TD Bank was previously linked to Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 when Bloomberg News reported that the lender 'accepted accounts belonging to Mr. Epstein.'Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD-T connection to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has resurfaced as part of a U.S. congressional inquiry, and the bank has acknowledged that two of Mr. Epstein’s “business associates” were once clients.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Epstein’s estate has turned over to Congress a list of more than 20 banks that held accounts for Mr. Epstein and entities related to him, citing anonymous sources. In that list are major lenders including Wells Fargo and TD.
It is not the first time TD has been linked to Mr. Epstein, who pleaded guilty in a Florida state court in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor, and who died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. In 2019, Bloomberg News reported that TD “accepted accounts belonging to Mr. Epstein” after Deutsche Bank AG cut ties with the disgraced financier, citing an anonymous source.
Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in a Florida state court in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor and died in jail in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.HO/AFP/Getty Images
On Wednesday, TD said Mr. Epstein was not a direct client but acknowledged that two of his business associates were clients.
“TD has never banked Jeffrey Epstein. Following his arrest in 2019, we terminated banking relationships with two individuals who were revealed to be his business associates,” the bank wrote in a statement to The Globe and Mail.
TD did not comment on the identities of these associates, but the Wall Street Journal reported that they belonged to his lawyer and his accountant.
Mr. Epstein’s long-time personal lawyer, Darren Indyke, and his long-time accountant, Richard Kahn, are being sued by two women who allege that they were victims of Mr. Epstein. In their 2024 suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, they allege that Mr. Indyke and Mr. Kahn “were well aware of Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture” and that they “were aiding, abetting, and facilitating his batteries, tortious conduct, and crimes.”
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The lawsuit also alleges that Mr. Epstein’s lawyer and accountant “were responsible both directly and indirectly for providing cash to victims, arranging legal and financial structures to obscure elements of the Epstein sex-trafficking venture, and arranging sham marriages and other immigration scrutiny avoidance tactics.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank have both paid significant fines for their connections to Mr. Epstein, who started working with JPMorgan around 1998 and moved to Deutsche Bank after JPMorgan closed his accounts in 2013.
As of 2023, JPMorgan had agreed to US$365-million in total settlements for keeping Mr. Epstein as a client until 2013, while Deutsche Bank had agreed to pay at least US$225-million in settlements over its links to the financier.