- If and when the Epstein files are released, an as-yet-unseen cache of documents describing Deutsche Bank’s relationship with the late financier will likely be among them. The records are currently sealed by a protective order in civil court—but that won’t shield them from the Department of Justice. Other documents reviewed by Fortune shed light on how the relationship evolved.
In early 2015, Deutsche Bank employees trekked to Jeffrey Epstein’s gargantuan Upper East Side mansion. The 28,000-square-foot townhouse on East 71st Street was long rumored to be one of New York City’s largest private residences. The men idled in the home’s marble and gold foyer alongside a gaggle of other visitors waiting to meet one of Manhattan’s most mysterious businessmen. They were tasked with confronting Epstein, then a client of the German lender, about a Florida sexual abuse lawsuit that accused the disgraced financier and several of his prominent associates of participating in child sexual exploitation and trafficking. At the time, Epstein was already a registered sex offender following a 2008 conviction in the Sunshine State, a fact Deutsche Bank had known for several years but ultimately deemed insufficient grounds to refuse his money and business.
During the 15-minute meeting with Epstein, the bankers were quickly ushered into the financier’s in-house conference room, where they sought to communicate the seriousness of the allegations. “He lied about everything,” one of the bankers told Fortune under the condition of anonymity, owing to fear of reputational and professional retribution. Epstein insisted the new claims against him were bogus. Legal filings in an Epstein victim lawsuit against Deutsche Bank corroborate this account.
Deutsche Bank took him at his word, and continued to manage Epstein’s money until mid-2018, according to lawsuits from Epstein’s victims and Deutsche Bank’s shareholders.
