JPMorgan Chase & Co. executives joked about Jeffrey Epstein’s “interest in young girls,” the US Virgin Islands said in a court filing in its lawsuit accusing the bank of aiding his sex-trafficking.
(Bloomberg) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. executives joked about Jeffrey Epstein’s “interest in young girls,” the US Virgin Islands said in a court filing in its lawsuit accusing the bank of aiding his sex-trafficking.
The US territory made the claim on Monday while asking a federal judge for permission to amend the lawsuit.
USVI claims that the bank allowed Epstein to avoid scrutiny and obstructed law enforcement from uncovering his crimes earlier while he was a client from 1998 to 2013.
In the filing, USVI referenced a recent deposition from JPMorgan’s Asset and Wealth Management chief executive Mary Erdoes but it was heavily redacted. Lawyers for the territory claim “Epstein’s behavior was so widely known at JPMorgan that senior executives joked about Epstein’s interest in young girls.”
USVI then cites a 2008 email Erdoes received as an example, however the content of the email is blacked out. The territory also pointed to internal emails at JPMorgan about Epstein being under investigation or sued for sexual abuse and communication from a senior compliance official in 2010.
Read More: JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank Face Narrowed Lawsuits Over Epstein Ties
Young women and an alleged recruiter for Epstein’s trafficking venture were also paid from the late sex offender’s JPMorgan accounts, according to the court filing. Epstein made cash withdrawals to further his sex trafficking while the bank allegedly failed to follow anti-money laundering requirements.
“JPMorgan knowingly did not follow these requirements because it knew that doing so would have prevented Epstein’s secret cash transactions that were necessary to his sex-trafficking operation from escaping knowledge of federal investigative and prosecuting agencies,” lawyers for USVI wrote.
Federal prosecutors charged Epstein with sex trafficking in 2019. He was found dead in his prison cell in Manhattan. Authorities ruled it a suicide.
US District Judge Jed Rakoff last month dismissed a majority of USVI’s claims against JPMorgan but allowed one claim to remain — that the bank knowingly benefited from Epstein’s behavior.
The US territory, which filed the suit against the bank late last year, is asking for permission to file an additional claim under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
A victim of Epstein, Jane Doe, was the first to file a lawsuit against JPMorgan in November, claiming it facilitated Eptein’s trafficking operation. JPMorgan contends that it merely provided routine banking services to Epstein, while Doe argued that he was afforded special treatment because he brought in wealthy clients.
The banks have long claimed that they didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes. Former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley has emerged as a central figure in the lawsuits, with Doe claiming that he “personally observed” sex-trafficking victims. Both USVI and Doe allege in their suits that any knowledge Staley had should be imputed to JPMorgan as his employer.
The cases are Jane Doe 1 v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10019; Jane Doe 1 v. Deutsche Bank, 22-cv-10018, and USVI v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10904-UA, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
(Adds details from filing)
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