U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren brought the name of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein into the Senate Banking Committee’s debate over the CLARITY Act, using the markup hearing to press for the release of confidential bank supervisory records tied to Epstein.
During the CLARITY Act vote on Thursday, the amendment, which Warren said would shed light on what federal regulators and banks may have known about Epstein’s financial activities, was rejected in an 11-13 vote.
Warren links Epstein to crypto investment
Introducing the proposal, Warren said Epstein had been an early investor in Coinbase and argued that his interest in crypto reflected its potential misuse. “Jeffrey Epstein was an early backer of crypto,” Warren said. “He poured millions of dollars into Coinbase, one of the biggest benefactors of this bill, if it becomes law.”
She added that Epstein recognized crypto’s ability to facilitate illicit payments and said the amendment was intended to provide greater transparency into what regulators and financial institutions may have known.
Amendment sought release of supervisory information
The proposal called on federal banking agencies to release confidential supervisory information related to Epstein and, in its original form, certain associates.
Warren said the disclosure would help Congress better understand whether warning signs were missed by regulators or financial institutions. The amendment was not directly tied to the market structure provisions of the CLARITY Act, which is designed to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Opposition says measure was outside the bill’s scope
Senator Cynthia Lummis opposed the amendment, saying that confidential supervisory records concerning Epstein were “not germane to digital asset market structure.”
After the vote, Senator John Kennedy said he would have supported the amendment if language referring to “co-conspirators” had been removed. Warren said she was willing to accept that change, but Committee Chairman Tim Scott moved the markup forward without revisiting the proposal.
Another Warren amendment that sought to strike Sections 401 through 403 of the bill, provisions dealing with certain bank-related digital asset activities, also failed by an 11-13 vote.
Warren has been one of the most vocal critics of the CLARITY Act, arguing that parts of the legislation could weaken anti-money laundering controls and expand opportunities for regulatory arbitrage.
CLARITY Act advances despite heated debate
The Epstein amendment was one of several contentious moments during the committee’s review of the legislation.
Despite disagreements over amendments, supporters of the CLARITY Act, including Chairman Tim Scott, have argued that the bill would replace years of regulatory uncertainty with a clearer framework for digital asset markets while strengthening consumer protections and national security safeguards.
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