Topline
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter last week to JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon inquiring about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the Senate Banking Committee confirmed Monday, as the Epstein files have raised new questions about Epstein’s business dealings with the bank and what Dimon knew about it.
Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jamie Dimon speaks at the Statue of Liberty in New York City, on July 1, 2026.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Senate Banking Committee published Warren’s letter Monday, after the Financial Times first reported late Sunday she had reached out to the billionaire.
Warren questioned JPMorgan Chase’s “extended business relationship” with Epstein, who was known to have banked with the institution between 1998 and 2013, paying some $8 billion in fees to the bank and opening at least 134 accounts.
Dimon testified in 2023 he never met or knew Epstein, but emails in the Epstein files show Epstein and then-UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson strategizing on having Dimon urge the UK government not to approve a new tax on bankers’ bonuses—which he ultimately did, though it’s unclear if he was at all influenced by Epstein and Mandelson to do so.
Warren also cited a 2010 email in which Epstein’s assistant asked the financier about a meeting with Mandelson, Dimon and JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. spokesperson Patricia Wexler told Forbes that Dimon never attended the 2010 meeting and the bank “found no evidence that he was even invited to attend,” also saying about the UK policy, “Jamie regularly speaks his mind on bad, anti-growth policy and has his own views. At no point did he take counsel from [Epstein], directly or indirectly.”
What to Watch for
Warren’s letter asks Dimon for a response by July 24, though that is not legally binding. More information about Epstein’s relationship with JPMorgan Chase could also come out on July 23, when the House Oversight Committee will interview Staley as part of its ongoing probe into Epstein and his alleged crimes.
Forbes Valuation
Forbes values Dimon’s net worth at $3 billion as of Monday morning.
What Has JPMorgan Chase Said About Epstein?
Dimon “never met with [Epstein], never emailed him, and was not involved in any decisions about his account. There are over a million pages of emails and other documents that have been produced in this case and not one comes even close to suggesting otherwise,” Wexler told Forbes in an email Monday, referencing litigation that has been brought against JPMorgan Chase by the U.S. Virgin Islands and Epstein accusers. “Any association with the man was a mistake and we regret it, but we would not have continued doing business with him had we believed he was engaged in ongoing crimes,” Wexler added about the bank’s relationship with Epstein, noting it stopped doing business with him in 2013, which she said was “years before his federal sex trafficking arrest and years after the government had damning information they kept from us.”
Read Elizabeth Warren’s Letter To Jamie Dimon
Dear Mr. Dimon: I am writing to request information regarding JPMorgan Chase & Co’s (“JPMorgan”) extended business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and your knowledge of the bank’s activities. You have maintained that you don’t recall knowing anything about Jeffrey Epstein and did not know Epstein was a client of JPMorgan prior to his 2019 arrest. But according to new information released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Mr. Epstein was in touch with former U.K. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson to discuss the possibility of you calling then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling regarding a tax on bankers’ bonuses—a call you reportedly made. These resurfaced emails and related reporting raise serious questions regarding the extent of the bank’s relationship with Epstein, and your knowledge of these ties. It is critical that Congress and the American public fully understand the extent of any interactions the bank and you had with Epstein.
Epstein’s client relationship with JPMorgan spanned from 1998 to 2013, overlapping with your tenure as CEO, which began in 2006. During this period, Epstein would become a highly profitable client for the bank. In 2003, JPMorgan is reported to have made $8 million in fees off Epstein, “the biggest revenue generator” among a certain class of investor clients. Epstein (and his companies and associates) opened at least 134 accounts, processed over $1 billion in transactions, and brought in several lucrative clients. Additionally, Epstein reportedly developed close relationships with several top JPMorgan executives, including Jes Staley, who was then the head of JPMorgan’s private banking division and is often reported as once being one of your long-standing “lieutenant[s].”
JPMorgan’s relationship with Epstein landed the bank in legal trouble. In 2023, the bank agreed to pay “$290 million to sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein who claimed that the bank ignored warnings about the disgraced financier.” In addition, JPMorgan “agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to settle claims that it did nothing to deter a sex-trafficking operation that Mr. Epstein ran from his private island in the U.S. territory.” In neither case did JPMorgan admit to wrongdoing or liability.
