Rome Was Burning: The Week JPMorgan's Top Banker Consulted Epstein During the Financial Crisis
- Patrick Duggan
- Feb 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 11
# Rome Was Burning: The Week JPMorgan's Top Banker Consulted Epstein During the Financial Crisis
**September 23-29, 2008: Seven days of emails that show who was really in the room**
329,442 Documents. One Week.
We've now indexed **329,442 documents** from the DOJ Epstein release - the most comprehensive searchable database of these files anywhere.
When you can search 329K documents in milliseconds, patterns emerge. Here's one: the week the global financial system nearly collapsed, and who JPMorgan's private bank chief was consulting.
The Week
September 23, 2008 - "Rome Was Burning"
The Fed has just announced unprecedented interventions. Lehman is dead. AIG is nationalized. WaMu is circling the drain.
**EFTA01300030** - Jes Staley (Head of JPMorgan Private Bank) to Jeffrey Epstein:
> "We went to the opening of the Met Opera last night. It felt like Rome was burning."
Epstein's response, same day:
> "The fed cannot fathom what it is actually buying. Protection is the hottest of new selling points."
A convicted sex offender is offering real-time analysis of Federal Reserve policy to one of America's most powerful bankers.
September 27, 2008 - "What a Deal Jamie Did"
Two days after JPMorgan acquires Washington Mutual in the largest bank failure in American history.
**EFTA01300035** - Staley to Epstein:
> "I miss you. What a deal Jamie did. I'm spending a lot of time with Treasury. The Private Bank has brought in $44 billion dollars in the last two weeks. Unreal. Also, do u know Sheldon Adelson. I am throughing him out of the bank on Monday."
Read that again:
- Celebrating JPMorgan's crisis acquisition
- **Treasury meetings** during the bailout negotiations
- Kicking Sheldon Adelson (Republican mega-donor, Las Vegas Sands) out of the bank
- All shared with Jeffrey Epstein
**EFTA01300037** - Epstein's reply:
> "The word is THROWING... but at your level there is no need to spell"
Even correcting his spelling.
September 28, 2008 - The Pitch
**EFTA01300043** - Epstein pitches his solution to the global financial crisis:
> "What is the next problem.. The solution is to revamp the currency markets. Yes- currency. Unlike derivatives, which are only twenty years old, and mortgages which are a few hundred.. Currency haven't changed for ever. It is the base of the global financial market, and people for the moment are not seeing its potential."
A registered sex offender, fresh from his Florida plea deal, is pitching macroeconomic policy to the head of JPMorgan's private bank during Treasury negotiations.
September 29, 2008 - Escape Plan
**Reported elsewhere**: Staley to Epstein:
> "I hope you keep the island. We all may need to..."
He's suggesting they might need to flee to Little Saint James during the financial collapse.
The Full Timeline
| Date | Event | Document |
|------|-------|----------|
| July 14, 2008 | Fannie/Freddie crisis. Staley emails Epstein about Fed/Treasury | EFTA01299937 |
| July 15, 2008 | Epstein: "We can help, push obama.." | EFTA01299937 |
| Aug 29, 2008 | Staley: "Obama's speech was quite something" | EFTA01300013 |
| Sept 15, 2008 | Staley: "Its going to get worse. The market is starting to fray" | EFTA01300023 |
| Sept 23, 2008 | "Met Opera... Rome was burning" / "Fed cannot fathom" | EFTA01300030 |
| Sept 25, 2008 | JPMorgan acquires WaMu (HISTORICAL) | - |
| Sept 27, 2008 | Staley: Treasury meetings, $44B, Adelson out | EFTA01300035 |
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| Sept 27, 2008 | Epstein: "The word is THROWING" | EFTA01300037 |
| Sept 28, 2008 | Epstein: Currency markets solution | EFTA01300043 |
| Sept 29, 2008 | Staley: "Keep the island. We may all need to" | Reported |
| Oct 10, 2008 | Staley: "I am dealing with the Fed on an idea to solve things. I need a smart friend" | Exhibit 175 |
What This Means
This isn't speculation. These are their own emails.
During the week that determined whether the global financial system would survive:
- JPMorgan's private bank chief was in Treasury negotiations
- He was simultaneously consulting Jeffrey Epstein in real-time
- Epstein was offering Fed policy analysis and macroeconomic proposals
- Staley was sharing internal deal celebrations ("What a deal Jamie did")
- They discussed fleeing to Epstein's private island if it all collapsed
The emails were exchanged 4 months after Epstein's Florida plea deal.
The Index
We didn't break this story. The emails are in USVI court exhibits. The NYT reported on "push Obama."
What we did:
- Index **329,442 DOJ documents**
- Make them searchable in milliseconds
- Assemble the chronological narrative
- Let anyone verify
Search it yourself: [epstein.dugganusa.com](https://epstein.dugganusa.com)
The pattern is in the timestamps. The club met during the crisis. And we weren't in it.
*Document references: EFTA01299937, EFTA01300013, EFTA01300023, EFTA01300030, EFTA01300035, EFTA01300037, EFTA01300043*
*Sources: [USVI v. JPMorgan Exhibit 175](https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/285-41.pdf), [Senate Finance Committee Investigation](https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/continuing-epstein-investigation-wyden-probes-major-jpmorgan-chase-compliance-failures)*
*Index: 329,442 DOJ Epstein documents, searchable at epstein.dugganusa.com*
*Her name was Renee Nicole Good.*
*His name was Alex Jeffery Pretti.*
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