[GRADE A1 — EFTA01375227 + EFTA01384911 + EFTA01384909 + EFTA01384910 + EFTA01375228 (SDNY grand jury production)]
Two CIBC Imperial Service banking records from 5501 Cote des Neiges, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1Y8 appear in the DOJ files. Both are marked "CONFIDENTIAL — PURSUANT TO FED. R. CRIM. P. 6(e)" (grand jury secrecy) and carry Deutsche Bank SDNY document stamps (DB-SDNY-0070496 / SDNY_GM_00216680 / SDNY_GM_00231686). The letter was written by Riccardo Cristiano of CIBC Imperial Service for a redacted client whose account was opened May 8, 2014.
Adjacent documents in the SDNY production batch reveal the CIBC letter's true significance:
EFTA01384909 (one Bates number before the CIBC letter): An email from Richard Kahn (Epstein's financial controller, HBRK Associates Inc.) to Deutsche Bank: "Sample letters per our discussion yesterday... template for recommendation letter from the transferring bank." Date: March 2019 — four months before Epstein's arrest.
EFTA01384910 (between the two CIBC copies): A second reference letter for a "[REDACTED] Trust" — client since October 1993, using the Canadian spelling "cheques" — suggesting another Canadian or British banking relationship. (See dedicated section below.)
EFTA01375228 (one Bates number after the CIBC letter): A KYC (Know Your Customer) email about Southern Financial LLC and Prytanee LLC — known Epstein financial entities.
What this means: Richard Kahn was using the CIBC Montreal reference letter as a template to instruct Deutsche Bank on how to write similar reference letters for Epstein's accounts in March 2019. The CIBC letter was not just a banking record — it was a model document in Epstein's financial playbook. The fact that it sits in the same SDNY document batch as KYC documents for Southern Financial and Prytanee strongly suggests the grand jury connected the Montreal CIBC account to Epstein's core financial network. (Documents in the same production batch were produced together, likely from the same custodian, but production proximity indicates connection rather than proving prosecutorial intent to link them.)