(Ken Silva, Headline USA) It’s been known for years that Jeffrey Epstein received what’s been widely described as a sweetheart plea deal for sex crimes against minors—receiving a 13-month sentence in 2008 and 2009, serving much of it on work release.
On Friday, Bloomberg revealed that Epstein also escaped potential money laundering charges as a result of that plea deal. According to Bloomberg, the Justice Department opened that probe in February 2007—focusing 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.”
“The evidence [former DOJ prosecutor Marie] Villafaña collected was serious enough that she wrote in the prosecution memo that Epstein should be charged with money-laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business,” Bloomberg reported, citing an anonymous source.
Along with all the records and interviews underpinning this report, documents unsealed last week also confirm that Bear Stearns was subpoenaed about Epstein's finances. https://t.co/XzWyadFgwr pic.twitter.com/E65OTQl1Lh
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 3, 2025
Bloomberg also unearthed emails between the DOJ and Epstein’s defense team, in which the latter party pushed back against the money laundering allegations. Ultimately, Epstein’s lawyers were successful.
Records unsealed last week in a civil lawsuit involving JP Morgan support Bloomberg’s reporting. They include letters between Villafaña and former Bear Stearns official David Petercsak, seeking records about Epstein’s financial transactions pursuant to a DOJ subpoena. JP Morgan acquired Bear Stearns in 2008.
Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Alex Acosta, whose office oversaw the mid-2000s Epstein investigation, told the House Oversight Committee in September that he had no knowledge about the DOJ probing Epstein’s finances.
“I don’t recall a financial aspect,” Acosta said, according to a transcript of his interview. “We were focused on the inappropriate acts that took place in Palm Beach.”
House Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia told Bloomberg that its reporting casts doubt on Acosta’s testimony.
“This information makes it incredibly clear that there is a massive cover-up happening right now,” he reportedly said. “It appears that DOJ is likely sitting on evidence that Epstein’s crimes were perhaps even bigger than have been publicly reported. I think this calls into question Acosta’s entire testimony.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
