The Epstein story seems an endless labyrinth. Every day, the latest news adds a twist – a new dark corridor to pursue – to wit, another mysterious Epstein-linked death. Tom Bowers, Epstein’s private wealth banker for over 20 years, allegedly committed suicide – just as the FBI was seeking to interview him about the millions of dollars in controversial Deutsche Bank and Citibank loans he supposedly brokered for Epstein.
True Pundit founder Mike “Thomas Paine” Moore was in charge of anti-money laundering for a major Citigroup division when Citi extended large loans to Epstein. “The loans to Epstein were personal and commercial,” Paine claimed. “The Citi loans I can confirm were for more than $25 million. Some were secured, some were not.”
Tom Bowers
Did Citi adjust its' rules of lending to accommodate Epstein? Paine said that appears “quite likely,” with Bowers and other executives he later recruited to work for him at Deutsche Bank all working to secure the approvals regardless of compliance-related red flags.
Sources said Citi loaned Epstein astronomical sums, over and above $100 million, and allowed Epstein to use the bank to send thousands of wire transfers from his accounts. These loans were allegedly brokered by Bowers.
Meanwhile, Epstein may have been in default on his millions in outstanding Citi loans. That was not an issue since Bowers then left Citi for Deutsche Bank, where he approved new high-risk loans and credit lines for Epstein. Was this a Ponzi shell-game?
Bowers was the chief of Deutsche Bank's Private Wealth Management division and worked from the bank's' Park Avenue offices in New York City. At Citi, Bowers served as the chief of the Citi Private Bank and previously ran Citigroup's Global Markets and Wealth Management businesses.
Just as Bowers had brokered for Epstein at Citi, Deutsche also set him up with over a dozen bank accounts that Epstein employed to receive and send wires and funds. From and to whom? The network must be laid bare.
Epstein also helped bring in new business from his many wealthy associates to Bowers at both banks, so everyone was happy.
“Epstein made Bowers and his financial institutions hundreds of millions of dollars,” one executive said. “It really didn’t even matter that Epstein stiffed Citi for $30 million in defaults because he brought so much new money, new blood. Citi made far more than it lost.”
The relationship with Epstein continued until Bowers left Deutsche Bank in 2015. By that time, Epstein had multiple millions in loans with the help of Bowers, who recruited many of his top private wealth bankers from Citi to Deutsche Bank.
It seems like a pattern. The American Banker reports:
“Epstein brought lucrative clients into JPMorgan’s private-banking unit and was close to former head Jes Staley, who visited Epstein’s private island as recently as 2015. Leon Black, Apollo Global Management’s billionaire chairman, met with the financier from time to time at the company’s New York offices, and used Epstein for tax and philanthropic advice.”
Police reportedly found Bowers hanging from a rope in his California home. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Thomas Bowers died by an apparent suicide by hanging at his home before Thanksgiving. He was 55. The question all should ask, even if Bower's banking career was over, Bower's conduct at the various banks would only merit, at worst, fines and the lowest level of Club Fed, is as follows: What did Bowers really know that suicide should appear the best option? Alternatively, has it been properly ascertained that this was suicide? Epstein likewise died from a reported suicide by hanging, according to the New York City Medical Examiner. As the meme goes “Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself.” Did Bowers?
Now, if the character, Jack Ryan, were assigned this case don't you think he'd follow the money?
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Read more from Lorraine Silvetz, MSW.
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