Corporate

The Epstein Machine: How Wall Street, Power, and Silence Built a Sex Trafficking Empire

JPMorgan processed $1.1 billion in transactions. Deutsche Bank opened 40+ accounts. MIT took $850,000. The system that enabled Jeffrey Epstein's crimes paid settlements — but no senior banker went to jail.

2026-02-21|14 min read

On January 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice released 3.5 million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. The files included 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. Within 48 hours, attorneys for more than 200 alleged victims filed an emergency motion calling it "the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history."

Three weeks later, Prince Andrew was arrested.

This is not a story about one man. This is a story about the machine that built him — the banks that moved his money, the institutions that took his donations, the prosecutors who let him walk, and the corporate structures designed to make it all invisible.

The settlements now exceed $600 million. No senior banker has been criminally charged.

Part I: The Money

Jeffrey Epstein's wealth has never been fully explained.

He started as a math teacher at the Dalton School, a Manhattan prep school, in 1974. He had no college degree. He tutored the son of Bear Stearns CEO Alan Greenberg, which got him a job at the investment bank. By 1984, he claimed to be a millionaire. By 1988, he had founded J. Epstein & Company, a money management firm with an unusual entry requirement: clients needed a net worth of at least $1 billion.

The client list was never disclosed. But one name towers above the rest.

Les Wexner

Les Wexner — billionaire founder and CEO of L Brands (Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, The Limited) — met Epstein in 1986. Within five years, Wexner had granted Epstein something almost unheard of in finance:

In July 1991, Les Wexner gave Jeffrey Epstein full power of attorney over all of his affairs — the authority to sign checks, hire staff, borrow money, and buy or sell property on Wexner's behalf.

No one has ever adequately explained why a billionaire retail mogul handed total financial control to a man with no verifiable track record.

In February 2026, emails released from Epstein's personal account named Wexner as a "co-conspirator." In his congressional deposition the same month, Wexner testified that he was "conned" and "duped" by Epstein.

House Representative Robert Garcia stated plainly: "There is no single person that was more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner."

Wexner faces no criminal charges.

Part II: The Banks That Looked Away

The financial institutions that serviced Jeffrey Epstein didn't just hold his money. They processed it — millions of dollars in transactions that, in retrospect, bore all the hallmarks of sex trafficking payments.

JPMorgan Chase

Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013 — fifteen years.

During that time, the bank processed more than 4,700 transactions totaling over $1.1 billion. His accounts held over $200 million. The bank processed payments to women later described as sexually trafficked.

In June 2023, JPMorgan agreed to a $290 million settlement with Epstein's victims. The settlement resolved claims that the bank knowingly facilitated Epstein's sex trafficking operation.

No JPMorgan executive was criminally charged.

Deutsche Bank

When JPMorgan finally dropped Epstein in 2013, a JPMorgan relationship manager named Paul Morris moved to Deutsche Bank — and brought Epstein with him.

Deutsche Bank opened more than 40 accounts for Epstein and his entities between 2013 and 2018. The bank processed millions in suspicious transactions, including payments labeled "tuition fees" to women and large cash withdrawals structured to avoid reporting requirements.

In 2023, Deutsche Bank agreed to a $75 million settlement with victims. The New York Department of Financial Services separately fined the bank $150 million for compliance failures.

No Deutsche Bank executive was criminally charged.

Morgan Stanley

In a revelation from the 2026 document release, it emerged that Morgan Stanley opened accounts for Epstein trusts as late as 2019 — the same year he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.

Ranking Member Jamie Raskin of the House Judiciary Committee has probed top banks over $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions linked to Epstein's trafficking ring.

Part III: The Corporate Shell Game

Epstein didn't just have bank accounts. He had an architecture — a network of corporate entities, offshore vehicles, and trusts designed to obscure the origin, movement, and purpose of his money.

