The US Virgin Islands is asking a judge to block JPMorgan Chase & Co. from arguing that the territory has “unclean hands” in suing the bank for allegedly benefiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes because it also failed to act against him.
(Bloomberg) — The US Virgin Islands is asking a judge to block JPMorgan Chase & Co. from arguing that the territory has “unclean hands” in suing the bank for allegedly benefiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes because it also failed to act against him.
The USVI said in Monday filing in Manhattan federal court that JPMorgan was seeking “to shift fault to the government for alleged failure to prevent Epstein’s and JPMorgan’s own trafficking-related activity.” According to the territory, a state entity can’t be held liable for failing to protect a specific individual rather than the general public.
JPMorgan, which declined to comment on the filing, is facing two suits over its ties to Epstein, who was a client at the bank from 1998 to 2013. One is a proposed class action by an unidentified Epstein victim while the second was brought by the USVI, where the late financier had a private island retreat to which he brought some of his victims.
In its February motion to dismiss the USVI suit, JPMorgan called the territory’s claims a “masterclass in deflection,” saying it failed to act against Epstein despite having the same information about allegations against him as the bank. “To the contrary, during the same period, USVI granted Epstein and his businesses lucrative privileges and massive tax incentives,” JPMorgan argued.
The USVI on Monday argued that it did not have the same knowledge as the bank.
“JPMorgan had real-time information on Epstein’s activity that the government did not and had specific legal duties to report this information to law enforcement authorities, which it intentionally decided not to do,” the USVI said.
The bank has long claimed that it didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes and has sued former executive Jes Staley for allegedly vouching for him. Both suits against JPMorgan allege Staley knew of Epstein’s conduct and argue that his knowledge should be imputed to the bank as his employer.
Staley has moved to dismiss JPMorgan’s claims, arguing he had no power over the bank’s decision to keep Epstein as a client.
The case is USVI v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10904-UA, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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