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Regulators may punish Deutsche Bank for its Jeffrey Epstein ties

107 points by AndrewBissell 6y ago

AndrewBissell 6y ago
Most interesting part is the last two paragraphs: "While Mr. Epstein was a client of Deutsche Bank, his main business was Southern Trust Company, which generated more than $250 million in revenues during its existence, according to public records. Mr. Epstein created the company in 2013 and told government officials in the Virgin Islands that it was involved in DNA analysis and research. Ms. George, in her civil forfeiture lawsuit, contends that Southern Trust was not in the business it claimed to be and that Mr. Epstein misled government officials in order to win a lucrative tax break. She told The New York Times in March that her office had not yet determined the kind of business Southern Trust was in."
- pphysch 6y ago
  What is Definitely Not Money Laundering For Sex Trafficking?
rowawey 6y ago
Epstein and Trump proved you can be a hebephile or a rapist and still be in good graces with high society or POTUS so long as you are moderately rich. It's been true since time began, but at least there are no illusions about it now.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
>Mr. Epstein created the company in 2013 and told government officials in the Virgin Islands that it was involved in DNA analysis and research. This almost seems like he was acknowledging in a "wink-wink" manner the sexual nature of what was really happening. DNA analysis and research requires a lot of talent and infrastructure and putting it on an remote island is not the best idea. But calling engaging in sex "DNA analysis and research" is almost at the level of what passes as a joke in middle school. This almost seems like an inside joke between the Virgin Islands officials and Epstein about the true nature of what was really going on.
- ta17711771 6y ago
  It's very common for the elite to openly reference what they're doing, crime-wise, because 1) It's easy to hide in plain sight, and 2) Who's going to stop them, you? Epstein's probably on an island right now.
  - save_ferris 6y ago
    It’s pretty well established that he’s dead.
    - pepsithrowaway 6y ago
      Oh really. And do you have a source for that? How do you explain the strange happenings where he was being held? :}
    - seph-reed 6y ago
      I don't know anyone believes anything anymore. He could be dead. He could be alive. He could have even committed suicide. I honestly believe the only way we'll ever get the truth from elites is with "advanced interrogation" tactics.
      - save_ferris 6y ago
        Images of his body and the crime scene have been released to the public by the coroner. In order for any of this speculation around him being alive is true, you realize that this conspiracy would have to involve dozens of people at least, right? Look, I get the speculation around the circumstances of his death. He was a bad dude that had a lot of powerful friends. But to seriously consider that one or more of his friends would go out of their way to save his life by faking his death is completely ridiculous. If anything, his powerful friends had tremendous incentive to have him killed once he was detained. Just because our world is being polluted by conspiratorial thinking doesn’t mean we can just stop thinking on a basic level. A plot to fake Epstein’s death makes absolutely zero sense. An ordered hit? Sure, there’s a logical explanation there. But a faked death is such a lazy and absent-minded conspiracy theory.
sudoaza 6y ago
Deutsche Bank doesn't let any dark business go by without a bite
- Traster 6y ago
  Do you think anyone thought "If its this easy for me to launder money through DB, I wonder how easy it is for other people" and the corollary "What happens when the government realises every idiot and his dealer was using DB to launder money".
bobcostas55 6y ago
A darkly comical commentary on the state of justice right now: none of the child rapists will face any consequences (well, except for Epstein, though he did get away with it for decades), but the _bank regulator_ takes the accounting issues very seriously!
- creaghpatr 6y ago
  As Matt Levine always says, [at least] everything is securities fraud.
  - fennecfoxen 6y ago
    Bank and securities fraud are accompanied by detailed records, a fact which tends to make it a lot easier to demonstrate that something illegal happened.
- qbaqbaqba 6y ago
  Maybe because it's A German bank.
empath75 6y ago
Nobody has ever satisfactory explained where Epstein got all this money to begin with. He seems to have been running some sort of blackmail operation ensnaring wealthy people into criminal activity and videotaping them or otherwise recording it. His first job was as a math teacher at a _girl's school_ run by the current Attorney General's father, and he seems to have leveraged that somehow into an investment job through one of the parents at the school, despite having no qualifications for that kind of work. It seems worth noting that he went from working with young girls to sex trafficking them, and that the man who supposedly was going to get to the bottom of his murder is the son of the man who first gave him access to young girls.
- stickfigure 6y ago
  His life has been under a microscope. If there was a smoking gun to be found, it would have been found. Nobody's opsec is that good, especially with number of people involved in the kind of conspiracy you describe.
  - apercu 6y ago
    Sure is a lot of smoke. Lots. Don't you think some one should look in to this all a little before we decide "nothing to see here"?
  - ta17711771 6y ago
    ....there HAVE been smoking guns! But, that depends on 1) how complete your personal research has been 2) how strictly you define smoking gun
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - arminiusreturns 6y ago
    They've been covered up, and the few reporters doing a deep dive are ignored and relegated to small corners of the internet. Whitney Webb being one of those.
- mikeyouse 6y ago
osrec 6y ago
The amount of smoke and mirrors surrounding this entire case is incredible. It's sort of happening out in the open, with even the president seemingly involved to some degree, yet all details are conveniently hidden away. I'm expecting a somewhat chilling documentary 20 years from now on the subject.
- medhir 6y ago
  Netflix recently released a documentary describing the survivors’ stories. https://www.netflix.com/title/80224905 https://www.netflix.com/title/80224905
  - bobwernstein 6y ago
    it did nothing about the smoke and mirrors op is talking about. It revealed nothing on that front.
mD5pPxMcS6fVWKE 6y ago
Poor DB ... is there a crime they have not committed?

