Reported by Jason Leopold

(Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-31/jeffrey-epstein-was-subject-of-money-laundering-probe)

It’s been almost four months since the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that releasing any portion of the 300 gigabytes that make up the so-called Epstein files would not be “appropriate or warranted.” 

Since then, two congressional committees that have been probing the government’s handling of the Epstein case between 2005 and 2008 have started following Epstein’s money. 

What the emails and documents from Epstein’s inbox show is that federal prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida were following Epstein’s money long before there was broad public interest in doing so. 

A new layer

The money laundering probe adds a new layer to the narrative about how the government conducted its investigation into the notorious sex abuser. It also raises questions about what evidence prosecutors may have gathered, long before the public began demanding a full accounting of his case. If that investigation had continued, prosecutors may have been able to identify other individuals and institutions that facilitated his sex-trafficking operation, said Stefan Cassella, the former deputy chief of the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. They might also have recovered more restitution for his victims, Casella said.

A pattern of transactions

The money laundering investigation was opened in February 2007, according to a former law enforcement official familiar with the case who requested anonymity because of the sensitivities surrounding Epstein. At around the same time, prosecutors focused on a pattern of transactions in which Epstein directed some of his employees to withdraw large amounts of cash to disburse to women around the world he was suspected of having victimized. That was used as the basis for a potential charge of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, the former law enforcement official said.