficking operations.
'I think they should be making as much of that information available as possible. I think everything should come out. Period,' Wyden said.
--With assistance from Ava Benny-Morrison.
(Updates in eighth paragraph with Treasury Department comment.)
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