Deutsche Bank’s Epstein Files Throw Family Offices Into the Open

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A representative for the Waneks, who aren’t accused of any wrongdoing, declined to comment. Headed by Ron Wanek, Ashley Furniture’s octogenarian chairman, they have a net worth of about $8 billion through their Arcadia, Wisconsin-based furniture-maker, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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In a Feb. 5 post on X, Ashley Furniture said neither the company nor its owners “ever” had any business, financial or personal relationship with Epstein. This followed social media users posting a list of Deutsche Bank accounts that included those for the billionaire family and the late financier.

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Epstein spent decades cultivating ties to elite figures worldwide, spanning prominent financiers, entrepreneurs, politicians and even royals. Along with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank served as one of Epstein’s main financial institutions, leading to account balances, emails between executives and even plans for ritzy events becoming part of the DoJ’s pile of documents. Epstein’s victims accused both banks of ignoring red flags in order to profit from his business

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Other family offices named in client profiles for Deutsche Bank’s 2018 plans include Madison Park Capital, an entity within buyout firm General Atlantic that helps to manage its executives’ fortunes. The firm’s partners represented a “substantial opportunity” due to their interest in a wide range of asset classes, spanning collateralized loan obligations to real estate, the Deutsche Bank documents show.

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Safanad, a private investment firm for Saudi Arabian tycoon Kamal Bahamdan, is described in another client profile as a prospect for opportunities in data-centers and aviation finance. At the time of writing, Deutsche Bank had a “monthly” contact with the money manager, cited as a mix of a family office, asset manager and endowment fund with backing from the Bahamdan dynasty’s namesake conglomerate.

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Deutsche Bank’s client profiles beyond family offices span possible residency changes, estate plans and Wall Street banking relations for the descendants of US energy tycoon George Lindemann and real estate magnate Tony Deering.

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The Jockey Club — a breed registry for racehorses in North America founded in 1894 — is also among the client profiles for the Frankfurt-based lender, underscoring the vast breadth of documents in the so-called Epstein Files.

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“What makes disclosures of this nature notable is not that wealthy families invest through structured entities — that is entirely standard — but that third-party documentation can reveal insights into investment strategies, staffing structures, or even internal dynamics,” Roll said, referring to Deutsche Bank’s files. Such “public visibility can amplify internal disagreements, succession sensitivities, or ownership tensions.”

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The Deutsche Bank disclosures within the roughly 3.5 million pages of emails, flight logs and other documents in the Epstein files coincide with a boom in the population of family offices to oversee everything from the financial affairs to the personal security of the world’s ultra-wealthy.

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The closely held firms have pushed into markets for venture capital, real estate and even buyouts for listed companies in recent years as their operations have grown in size and sophistication. As they typically oversee the fortunes of a small group of individuals, family offices often don’t face the same requirements as institutional firms to disclose their investments, allowing them to stay below-the-radar.