Newly released documents from the U.S. Justice Department reveal that Morgan Stanley opened accounts for trusts linked to Jeffrey Epstein between 2015 and 2019. This occurred years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction and registration as a sex offender. The emails, part of over three million pages published by the DOJ, highlight how Epstein and his associates maintained banking relationships at Morgan Stanley despite widespread knowledge of his reputational risks. Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm providing investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services.
The documents indicate that Morgan Stanley’s engagement with Epstein-linked entities was active as early as 2015. An email from April 2015 shows Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn, confirming a Morgan Stanley account was open and funded with $5 million. While other Wall Street banks, such as Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan, were severing ties with Epstein, Morgan Stanley maintained a relationship, even opening a new account in 2019 after closing a different one in 2017.
Communications with the bank were primarily handled by Kahn. In 2017, Morgan Stanley’s risk officer, Rachel Kaplan, sent a letter to Epstein and his lawyer, Darren Indyke, notifying them of the termination of their broker/client relationship with Southern Trust Co. However, in March 2019, Kahn confirmed the opening of a new account at Morgan Stanley for Butterfly Trust, another of Epstein’s financial entities. Butterfly Trust was later cited in a 2020 settlement that fined Deutsche Bank for allowing Epstein to withdraw suspicious amounts of cash.
Reuters found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Morgan Stanley or the executors of Epstein’s estate, and there was no evidence that Epstein directly communicated with the bank. Morgan Stanley declined to comment on its banking relationship with Epstein. Banks in the US are required to identify and verify customers, monitor for suspicious transactions, and identify beneficial owners as part of due-diligence requirements.
