Leon Black's $158 million, JPMorgan's 134 accounts and Amex "decoy flights": who kept Epstein going

Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 conviction should have cut him off. Instead, according to the House Oversight Committee's Republican majority, a small group of wealthy clients, loyal employees and big institutions kept his money moving and his reputation intact for another decade. The committee's final report, released Nov. 10, says financier Leon Black paid Epstein between $158 million and $170 million, that JPMorgan Chase kept him as a client until 2013 despite internal warnings, and that American Express concierge agents booked "decoy flights" that helped bring foreign women to his homes.

The report describes Epstein's network as "infrastructure" for his crimes. "Wealthy clients supplied revenue and validation," it says. "Banks moved his money. Academic institutions offered prestige and access." It calls the people closest to him willfully ignorant, and it asks the Treasury Department to check whether banks are reporting suspicious activity on time.

This story is part of a five-part series. See the overview of the report for the full findings and the Democratic response.

Five clients who paid the bills#

Epstein's accountant, Richard Kahn, told the committee that, to his knowledge, Epstein had five fee-paying clients: retail billionaire Les Wexner, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin or his firm Highbridge Capital, former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky, a member of the Rothschild banking family and Black. Kahn said Sinofsky paid $5 million. Sarah Kellen, a former Epstein assistant, said Epstein would not take a client worth less than $1 billion.

Wexner was the first and most important. He told the committee he gave Epstein power of attorney in 1991 and made him a trustee of his foundation, letting him sign checks, hire staff, borrow money and buy or sell property. Wexner said he later learned Epstein stole "at least $100 million" from him, and he called Epstein "the world Olympic all-time con artist." He testified he never spoke to or saw Epstein after 2008. Wexner also said Epstein never worked as a talent scout for Victoria's Secret, the brand Wexner's company owned, even though Epstein used that claim to approach young women.

The report names Black as "the client primarily responsible for Epstein's post-conviction resurrection in business." Black told the committee he knew Epstein for 18 years before first paying him in 2013, for tax and estate-planning advice. He said Epstein had "an extraordinary Rolodex" and that he "enjoyed taking advantage of all the network of interesting people he knew." The report says Black's payments, which continued until 2018, partly funded Epstein's operation in the Virgin Islands.

Black cited a 2021 review by the law firm Dechert, done for the board of Apollo Global Management, which he led, that found he was not involved in Epstein's crimes. The report questions that review's independence because one of the lawyers involved was reported to have known Epstein decades earlier. Black said that did not concern him.

Leon Black (fees, 2013-2018)

$158M

Les Wexner (taken, per Wexner)

$100M

Steven Sinofsky (fees)

$5M

Source: House Oversight Committee majority report

Show the numbers

Payer	Amount
Leon Black (fees, 2013-2018)	$158M
Les Wexner (taken, per Wexner)	$100M
Steven Sinofsky (fees)	$5M

The House held Black in contempt#

Black's dealings with the committee ended in a rare floor vote. After a June 26 interview in which, according to the report, he refused to answer pertinent questions about a nondisclosure agreement, Chairman James Comer$ subpoenaed him for a deposition and for every NDA in his possession. Black did not appear on Sept. 3 and produced one document. On Sept. 16, the House held him in criminal contempt of Congress by unanimous consent.

The NDA at issue, signed in 2015, required Black to pay a woman with whom he had a six-year affair $100,000 a month for 15 years, plus $1 million in loan forgiveness and £2 million for a U.K. visa. Black told the committee Epstein advised on it, though Black did not consider him an "NDA adviser." CBS News reported that Black has sued Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee's top Democrat, for defamation.$

JPMorgan: 134 accounts and a warning ignored#

The report says JPMorgan knew about Epstein's criminal case earlier than previously understood. A 2006 internal document from the bank's rapid response team noted newspaper articles about his indictment in Florida. The same records flagged cash withdrawals of $40,000 to $80,000 a month.

