July 31,2025

Continuing Epstein Investigation, Wyden Probes IRS’s Failure to Investigate Sex Trafficker’s Highly Lucrative Tax Planning Work

Epstein Was Paid Hundreds of Millions for Tax Planning Services But Was Neither an Accountant Nor a Tax Attorney; Wyden Investigation Found Evidence His Work Was Never Audited or Investigated

Washington, D.C. – Continuing his years-long investigation into the financing of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking network, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote to IRS Commissioner Billy Long today demanding to know whether the agency has performed any audits or investigations of Epstein’s tax and estate planning services and transactions. Epstein billed himself as an expert financial planner and was paid hundreds of millions of dollars for tax and estate planning advice, including by Wall Street titan Leon Black and other ultra-wealthy individuals. Senator Wyden’s investigation into the financial relationship between Black and Epstein obtained evidence showing that none of the transactions or structures Epstein devised for Black were audited by the IRS, whose criminal investigators could have revealed that Epstein’s claim of financial expertise was a fraud.

“Epstein lacked any professional training or certifications in accounting or tax law, yet was chosen by very wealthy people to execute very complex tax-related financial transactions. Despite this glaring lack of qualifications that might lead anyone to double check Epstein’s work, it appears that the IRS failed over the course of many years to audit major tax transactions involving Epstein,” Senator Wyden wrote. “It is unthinkable that transactions amounting to tens of millions of dollars paid to a known criminal for the purpose of helping a mega-wealthy individual dodge billions in taxes were never audited or investigated.” 

Senator Wyden’s letter, which is available for download here, notes the following:

  • Epstein’s tax planning work was a major source of his income.

  • The majority of the payments from Black to Epstein, approximately $100 million, were made on an “ad hoc” basis without any form of written contract or business services agreement.

  • Leon Black has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why he chose Epstein to devise a solution to a complicated tax problem, or how that tax problem arose in the first place.

  • Responding to Wyden investigators, Black’s attorneys minimized Epstein’s involvement in a specific tax transaction for which Black still paid Epstein $20 million.

    • Black’s attorneys stated that Epstein’s ideas for the transaction were “in the public domain and originated with Black’s other legal advisors” and that, “Nevertheless, Epstein tried to take credit for the idea and secure compensation.”

  • Black’s attorneys also claimed that in numerous instances “not all of Epstein’s advice was useful”; and that Epstein’s advice was “vetted consistently by Blacks’ other advisors.

“These payments were well in excess of expected compensation for tax and estate planning services – particularly in a case where Epstein’s work had to be vetted by other legal and accounting professionals, at times was not viewed as useful, and included instances of substantial misrepresentations of tax laws,” Senator Wyden’s letter continued. “I can’t help but question whether this case was legitimate tax planning, or if Black felt obligated to make these payments to Epstein for unstated reasons.”

Senator Wyden sought the following information from the IRS:

  1. A list of all audits or investigations conducted by the IRS related to transactions involving Jeffrey Epstein, including any payments to Jeffrey Epstein for tax planning. Please also provide the status of those investigations and the end result of the audit.

  2. A determination as to whether the IRS has evaluated the full scope of any so-called tax planning Epstein provided to wealthy and powerful associates.

  3. An analysis of whether, at any point in the last 8 years, Epstein’s tax planning has been evaluated by IRS professionals and whether the IRS has determined whether the value of the services he appropriately matched his reported compensation.

###