On a sunny Friday in March, Ariane de Rothschild assembled staff from her bank in a glass-roofed park pavilion in central Paris. The chief executive told the dozens of private bankers and fund managers that business at the Swiss bank was strong.
As she spoke, French police arrived at the bank’s townhouse office a short walk away. They had orders to search the property as part of an investigation into a diplomat who used to work at the bank and was an associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein. After the event, the CEO went to meet them.
The raid came after the Justice Department’s release of millions of Epstein files had put a harsh spotlight on the sex offender’s elite network of associates—influential people like Ariane, a billionaire baroness through her marriage into the Rothschild dynasty. The DOJ files showed she visited Epstein’s island, sought his advice about complex family relationships and had her bank pay him a $25 million fee for consulting.
