60 Minutes Ended Story About Epstein’s Shady Bank Transactions
CBS’s 60 Minutes had the scoop on Jeffrey Epstein’s sketchy financials—before the Bari Weiss–run network fired the reporter fronting the investigation.A new report by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden revealed that Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America enabled Epstein by permitting millions in suspicious transactions over the course of the sex offender’s criminal career.Deutsche Bank AG failed to promptly notify authorities of more than $250 million in questionable transfers tied to Epstein, according to Wyden’s report. Those included cash amounts to pay women in Russia and Eastern Europe—of which the bank retroactively informed U.S. officials after Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking charges in July 2019.Bank of America Corp. reported $170 million in Epstein-related transactions tied to billionaire Leon Black. The bank, according to Wyden’s report, noted years later that the transactions had “no apparent economic, business, or lawful purpose.”JPMorgan Chase, as previously reported, processed more than $1 billion for Epstein, despite internal concerns at the bank.Yet former 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had the story months ago, having interviewed Wyden in March about her own investigation into Wall Street banks’ and the U.S. Virgin Islands government’s relationship with Epstein, according to Bloomberg.But the report, and Wyden’s interview, would never air: Alfonsi was fired by CBS News leadership in the midst of a major network shakeup two months later, in May, when she publicly criticized Weiss’s editorial grip on the storied news magazine. Weiss had blocked a segment Alfonsi previously reported on Donald Trump’s deportation program and El Salvador’s notoriously lethal CECOT prison.A spokesperson for CBS News confirmed to Bloomberg that Alfonsi had interviewed Wyden earlier this year, but said the story had not been finished by the end of the last 60 Minutes season. The spokesperson did not elaborate on whether the show intended to air the segment during its next season.In a statement to The New Republic, a CBS News spokesperson refuted any notion that the network had tried to bury Alfonsi’s Epstein story, citing numerous reports on Epstein written by journalists across CBS News.“We are proud of our aggressive and extensive reporting on the Epstein scandal,” the CBS News spokesperson wrote. “That reporting continues. We air pieces when they are ready and suggesting that an interview is being ‘suppressed’ for any reason is categorically false.”This story has been updated.