Was President Trump originally mentioned in the claim that 4,725 wire transfers totalling $1.1 billion were made to Jeffrey Epstein using Russian banks? No, that's not true: This appears to be based on a mangled version of a statement made by Senator Ron Wyden about various transfers flowing in and out of Epstein's account. The Congressional Record shows that when Wyden orignally mentioned those transfers he did not say they came from Trump and he didn't say all of them went via Russian banks either.
One example of the quote involving Trump appeared in an image in a post on X (archived here) published on February 15, 2026 where it was posted with a comment that read:
Who else thinks that Donald Trump is more concerned about this allegation than he is about the pedophilia accusations? ✋
The image in the post looked like this:
(Image source: post at https://x.com/Damaan4u33/status/2022820565883527228)
The text in the image read:
TRUMP MADE OVER 4,725 WIRE TRANSFERS TO EPSTEIN TOTALLYING $1.1 BILLION. USING RUSSIAN BANKS
THIS IS WHY HE DOESN'T WANT TO RELEASE THE FILES
(Including the misspelling of "totaling")
However the original mention of that exact number of transfers, the total amount and the mention of "Russian banks" appeared in a statement made by Senator Ron Wyden on July 17, 2025, as the Congressional Record (archived here) shows:
I want the American people to know that is wrong. If you want to know
why, just look at the latest report from our investigators that was
discussed in the New York Times this morning. Somewhere in the Treasury
Department, locked away in a cabinet drawer, is a big Epstein file that
is full of actionable information--``follow the money''--details about
his financing and operations that await investigation.Last year, the Biden administration allowed our investigators to look
at portions of the file. We did that at the Treasury Building. Here is
what it says. Treasury's Epstein file details 4,725 wire transfers. Let
me repeat that--4,725 wire transfers--adding up to nearly $1.1 billion
flowing in and out of just one of Mr. Epstein's bank accounts. If you
ask me, that is more than 4,000 potential lines of investigation right
there. Hundreds of millions more flowed through other accounts. That is
even a lot more to investigate.
Note that the claimed amount is "flowing in and out" so based on this statement it is not even accurate to say Epstein "received" $1.1 billion. It also doesn't mention Trump (or anyone else) as the source of the money.
The New York Times report (archived here) Wyden referenced also does not mention Trump as the source of the money. It describes some of the transfers as:
In particular, filings by four big banks flagged more than $1.5 billion in transactions -- including thousands of wire transfers for the purchase and sale of artwork for rich friends, fees paid to Mr. Epstein by wealthy individuals, and payments to numerous women, the senator's office found.
Regarding the transfers involving Russian banks:
Some of the Epstein money transfers disclosed in a report from JPMorgan Chase involved accounts at two Russian banks before those institutions were subject to U.S. sanctions. A few transactions red-flagged were for as much as $100 million.
and:
The single largest suspicious activity report reviewed by the congressional team was filed in late 2019 by JPMorgan for $1.1 billion. The report covered 4,700 transactions dating to 2003, including payments to women from Belarus, Russia and Turkmenistan. Many of Mr. Epstein's victims included young women from Eastern European countries.
In summary, the original statements by Wyden:
- Did not mention Trump as the source of the wire transfers
- Did not mention Epstein receiving the full amount mentioned but noted it was "flowing in and out" of his bank accounts
- Did not say all of the money went through Russian banks
Other fact checks
This claim was also investigated by Snopes.com.
