LONDON/TORONTO/FRANKFURT: Jeffrey Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell opened accounts with Swiss wealth giant UBS that helped her manage as much as US$19 million in the years leading to her sex-trafficking conviction, documents show.

This was just months after JPMorgan Chase ended its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The documents, released by the U.S. Justice Department last month, give new details about how closely UBS bank worked with Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell was arrested in 2020 and found guilty in 2021 for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse young women. She is now serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The records, which include emails and bank statements, show that the Swiss bank opened both personal and business accounts for Maxwell. These accounts held cash, stocks, and hedge-fund investments. UBS assigned her two dedicated account managers who helped her move millions of dollars and provided the same services typically offered to very wealthy clients.

In 2014, after JPMorgan shut down Epstein's accounts, UBS gave him a credit card, according to an email. Epstein had previously been jailed in 2008 after admitting he had paid an underage girl for sex.

His UBS account was later closed that same year because of "reputation risk," according to another email. However, UBS continued banking with Maxwell even though the media had widely reported her close connection to Epstein.

UBS refused to answer Reuters' questions, including why it accepted a client another bank had considered high risk. There is no proof that UBS or its staff broke any laws. Some papers show the bank checked her background before moving her accounts from JPMorgan, but the exact details of those checks are unknown.

Epstein and Maxwell had used JPMorgan for many years, but the bank became worried after Epstein's 2008 conviction. In 2011, JPMorgan internally labeled Maxwell a "high-risk client" because of her ties to Epstein.

In 2013, the bank decided to close Epstein's accounts. Court papers show JPMorgan considered convicted criminals high risk and requiring special approval. JPMorgan paid $75 million in 2023 to settle a lawsuit. The bank has said it did not know about Epstein's crimes and would not comment further.

In late 2013, a business partner introduced Maxwell to UBS through email. In early 2014, emails show requests to expedite the transfer of her accounts from JPMorgan because she was about to be away for over a month. UBS staff replied that they were reviewing her documents and had follow-up questions.

Soon after, UBS opened accounts for Maxwell, which she used for personal spending, business expenses, and her charity, the TerraMar Project, as well as for several companies linked to her. By February 2014, she had nearly $2 million in one UBS account.

Maxwell regularly told the bank how to move her money. In 2016, she asked UBS to send $2.5 million to Scott Borgerson, whom she married that year. In July 2019, shortly after Epstein was arrested again, UBS transferred $130,000 from her savings to her checking account at her request to pay an American Express bill.