Jes Staley, who ran JPMorgan's private bank and later became chief executive of Barclays, was Epstein's main advocate at the bank. Staley told the committee Epstein brought in "well over $100 million" in revenue and introduced the bank to "three of the five wealthiest men potentially in the world." When the bank's general counsel, Stephen Cutler, warned in 2011 that Epstein was "not an honorable person" and urged ending the relationship, other executives pushed back. The accounts stayed open until 2013. Internal records show Epstein had at least 134 accounts at the bank, and JPMorgan kept processing his wires to Russia and Eastern Europe while he served his 2008 sentence.

Staley acknowledged that withdrawals of that size are "a red light" that "should've been reported to the federal authorities." The report says most of JPMorgan's suspicious-activity flags on Epstein's foreign wires were raised only after his 2019 arrest, which it calls "a complete breakdown in process and oversight."

The report also describes a 2010 email exchange in which Epstein wrote about "the snow white" and Staley replied, "Say hi to Snow White." The report says Epstein used Disney princess names as code for women he made available to associates. Staley told the committee he never had sex with anyone in a Snow White costume and probably just crossed paths with the woman at Epstein's apartment. The report calls his limited recall "not credible." Staley has not been charged with any crime related to Epstein. U.K. regulators barred him from senior banking roles in 2023 over how he described his relationship with Epstein.

Deutsche Bank and the $7,500 withdrawals#

Epstein moved to Deutsche Bank after leaving JPMorgan. According to a New York State Department of Financial Services consent order cited in the report, an Epstein attorney withdrew $7,500 in cash two or three times a month from 2013 to 2017 and asked the bank how cash could be withdrawn "without triggering an alert." The bank worried the pattern looked like "structuring," which means splitting cash to stay under the $10,000 federal reporting threshold.

The report identifies the attorney as Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime lawyer. Indyke told the committee he cashed checks below the threshold but denied trying to avoid reporting. He testified that he earned close to $30 million over 23 years and received $7 million in personal loans and help buying homes. Epstein also paid for his family's fertility treatments. Asked why he never left after 2008, Indyke said he "drank the Kool-aid." Kahn received about $3 million in loans that Epstein's trust was set to forgive, the report says.

Amex and the "decoy flights"#

The report's finding on American Express is among its newest. Epstein used the card's invitation-only Centurion concierge service, and Amex assigned him a dedicated relationship manager. According to Justice Department records cited in the report, his executive assistant Lesley Groff worked with Amex agents on "decoy flights," refundable or dummy itineraries that could show foreign consulates a traveler had a return ticket.

The report's findings say Amex agents "allowed Epstein to use fraudulent decoy flights and refundable or dummy itineraries to move foreign women across borders directly into Epstein's residences." Groff told the committee she remembered only one decoy flight, booked because a woman did not want her parents to know she was visiting Epstein, and that it "was not for a visa." The report does not include a response from American Express.

Estate cash ledgers reviewed by the committee show entries for foreign visas followed weeks later by payments of a few hundred dollars, labeled "gift," to women of the same nationalities. The report says payments once labeled "massage" were relabeled "gift" after 2008, in similar amounts.

Universities and the price of prestige#

Epstein also gave money to universities, which the report says bought him credibility and access to young women. It lists about $9.2 million to Harvard, including $6.5 million for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, where he had an office and keys and visited more than 40 times after his conviction, often with a young female assistant. MIT took more than $850,000 in directed gifts to its Media Lab, and an outside review found senior administrators knowingly approved some after his conviction.

The report says Epstein paid tuition for several young women, including two assistants whose payments Kellen said stopped when they did not take the classes he chose.

Prominent contacts who say they knew nothing#

The report questions several prominent people about their contacts with Epstein, while noting that most were not accused of crimes. Kathryn Ruemmler, President Barack Obama's former White House counsel, worked with Epstein from 2014 to 2019 after he referred her a bank client. The report lists gifts he gave her, including handbags and $10,000 in Bergdorf Goodman gift cards. Ruemmler told the committee she was shocked by his 2019 indictment because she believed he had served his time and was "living a law-abiding life."

Bill Gates told the committee he met Epstein in 2011 for philanthropy and cut off contact in late 2014. He said emails suggest Epstein contemplated using Gates's past affairs against him, but "I was not blackmailed." Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Epstein's former neighbor, described three contacts over 14 years, including a 2012 family lunch on Epstein's island; 567 Politics examined Lutnick's changing account last week.