107 points by AndrewBissell 6y ago

Most interesting part is the last two paragraphs: "While Mr. Epstein was a client of Deutsche Bank, his main business was Southern Trust Company, which generated more than $250 million in revenues during its existence, according to public records. Mr. Epstein created the company in 2013 and told government officials in the Virgin Islands that it was involved in DNA analysis and research. Ms. George, in her civil forfeiture lawsuit, contends that Southern Trust was not in the business it claimed to be and that Mr. Epstein misled government officials in order to win a lucrative tax break. She told The New York Times in March that her office had not yet determined the kind of business Southern Trust was in."

pphysch 6y ago
What is Definitely Not Money Laundering For Sex Trafficking?

rowawey 6y ago

Epstein and Trump proved you can be a hebephile or a rapist and still be in good graces with high society or POTUS so long as you are moderately rich. It's been true since time began, but at least there are no illusions about it now.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago

>Mr. Epstein created the company in 2013 and told government officials in the Virgin Islands that it was involved in DNA analysis and research. This almost seems like he was acknowledging in a "wink-wink" manner the sexual nature of what was really happening. DNA analysis and research requires a lot of talent and infrastructure and putting it on an remote island is not the best idea. But calling engaging in sex "DNA analysis and research" is almost at the level of what passes as a joke in middle school. This almost seems like an inside joke between the Virgin Islands officials and Epstein about the true nature of what was really going on.

ta17711771 6y ago
It's very common for the elite to openly reference what they're doing, crime-wise, because 1) It's easy to hide in plain sight, and 2) Who's going to stop them, you? Epstein's probably on an island right now.
- save_ferris 6y ago
  It’s pretty well established that he’s dead.
  - pepsithrowaway 6y ago
    Oh really. And do you have a source for that? How do you explain the strange happenings where he was being held? :}
  - seph-reed 6y ago
    I don't know anyone believes anything anymore. He could be dead. He could be alive. He could have even committed suicide. I honestly believe the only way we'll ever get the truth from elites is with "advanced interrogation" tactics.
    - save_ferris 6y ago
      Images of his body and the crime scene have been released to the public by the coroner. In order for any of this speculation around him being alive is true, you realize that this conspiracy would have to involve dozens of people at least, right? Look, I get the speculation around the circumstances of his death. He was a bad dude that had a lot of powerful friends. But to seriously consider that one or more of his friends would go out of their way to save his life by faking his death is completely ridiculous. If anything, his powerful friends had tremendous incentive to have him killed once he was detained. Just because our world is being polluted by conspiratorial thinking doesn’t mean we can just stop thinking on a basic level. A plot to fake Epstein’s death makes absolutely zero sense. An ordered hit? Sure, there’s a logical explanation there. But a faked death is such a lazy and absent-minded conspiracy theory.

sudoaza 6y ago

Deutsche Bank doesn't let any dark business go by without a bite

Traster 6y ago
Do you think anyone thought "If its this easy for me to launder money through DB, I wonder how easy it is for other people" and the corollary "What happens when the government realises every idiot and his dealer was using DB to launder money".

bobcostas55 6y ago

A darkly comical commentary on the state of justice right now: none of the child rapists will face any consequences (well, except for Epstein, though he did get away with it for decades), but the _bank regulator_ takes the accounting issues very seriously!

creaghpatr 6y ago
As Matt Levine always says, [at least] everything is securities fraud.
- fennecfoxen 6y ago
  Bank and securities fraud are accompanied by detailed records, a fact which tends to make it a lot easier to demonstrate that something illegal happened.
qbaqbaqba 6y ago
Maybe because it's A German bank.

empath75 6y ago

Nobody has ever satisfactory explained where Epstein got all this money to begin with. He seems to have been running some sort of blackmail operation ensnaring wealthy people into criminal activity and videotaping them or otherwise recording it. His first job was as a math teacher at a _girl's school_ run by the current Attorney General's father, and he seems to have leveraged that somehow into an investment job through one of the parents at the school, despite having no qualifications for that kind of work. It seems worth noting that he went from working with young girls to sex trafficking them, and that the man who supposedly was going to get to the bottom of his murder is the son of the man who first gave him access to young girls.

stickfigure 6y ago
His life has been under a microscope. If there was a smoking gun to be found, it would have been found. Nobody's opsec is that good, especially with number of people involved in the kind of conspiracy you describe.
- apercu 6y ago
  Sure is a lot of smoke. Lots. Don't you think some one should look in to this all a little before we decide "nothing to see here"?
- ta17711771 6y ago
  ....there HAVE been smoking guns! But, that depends on 1) how complete your personal research has been 2) how strictly you define smoking gun
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- arminiusreturns 6y ago
  They've been covered up, and the few reporters doing a deep dive are ignored and relegated to small corners of the internet. Whitney Webb being one of those.
mikeyouse 6y ago

osrec 6y ago

The amount of smoke and mirrors surrounding this entire case is incredible. It's sort of happening out in the open, with even the president seemingly involved to some degree, yet all details are conveniently hidden away. I'm expecting a somewhat chilling documentary 20 years from now on the subject.

medhir 6y ago
Netflix recently released a documentary describing the survivors’ stories. https://www.netflix.com/title/80224905 https://www.netflix.com/title/80224905
- bobwernstein 6y ago
  it did nothing about the smoke and mirrors op is talking about. It revealed nothing on that front.

mD5pPxMcS6fVWKE 6y ago

Poor DB ... is there a crime they have not committed?