Merrill Fired Jeffrey Epstein’s Former Broker Paul Morris

Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch Wealth Management unit fired veteran broker Paul V. Morris over “conduct inconsistent with firm standards,” according to a regulatory filing. The filing sheds light on the reason for Morris’ departure, which was reported in June when his firm website was taken offline. Morris, who had been a managing director at Merrill’s private wealth unit serving the ultra-rich, had drawn renewed scrutiny earlier this year after his name appeared in a trove of Department of Justice files related to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Registration documents maintained by state regulators show that Merrill fired Morris on May 28, the same day that Bloomberg published a story detailing how Morris had continued to court Epstein in the months leading up to his death in a Manhattan jail. Merrill’s termination notice, which it filed with regulators on June 18, did not elaborate on the allegations aside from noting that the conduct “did not involve firm customers or customer accounts.” A Merrill spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment. Bank of America in March agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a putative class action claim brought by Epstein victims who accused the bank of aiding in his sex-trafficking. Morris did not return a message sent through social media. He has not registered with another firm, according to BrokerCheck, which does not include a disclosure of the discharge because it did not include allegations of customer harm. Morris was not named as a defendant in the Bank of America case or others brought against his former employers, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank. He has not been accused of a crime. Epstein was never a client of Merrill, according to Bloomberg. Morris had worked with him at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and after moving in 2012 to Deutsche Bank, which added Epstein as a client after JPMorgan expelled him in 2013, according to DOJ documents. Morris was credited in the DOJ filings with wooing Epstein to Deutsche Bank that year. “Great news! Congrats Paul,” former Deutsche Wealth head Chip Packard wrote in an email included in the files. Morris continued to correspond with Epstein after joining Merrill in 2016. In 2017, Morris asked if he knew anyone who would be interested in loans for an aircraft, yacht or artwork. He sent gifts to Epstein’s assistant the following year and emailed Epstein in January 2019 about Opportunity Zone investments and again in July with a capital markets outlook. Morris started his career at UBS predecessor PaineWebber in 1996, joined Merrill for the first time in 1997 and shifted to Barclays in 2003 before joining JPMorgan in 2009, according to BrokerCheck. Morris’ departure is another instance of financial advisors facing scrutiny over relationships with Epstein or those in his orbit. A top UBS team managed nearly $20 million for Epstein’s one-time girlfriend and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell for years despite mounting public scrutiny over her ties to the late financier.