A Curious Look at Why Jeffrey Epstein Wanted Vatican Money Secrets

Jeffrey Epstein’s name keeps popping up in the news, but new emails reveal he had a particular interest in the Vatican Bank during the big 2012‑2013 church shake‑up. In one letter, he forwarded a report by journalist Edward Jay Epstein that talked about the Pope’s resignation and the change in leadership at the Vatican Bank, called the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). The note said that because the Holy See is a sovereign state, it could dodge normal transparency rules and let rich clients move money without being watched. The email also mentioned a 2012 scandal that saw the former bank president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, fired while Italian police looked into bribery. A search of his house uncovered dozens of files about people he considered enemies, and the letter claimed he feared death because he knew too much. A German lawyer, Ernst von Freyberg, was hired to run the bank right before Pope Benedict XVI stepped down. Epstein sent all this to former U. S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who later became Harvard’s president, but the documents don’t show he acted on it.The Vatican Bank has long been a target of criticism. Back in 1982, the bank’s collapse and the mysterious death of its chairman, Roberto Calvi, sparked rumors that it was a haven for shady money. Even after the 9/11 crackdown on money laundering, the IOR stayed secretive for years. Epstein, who ran his own global money‑moving business and had a network of elite contacts, saw the bank’s unique legal status as a tempting puzzle. Other emails in the pile point to Epstein talking with former White House strategist Steve Bannon about taking down Pope Francis. Investigators say it’s odd that Epstein, a Jewish financier, would focus on the Vatican’s finances. Yet his own career was full of hidden client ties and complex cross‑border deals, so the Vatican’s mix of spiritual authority and financial opacity might have seemed useful to him. Today the IOR has changed a lot. It follows international transparency rules, publishes yearly reports, and even helped expose internal fraud. By 2026 it had earned a “white list” rating, showing a sharp turn from its scandal‑ridden past. Epstein’s letters give us a glimpse into why someone like him would be fascinated by that transformation.