Jeffrey Epstein received $25 million in late 2015 for consulting work tied to a U.S. Justice Department tax-evasion settlement with Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild Group, according to a report by the Miami Herald. 

Agreements and wire transfers show the now-deceased financier and sex trafficker, who had been a registered sex offender since 2008, was paid through his Southern Trust Company after the Justice Department agreed to a $45 million settlement and declined to prosecute the Swiss bank, according to new reporting by the newspaper.  

On paper, Epstein had advised the bank and Baroness Ariane de Rothschild on “strategic business matters” and “estate planning, according to records published by the Justice Department and cited by the Herald. An earlier draft of the agreements, which were signed by de Rothschild and bank executives, reveal Epstein’s compensation was structured on a sliding scale, with a $25 million payout triggered if the penalty came in below $75 million. 

The settlement came as part of a broader Obama-era Justice Department program under which dozens of Swiss banks resolved potential U.S. criminal liabilities related to tax evasion. The Justice Department declined to comment, the Herald said. 

The records shed light on how Epstein, whose finances have long drawn scrutiny, profited from relationships with wealthy global elites. Epstein maintained a close relationship with de Rothschild for years, advising her on family and business matters, encouraging changes at the bank, and discussing possible mergers, while the two also exchanged personal messages and visits, according to the report. 

During the same period, the Edmond de Rothschild Group was also probed by authorities in Luxembourg for its alleged role in the $4.5 billion 1MDB scandal, the newspaper noted. The Swiss institution became the first bank to be convicted in Luxembourg for money laundering and paid approximately $28.5 million to settle the charges in 2025. 

The correspondence between Epstein and de Rothschild continued into 2019, the year Epstein was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges and later died in federal custody in New York, the Herald said.

French authorities raided the bank’s Paris offices last month as part of an investigation linked to Epstein’s activities. 

Read more at the Miami Herald