As part of those legal challenges, lawyers uncovered emails between Jes Staley and Epstein suggesting that you planned to meet with Epstein. In June 2009, for example, Epstein asked Staley via email if he “want[ed] to organize either you, or you and Jamie, quietly” at “71st Street,” Epstein’s New York mansion. Lawyers also identified a February 2010 email exchange between Epstein and his assistant, Lesley Groff, discussing an apparent “evening appointment” with you: Groff asked Epstein, “Shall I have Lynn prepare heavy snacks for your evening appointments with [redacted attendee], Jes Staley and Jamie Dimon?” During a 2023 deposition regarding your knowledge of the bank’s interactions with Epstein, you were repeatedly asked whether you ever met Epstein or if any JPMorgan employee had raised any information about Epstein to your attention. You stated, “I have never had an appointment with Jeff Epstein. I’ve never met Jeff Epstein. I never knew Jeff Epstein. I never went to Jeff Epstein’s house. I never had a meal with Jeff Epstein.” You also said that you “had never even heard of the guy, pretty much” prior to 2019.
Yet newly released emails by the DOJ and subsequent reporting reveal additional information about Epstein’s relationship with JPMorgan—including an effort to push you to weigh in on British tax policy on behalf of JPMorgan. According to reports, several emails indicate that in December 2009, Epstein and then-U.K. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson advised one another on how to approach the U.K. Treasury regarding a proposed one-time, 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses above £25,000. For example, on December 15, Epstein asked Mandelson if the proposal could be limited to cash bonuses, rather than the more valuable, non-cash compensation, such as share options. Minutes later, Mandelson responded that he was “[t]rying hard to amend.” In a follow-up exchange, Epstein appears to direct Mandelson to “amend it, deliver the message personally to [D]imon.”
In other email exchanges between Epstein and Mandelson, the two men appear to strategize as to how you, as JPMorgan’s CEO, could apply pressure on then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, who proposed the tax. On December 17, Epstein asked Mandelson if “jamie,” apparently referring to you, should call Darling one more time, to which Mandelson advised, “Yes and mildly threaten.” And on December 29, you reportedly made the call. As Darling recounted in his memoir, “Mr. Dimon was very, very angry.. he said that his bank bought a lot of UK debt and he wondered if that was now such a good idea. . . . He went on to say they were thinking of building a new office in London but they had to reconsider that now.” It is unclear what influence, if any, Epstein’s engagement with Mandelson had—directly or indirectly—on your decision to call Darling.
Furthermore, files released by the DOJ reveal that the redacted individual from Lesley Groff’s February 2010 email about a proposed meeting between you and Epstein was, in fact, Peter Mandelson. In full, Groff asks Epstein, “Shall I have Lynn prepare ‘heavy snacks’ for your evening appointments with Peter Mandelson, Jes Staley and Jamie Dimon? Or is this to be a nice sit down dinner at 9pm?”
In light of this new reporting and the release of new materials by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, I seek additional information regarding JPMorgan and your relationship with Epstein. I request answers to the following questions no later than July 24, 2026:
1. Did you, or any other JPMorgan employee, direct or otherwise collaborate with Epstein to lobby U.K. officials regarding the bankers’ bonus tax proposal? If so, was Epstein compensated by you, Jes Staley, or JPMorgan, directly or indirectly, for this service?
2. Did you ever call then-Chancellor Darling regarding the U.K. bankers’ bonus tax?
3. Did Epstein or any JPMorgan employee, advise you to “mildly threaten” then-Chancellor Darling to reduce the bonus tax? If applicable, which JPMorgan employee?
4. Please provide copies of JPMorgan’s policies and procedures related to retaining external lobbyists in both the U.K. and U.S.
5. Provide copies of any communications, including but not limited to emails, texts, or phone records, between you and Peter Mandelson, Jes Staley and Alistair Darling regarding the U.K. bankers’ bonus tax proposal.
6. During Epstein’s 15-year long relationship with JPMorgan, you served as CEO for about seven years. At one point, Epstein became one of JPMorgan’s most profitable clients – opening at least 134 accounts, processing over $1 billion in transactions, and recruiting other wealthy clients. You have repeatedly denied under oath that you did not know Epstein existed until his 2019 arrest and that you have never met with Epstein. In your experience, is it typical that a CEO would not have any awareness of their firm’s top clients?
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Warren
Ranking Member
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs