Bank of America Corp. wealth management executive Paul Morris was deposed about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein at two other banks now facing suits alleging they knowingly benefited from sex-trafficking.
(Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp. wealth management executive Paul Morris was deposed about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein at two other banks now facing suits alleging they knowingly benefited from sex-trafficking.
Morris was recently questioned under oath by lawyers for unidentified Epstein victims now suing JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG, a person familiar with the matter said. According to court filings, Morris was previously part of the JPMorgan team that managed Epstein’s money and, after moving to Deutsche Bank, helped bring Epstein there as a client.
Spokespeople for Bank of America, where Morris is a managing director in Merrill Private Wealth Management, and Deutsche Bank didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan deny that they knew about Epstein’s sex-trafficking. JPMorgan is also suing its former private wealth head, Jes Staley, alleging he misled the bank into keeping Epstein as a client. Staley has denied the claim.
Morris is not named as a defendant in either the JPMorgan or Deutsche Bank suit. Several other senior bankers have either already given depositions in the cases or are scheduled to do so. JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has set aside two days for testimony near the end of the month.
After JPMorgan cut ties with Epstein in 2013 due to growing public attention to sex-abuse allegations against him, Deutsche Bank became his main financial institution. According to the lawsuit against the German bank by Jane Doe, Morris played a key role in making that happen.
The suit cites information detailed in a 2020 consent order Deutsche Bank entered into with the New York Department of Financial Services. The bank agreed to pay the DFS $150 million for significant oversight failures in managing Epstein’s accounts.
According to the suit, Morris joined Deutsche Bank in 2012 and soon proposed Epstein as a well-connected, wealthy potential client who could generate millions in profits for the bank. In April 2013, a junior staffer at Deutsche Bank allegedly prepared a memo for Morris to send to senior management about taking Epstein on as a client that noted his 2007 non-prosecution agreement on federal charges, and his arrest on state charges for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The memo additionally pointed out that Epstein was involved in 17 out-of-court sex abuse settlements related to the charges in Florida, according to Doe’s court filings. In an email to Charles Packard and Patrick Harris — both then senior figures in the bank’s US wealth management group — Morris estimated Epstein could generate estimated “flows of $100-300 [million] over time” with revenue between $2 million and $4 million annually.
Packard approved Epstein’s on-boarding in an email that DFS later found was the result of an “off-hand conversation.” Packard and Morris also met with Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse in 2015 after a compliance officer flagged press reports about victims challenging his non-prosecution agreement in court.
Doe alleges Morris and Packard observed sex-trafficking victims in Epstein’s home. Epstein also “explained away” questions from the bankers about his large cash withdrawals and payments to Russian accounts, she alleges.
Deutsche Bank denied those claims in a response filed to the court. It also denied that Morris knew of Epstein’s sex-trafficking at the time he joined Deutsche Bank.
Epstein became a Deutsche Bank client in August 2013. He opened more than 40 accounts over a five-year period. Morris was eventually replaced on Epstein’s accounts by another relationship manager and he joined Bank of America in 2016.
Deutsche Bank closed Epstein’s accounts in 2018, a month after a Miami Herald investigation into his history of sexual abuse.
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).
–With assistance from Harry Wilson.
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