What has Senator Ron Wyden proposed or requested next in the investigation into JPMorgan’s handling of Epstein-related accounts?
Executive summary
Senator Ron Wyden has escalated his “follow the money” effort by demanding formal investigations and forcing document production: he has called for criminal and congressional probes into JPMorgan Chase’s underreporting of suspicious activity and sent detailed letters pressing the bank and other institutions for records and explanations [1] [2]. At the same time he has introduced legislation to compel the Treasury Department to turn over Epstein-related files and opened a new line of inquiry into hundreds of suspicious transactions routed through Bank of New York Mellon [3] [4].
1. Wyden has publicly urged criminal and congressional investigations into JPMorgan’s conduct
Wyden’s staff memorandum and public statements argue that JPMorgan underreported roughly $1.1–$1.3 billion in suspicious wire activity related to Jeffrey Epstein and that the bank’s compliance failures “ought to face criminal investigation,” a call he’s made to both the Department of Justice and Congress in the wake of recently unsealed records [5] [1]. The New York Times summary of his report emphasized Wyden’s conclusion that the bank’s delayed and retroactive Suspicious Activity Reports impeded law enforcement’s ability to trace the financial infrastructure of Epstein’s trafficking network and warranted DOJ scrutiny [1].
2. Detailed letters to JPMorgan press top executives for documents and explanations
Wyden has responded to what he characterizes as evasive answers from JPMorgan with formal letters that restate more than two dozen questions about internal reviews, suspicious-activity reporting, and the roles of senior executives — including requests for records showing what bank leaders knew and when — after reporting that compliance officers’ warnings were repeatedly overridden [6] [2]. His inquiries target not only operational failures but the chain of command, asking for information tied to named executives and for explanations why SARs were filed only after Epstein’s 2019 arrest [2] [5].
3. He introduced legislation to force Treasury to produce “Epstein files”
Wyden authored the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act (PETRA) to compel the Treasury Secretary to hand over Treasury Department records on Epstein to Senate investigators, arguing those files document at least $1.5 billion in transactions and may include names of individuals and entities tied to Epstein’s network [3]. Wyden has framed PETRA as the legislative remedy after repeated refusals by the Treasury — and he has publicly accused the administration of sitting on a large Treasury file that his investigators deem essential to follow-the-money work [7] [3].
4. The probe broadened beyond JPMorgan to Bank of New York Mellon and specific transaction-level asks
On January 15–16, 2026 Wyden expanded the investigation to BNY Mellon after investigators found that Epstein moved $378 million through 270 wires at the bank and that many transfers lacked a stated business purpose; his letter to BNY’s CEO asked for transaction details — including 18 $1 million transfers, KYC and due-diligence files, cash-withdrawal records over $10,000, and whether any employees faced internal probes — with a tight response deadline [4] [8]. Banking Dive and the Senate release both note Wyden’s demand for specifics by February 6 and underscore that the new BNY line of inquiry seeks to test whether patterns indicated money-laundering that went unreported for years [8] [4].
5. Near-term tactics, deadlines and political framing
Wyden’s next steps combine litigation-ready documentation requests, public naming of executives and banks, statutory pressure on the Treasury (PETRA), and public calls for DOJ action; the record shows he has set explicit deadlines for responses and intends to use both committee authorities and legislation to pry loose records that administrations or banks have withheld [2] [3] [8]. Critics — including Treasury spokespeople quoted in reporting — dispute his characterization of “hidden” files and frame his push as political theater, which Wyden and his staff rebut by pointing to unsealed court records and retroactive SARs as evidence that meaningful investigative leads remain [7] [9].
6. What is not yet in the public record
The public materials document Wyden’s demands, proposed law, and new BNY requests, but primary-source outcomes — whether DOJ will open a criminal probe, whether Treasury will yield the full files, and the contents of any additional internal JPMorgan reviews produced to the committee — are not yet publicly available in the sources provided, so the ultimate investigatory next steps remain contingent on those responses and any formal actions by Justice or Treasury [1] [3] [4].