Midterms Could Shift Focus of Epstein Abuse to Banks Role

Congressional Democrats are poised to turn their sights to the role that Wall Street played in enabling the sexual-abuse crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.A group of Democratic legislators, with an eye on retaking the House, the Senate or both in elections next month, are set on Thursday to introduce a bill that calls on financial regulators to investigate banks and financial executives who did business with Mr.Epstein and potentially make criminal referrals to federal prosecutors.Several committees in the House and Senate are also prepared to interview bankers who worked with Mr.

Epstein and potentially hold hearings into his financial affairs if Democrats control either chamber, said Democratic staff members who were briefed on the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly.Two backers of the new bill, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Robert Garcia, are the top Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Oversight Committees and likely to become chairs if their party prevails.The bill, the Epstein Wall Street Records Act, would also require four federal financial regulators, including the Federal Reserve, to publicly release any records they have related to Mr.Epstein and his associates.Until now, the main congressional investigation into Mr.

Epstein this year, by the House Oversight Committee, has focused largely on employees or friends of the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in 2019 after his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.The committee has focused less on the handful of big banks that managed thousands of wire transfers for Mr.

Epstein — money he used to make payments to the hundreds of teenage girls and young women he sexually abused.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we ...