The report finds that the continued presence of respected figures "caused [witnesses] to discount warning signs." Groff put it this way: "I looked around the office and I felt people smarter than me were still there."

What the committee wants done#

The report asks the Treasury Department and its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to review whether banks meet their reporting duties under the Bank Secrecy Act, and whether rules need updating so that "financial institutions do not shield prominent clients from scrutiny." It also asks the Justice Department to interview or re-interview members of Epstein's inner circle, and it singles out Groff for further investigation.

Democrats have pressed the same institutions from a different angle. In October, Garcia and Sen. Elizabeth Warren$ introduced a bill targeting Epstein's bankers, according to the Oversight Democrats' press release list. The other stories in this series cover the 2007 Florida deal, Epstein's death in federal custody and the release of the Epstein files.

Differing perspectives

How should the government respond to the banks and associates who kept Epstein's operation running after 2008?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Associates were deceived, not complicit

  Who holds it: Several Epstein clients and associates who testified, including Les Wexner and Leon Black

  Several associates told the committee that Epstein deceived them and that they knew nothing of his crimes. Wexner said Epstein stole at least $100 million from him and called him a master con artist. Black said he paid Epstein for tax and estate advice and cited an outside law firm's review finding he was not involved in Epstein's crimes. They say business ties alone are not evidence of wrongdoing.

  In their words: House Oversight Committee report, quoting witness testimony ↗

• Pass new laws and keep investigating

  Who holds it: Rep. Robert Garcia and Oversight Committee Democrats, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren

  Democrats argue that the report rests on an incomplete investigation with no public hearings, and that reviewing compliance is not enough. They point to bills aimed at Epstein's bankers and say powerful people tied to Epstein have never been questioned in public. They say a Democratic-led committee will hold hearings with survivors, call Attorney General Todd Blanche and question the men around Epstein under oath.

  In their words: The Hill, quoting Rep. Robert Garcia ↗

• Tighten bank oversight under current law

  Who holds it: Chairman James Comer and the Oversight Committee's Republican majority

  The majority argues that banks already have a legal duty to report suspicious activity, and that Epstein's banks failed to meet it. It points to JPMorgan's monthly cash withdrawals of $40,000 to $80,000 and to suspicious-activity flags raised only after his 2019 arrest. It asks Treasury and FinCEN to review whether banks file reports on time and to update rules so prominent clients are not shielded, and it asks the Justice Department to re-interview members of Epstein's inner circle.

  In their words: Office of Rep. James Comer ↗

{{cite news |title=Leon Black's $158 million, JPMorgan's 134 accounts and Amex "decoy flights": who kept Epstein going |url=https://567politics.com/news/epstein-enablers-leon-black-jpmorgan-amex-decoy-flights-oversight-report-november-2026 |work=567politics |author=567 Politics staff |date=2026-11-10 |language=en}}

{
  "id": "https://567politics.com/news/epstein-enablers-leon-black-jpmorgan-amex-decoy-flights-oversight-report-november-2026",
  "type": "article-newspaper",
  "title": "Leon Black's $158 million, JPMorgan's 134 accounts and Amex \"decoy flights\": who kept Epstein going",
  "URL": "https://567politics.com/news/epstein-enablers-leon-black-jpmorgan-amex-decoy-flights-oversight-report-november-2026",
  "container-title": "567politics",
  "language": "en",
  "author": [
    {
      "literal": "567 Politics staff"
    }
  ],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2026,
        11,
        10
      ]
    ]
  }
}

<iframe src="https://567politics.com/embed/news/epstein-enablers-leon-black-jpmorgan-amex-decoy-flights-oversight-report-november-2026?theme=auto" title="Leon Black's $158 million, JPMorgan's 134 accounts and Amex &quot;decoy flights&quot;: who kept Epstein going by 567politics" width="100%" height="440" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:14px">Leon Black's $158 million, JPMorgan's 134 accounts and Amex &quot;decoy flights&quot;: who kept Epstein going by <a href="https://567politics.com/news/epstein-enablers-leon-black-jpmorgan-amex-decoy-flights-oversight-report-november-2026" rel="nofollow">567politics</a></p>
<script async src="https://567politics.com/embed.js"></script>