Dive Brief:
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, is probing Kevin Warsh, the nominee to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, on his ties to late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- In a Wednesday letter, the Senate Banking Committee’s ranking member cited reports Warsh’s name twice appears in Epstein-related files released by the Justice Department in January. “As the Senate considers your nomination to serve as Chair of the Fed, it is essential that Congress and the public fully understand the extent of any interactions or relationship you had with Jeffrey Epstein,” Warren wrote.
- Warren queried Warsh on whether he attended parties Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell held on certain dates, the extent of Warsh’s interactions with the two at those events, and any other interactions or communication Warsh had with either Epstein or Maxwell not referenced in emails.
Dive Insight:
Warren pointed to reports Warsh and his wife, Jane Lauder — billionaire heiress and granddaughter of Estée Lauder — “appear in a list shared with Epstein titled ‘St. Barth’s Christmas 2010,’ among other guests who were planning to attend a party on the island.”
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving prison time for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors, also appears to be included on the list, Warren wrote.
“It is unclear why your name was included on the list; whether you in fact traveled to St. Barth’s in December 2010; and if so, whether you interacted with Jeffrey Epstein while there,” Warren wrote.
Warsh’s name also appeared in an email exchange forwarded by Lesley Groff, Epstein’s long-time assistant, to Epstein from September 2010, that includes a “list of people peggy invited to Wall Street.”
Epstein and Maxwell were on the list of invitees, as were “Mr. and Mrs. Donald Trump (Melania Knaus),” “Mr. and Mrs. Donald Trump, Jr. (Vanessa Haydon),” and “Mr. & Mrs. Jared Kushner (Ivanka Trump),” Warren noted.
By the time of those 2010 invites, Warren noted, Epstein had pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution with a minor in Florida in 2008, and had settled multiple additional civil lawsuits with victims. He then faced federal charges of sex trafficking of minors before dying in jail in 2019.
The senator also asked for communication records between Warsh and publicist Peggy Siegal — presumably the “peggy” who invited people to Wall Street — and whether President Donald Trump and his family were at the late 2010 gathering their names were linked to. Warren requested answers to her questions by March 31.
Trump nominated Warsh to be the next Fed chair in late January. Warsh previously served on the central bank’s board from 2006 to 2011.
Warsh must be confirmed by the Senate. Warren and her fellow Senate Banking Committee Democrats have asked Chair Tim Scott, R-SC, to shelve Warsh’s nomination hearing until the Trump administration backs off its investigations into Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, has repeatedly said he would oppose confirming any Fed nominee until the DOJ’s probe of Powell — which concerns over-budget renovations of two Fed buildings — is dropped. Last week, a federal judge blocked subpoenas the DOJ issued to Powell and the central bank, calling the government’s justifications “so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual.”
Warren has previously expressed her disapproval of Trump’s nominee.
“Donald Trump said anybody who disagrees with him will never be Fed Chairman,” she said when Warsh was nominated. “Warsh — who cared more about helping Wall Street after the 2008 crash than millions of unemployed Americans — has apparently passed the loyalty test.”