The Key Entities

J. Epstein & Company (founded 1988) — The original money management firm. Client minimum: $1 billion net worth.
Financial Trust Company (FTC) — Renamed from an earlier entity in 1996. Combined with Southern Trust, generated over $800 million in revenue between 1999 and 2018.
Southern Trust Company (founded 2011) — Entirely owned by Epstein. Assets grew from $198.5 million in 2013 to $391.3 million in 2017.
Liquid Funding Ltd. — A Bermuda-registered entity that handled financial operations offshore, beyond U.S. regulatory scrutiny.
MC2 Model Management — A modelling agency financed by Epstein and run by French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel. Brunel used the agency to recruit aspiring models, some of whom were introduced to Epstein. Brunel was found dead in his Paris jail cell in February 2022, while awaiting trial for rape and sex trafficking.
The 1953 Trust — Created just days before Epstein's death in August 2019, this trust was designed to shield his remaining assets — estimated at over $577 million — from victims' claims.
Plan D LLC — Held Epstein's Gulfstream jet.
Maple Inc. — Held his Manhattan townhouse.
Great St. Jim LLC — Held his Caribbean island estates.

The corporate structure served one purpose: to separate Epstein the person from the money that funded his operation. When investigators or victims tried to follow the money, they hit a wall of shell companies, offshore registrations, and trust structures — each requiring separate legal proceedings to pierce.

Part IV: The Deal That Let Him Walk

In 2007, federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to indict Jeffrey Epstein on as many as 60 federal charges related to the sexual abuse of dozens of underage girls. The FBI had built a substantial case. Multiple victims had testified.

What happened next remains one of the most controversial prosecutorial decisions in modern American history.

The Acosta Deal

Epstein's legal team — which included Alan Dershowitz, one of the most prominent defense attorneys in the country — negotiated directly with U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta in Miami.

On September 24, 2007, Epstein signed a non-prosecution agreement. The terms were extraordinary:

Epstein pleaded guilty to two state charges: soliciting prostitution, and soliciting prostitution from a minor
He received 18 months in a county jail — with work release that allowed him to leave for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week
The federal non-prosecution agreement granted immunity not just to Epstein, but to four named co-conspirators and — critically — any unnamed "potential co-conspirators"
The deal was sealed from the public
Victims were never notified, in violation of the Crime Victims' Rights Act

Federal prosecutors were prepared to bring 60 charges. Instead, they let Epstein plead to two state charges, serve 13 months with work release, and granted blanket immunity to every person who helped him.

A 2020 Department of Justice review found that Acosta and other prosecutors displayed "poor judgment" but stopped short of finding prosecutorial misconduct.

In July 2019, Acosta — who by then was serving as President Trump's Secretary of Labor — resigned after the Miami Herald's investigation brought renewed scrutiny to the plea deal.

Part V: The Enablers

The Epstein machine wasn't just financial. It was institutional. Some of the most prestigious organizations in America took his money, lent him credibility, and looked the other way.

MIT Media Lab

Between 2002 and 2017, MIT received 10 donations from Epstein totaling $850,000. Between 2013 and 2017 — years after Epstein's conviction — the MIT Media Lab secretly accepted $525,000 from him.

The institutional failures were systemic:

Media Lab director Joi Ito and Professor Seth Lloyd drove the acceptance of Epstein's money
Lloyd intentionally failed to inform MIT that the source of his 2012 donations was a convicted sex offender
Three MIT vice presidents learned of Epstein's conviction status in 2013 but created an informal framework to continue accepting donations — as long as they remained "small and unpublicized"
The university had no policies or processes for handling controversial donors

Ito resigned in September 2019 after the extent of the relationship was revealed.

Harvard University

Harvard received $9.1 million from Epstein between 1998 and 2008. The largest single gift was $6.5 million to the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. Donations were sometimes made through the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation or intermediaries, with labels like "Enhanced Education" substituted for Epstein's name.

Epstein sat on Harvard's Mind, Brain and Behavior Advisory Committee. He was also connected to the Santa Fe Institute, Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of Pennsylvania.

President Drew Faust announced in 2008 that Harvard would accept no further gifts from Epstein — after his guilty plea. No donations were returned.

Victoria's Secret

In the mid-1990s, L Brands executives reported complaints that Epstein was abusing his connection to Les Wexner — specifically, that he was posing as a Victoria's Secret recruiter and talent scout to lure aspiring models into private meetings. At least two women have publicly described being lured under false pretenses.

The Victoria's Secret connection gave Epstein something no amount of money could buy alone: a legitimate reason to be surrounded by young women, and a brand name to use as bait.

Ghislaine Maxwell

Ghislaine Maxwell — British socialite, daughter of media baron Robert Maxwell — was Epstein's romantic partner in the early 1990s and remained his closest associate for over 25 years.

On December 29, 2021, Maxwell was convicted on five counts, including sex trafficking of a minor and transporting a minor for sexual activity. On June 28, 2022, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Maxwell recruited and groomed girls for Epstein between 1994 and 2004. She is mentioned 13,169 times in the 2026 Epstein file release.

Jean-Luc Brunel

French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel was introduced to Epstein through Maxwell. Epstein financed Brunel's modelling agency, MC2 Model Management, which operated from the early 2000s to 2015. The agency gave both men access to young, aspiring models.

Brunel was mentioned 4,727 times in the 2026 files. He was arrested in France in December 2020 on charges of rape and sex trafficking. On February 19, 2022, Brunel was found dead in his Paris jail cell. His death was ruled a suicide.

Part VI: The Files

For years, victims and advocates pushed for the release of Epstein-related government files. In November 2025, that push finally broke through.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act

The U.S. House passed, and the U.S. Senate unanimously approved, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law. The act mandated the Department of Justice release its Epstein investigation files.

The January 2026 Release

On January 30, 2026, the DOJ released the largest tranche:

3.5 million pages of documents
2,000 videos
180,000 images
The DOJ acknowledged that a total of 6 million pages might qualify for release

Bloomberg News had independently obtained 18,000 emails from Epstein's personal account in September 2025.

The Victim Privacy Crisis

On February 1, 2026 — just two days after the release — attorneys for more than 200 alleged victims filed an emergency motion to take down the DOJ's Epstein Files website. They called it the "single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history," alleging that sensitive identifying information about victims had been exposed in the unredacted documents.

Key Names in the Files

The released documents revealed the scale of Epstein's network through sheer mention frequency:

Lesley Groff (Epstein's assistant): 157,613 mentions
Richard Kahn (accountant): 52,781 mentions
Donald Trump and Melania Trump: 38,000+ references
Darren Indyke (lawyer): 17,783 mentions
Ghislaine Maxwell: 13,169 mentions
Jean-Luc Brunel: 4,727 mentions
Les Wexner: Named as "co-conspirator"

Other named figures include British politician Peter Mandelson and former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, who has since been charged with aggravated corruption.

Prince Andrew

On February 19, 2026, Prince Andrew (Duke of York) was arrested on suspicion of "misconduct in public office" related to his relationships documented in the Epstein files. This marked the first arrest of a member of the British royal family in connection with the Epstein case.

Part VII: The Settlements — And What They Mean

The financial reckoning for the Epstein machine has been substantial — on paper. In practice, it has been settlements without accountability.

The Numbers

Epstein Estate Victim Compensation Fund (2019-2021): $121 million paid to 135+ women
JPMorgan Chase Settlement (June 2023): $290 million
Deutsche Bank Settlement (2023): $75 million
U.S. Virgin Islands Estate Settlement: $105 million
Epstein Estate Class Action (February 2026): Up to $35 million

Total settlements: over $626 million.

The Victim Compensation Fund received approximately 225 applications, of which about 150 were deemed eligible. The JPMorgan class action included "well over 100 people."

What the Settlements Don't Include

Every settlement was a financial transaction. None required an admission of wrongdoing. None resulted in criminal charges against any banker, compliance officer, or institutional leader.

The banks paid. The executives kept their jobs. The compliance systems that failed — or were deliberately bypassed — were never subjected to criminal prosecution.

Over $626 million in settlements. Zero criminal charges against the bankers who processed the money. The system worked exactly as designed — it absorbed the cost and moved on.

The Machine Is Still Running

Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison. Jean-Luc Brunel died in custody. The documents are — partially — public.

But the machine that built Epstein's empire is still intact.

The banks that processed his transactions still operate under the same compliance frameworks. The corporate structures he used — shell companies, offshore trusts, nominee directors — are still legal. The prosecutorial discretion that produced the 2007 sweetheart deal still exists, unchecked by any structural reform. The universities that took his money have updated their donor policies, but the incentive structure that made them look away from a convicted sex offender hasn't changed.

The Epstein case is not a story about one predator who got away with it for decades. It's a story about a system — financial, legal, institutional — that was designed to protect wealth and power, and that performed exactly as intended.

The only question that matters now is whether the 3.5 million pages of documents released in January 2026 will lead to prosecutions — or just more settlements.

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