Wall Street investment firm Morgan Stanley established banking relationships with Jeffrey Epstein’s financial trusts as recently as 2019, according to newly released Justice Department documents that shed light on the convicted sex offender’s continued access to major financial institutions.
The correspondence, part of over 3 million pages published by the DOJ on January 30, 2026, reveals that Epstein’s associates and investment vehicles maintained banking connections with Morgan Stanley well beyond his 2008 conviction and registration as a sex offender following a plea agreement.
These banking relationships developed during a timeframe when competing Wall Street institutions like Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan were severing their connections with the controversial financier due to reputational concerns.
Epstein received immunity in 2008 after entering a guilty plea to Florida state prostitution charges, resulting in a 13-month incarceration. Federal authorities later charged him in July 2019 with trafficking dozens of minors for sexual exploitation.
The intervening period saw escalating legal challenges, including Virginia Giuffre’s 2016 defamation case against Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell. Investigative reporting by the Miami Herald in 2018 further intensified public attention on Epstein’s activities. The financier took his own life in a Manhattan detention facility in August 2019 while facing trial.
Internal emails show Morgan Stanley’s risk management team terminated an Epstein trust account in 2017, yet the institution established a new account relationship in 2019, according to the released documentation.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed that Morgan Stanley ended one banking relationship with Epstein in 2017 after informing him of their decision to discontinue services. The same source indicated another account opened in 2019 was quickly shuttered, though specific reasons and exact timing weren’t disclosed.
Communications with the financial institution were managed by Epstein’s long-serving accountant Richard Kahn, whose legal representative didn’t respond to requests for comment. Kahn currently serves as co-executor of Epstein’s estate, which provided $105 million in cash to settle U.S. Virgin Islands claims regarding the territory’s use for trafficking operations.
Estate executors also established a victim compensation program that distributed $121 million. Fellow executor Darren Indyke’s attorney similarly didn’t respond to comment requests.
Reuters discovered no indication of misconduct by Morgan Stanley or the estate executors, and found no evidence suggesting Epstein personally contacted the bank.
Federal banking regulations require institutions to verify customer identities and beneficial ownership while monitoring potentially suspicious activity as part of standard due diligence procedures.
Reuters couldn’t establish what specific verification measures Morgan Stanley implemented when establishing Epstein-connected accounts.
Morgan Stanley joins several Wall Street firms that maintained financial relationships with the New York-based financier over multiple years. Various banks have encountered scrutiny regarding their Epstein and Maxwell connections, with Maxwell convicted in 2021 for assisting Epstein’s criminal activities.
JPMorgan served as Epstein’s banking partner from 1998 through 2013, when the institution ended the relationship.
Deutsche Bank informed Epstein in December 2018 of plans to close his accounts, completing the process following his July 2019 arrest, as previously reported by Reuters.
JPMorgan verified to Reuters that their banking relationship with Epstein concluded in 2013. Deutsche Bank declined comment regarding specific closure dates for this report.
Documentation indicates Morgan Stanley’s connections with Epstein-related entities were operational by 2015. An April 17, 2015 email forwarded to Epstein showed Kahn writing: “Morgan Stanley account is open and funded with 5,000,000.”
Redacted or damaged portions of the documents rendered some information unreadable.
A February 6, 2016 email exchange with Epstein included Kahn noting that a “Morgan Stanley=existing brokerage account in stc name currently has approximately 17,250,=00,” potentially referencing a Southern Trust account. Reuters couldn’t verify the precise amount or whether figures represented thousands or millions. Southern Trust operated as one of Epstein’s business entities.
Morgan Stanley complex risk officer Rachel Kaplan sent correspondence on August 18, 2017, contained within the DOJ documents, to Epstein and attorney Darren Indyke at Southern Trust Co, stating the bank’s decision to “terminate our current broker/client relationship.”
Kaplan, serving as vice president and risk officer in Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division, directed inquiries to Morgan Stanley. The institution declined comment about their Epstein banking relationship.
Two years afterward, on March 18, 2019, Kahn confirmed to Epstein the establishment of a new Morgan Stanley account, according to documentation. This account served Butterfly Trust, another Epstein financial entity. Butterfly Trust appeared in a 2020 settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services that penalized the bank for permitting Epstein to withdraw questionable cash amounts.
