JPMorgan Chase stated Tuesday it will shell out $75 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging that the enormous American financial institution facilitated and benefited from sexual intercourse trafficking of younger females by its longtime client Jeffrey Epstein.
JPMorgan did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement, which will give $55 million to Virgin Islands charities and the American territory’s anti-trafficking efforts.
The remaining $20 million will address attorneys’ costs incurred by the Virgin Islands as portion of the litigation in federal courtroom in New York.
The Virgin Islands explained the offer “contains various sizeable commitments by JPMorgan Chase to discover, report, and slice off support for likely human trafficking, which include establishing and applying in depth procedures and treatments.”
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell go to de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Avenue Live performance Sequence Benefitting Wall Street Increasing, with a General performance by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Road on March 15, 2005 in New York Metropolis.
Joe Schildhorn | Patrick McMullan | Getty Visuals
The territory reported that $10 million of the dollars obtained would be utilized to make a fund to deliver mental wellness solutions for Epstein’s victims.
JPMorgan also reported Tuesday that it had attained a settlement with Jes Staley, a former government at the lender who experienced been friends with Epstein, to solve promises by JPMorgan that he was dependable for any civil damages and expenditures affiliated with Epstein-associated litigation.
The phrases of the arrangement with Staley are confidential.
JPMorgan mentioned that it “deeply regrets” its affiliation with Epstein, who was a consumer from 1998 right up until 2013.
Virgin Islands Legal professional Typical Ariel Smith explained the arrangement settles what was the initial enforcement action from a lender for facilitating and profiting from human trafficking.
“As section of the settlement, JPMorgan has agreed to put into action and sustain meaningful anti-trafficking measures, which will aid avoid human trafficking in the foreseeable future,” Smith explained in a statement.
“This settlement is an historic victory for survivors and for condition enforcement, and it need to audio the alarm on Wall Street about banks’ duties underneath the law to detect and stop human trafficking.”
Jes Staley, former chief govt officer of Barclays Plc, comes at the workplaces of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP in New York, US, on Sunday, June 11, 2023. Staley has faced his initially day of testimony about his romance with Jeffrey Epstein as part of lawsuits alleging the lender enabled the late financier’s sexual intercourse-trafficking. Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg by means of Getty Illustrations or photos
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
The deals arrive months immediately after a different $290 million settlement by JPMorgan with victims of the now-useless predator. That before offer finished a similar lawsuit by a person of individuals victims in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
As with that prior settlement, the new pacts allow the financial institution steer clear of a demo on the Virgin Islands’ allegations in that similar court docket, which was due to commence Oct. 23.
The territory had said it would check with jurors at that demo to award it at least $190 million in damages from JPMorgan.
The Virgin Islands previously attained a $105 million settlement from Epstein’s estate, and a different $62.5 million from billionaire trader Leon Black to take care of opportunity claims relevant to Epstein.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and other top lender executives experienced been questioned by lawyers for the Virgin Islands as element of its go well with against the organization.
Related court filings and hearings have led to a stream of embarrassing headlines about the financial institution given that the scenario was filed in late 2022, more than a few many years immediately after Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail pursuing his arrest on federal child intercourse trafficking rates.
The Virgin Islands claimed JPMorgan correctly overlooked repeated red flags that Epstein was trafficking women to his personal island in the territory for the reason that it desired to keep his company and that of his rich and strong mates.
Among the individuals crimson flags was Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea in Florida to a point out demand of soliciting sexual intercourse from an underage girl, a conviction that led to a 13-thirty day period jail stint.
In late August, a JPMorgan lawyer advised Decide Jed Rakoff that after Epstein died, the financial institution notified the Treasury Office that it considering the fact that had recognized a lot more than $1 billion in transactions linked to “human trafficking” by him dating back 16 decades.
But the bank also had alleged in court docket filings that the Virgin Islands was complicit in Epstein’s crimes, saying he gave higher-ranking territory officials income, guidance, and favors in exchange for their making it possible for him to traffick women of all ages there unhindered.
In a press launch announcing the new settlement with the Virgin Islands, JPMorgan mentioned it “believes this settlement is in the greatest fascination of all functions, particularly for those people who can reward from initiatives to overcome human trafficking, and for survivors who put up with unimaginable abuse at the arms of these criminals.”
“Although the settlement does not contain admissions of legal responsibility, the company deeply regrets any affiliation with this male, and would by no means have continued accomplishing company with him if it thought he was working with the bank in any way to dedicate his heinous crimes,” the statement reported.
“The agency will continue on to function with regulation enforcement to beat human trafficking and aid to detect inappropriate revenue movement into the worldwide payments systems.”
JPMorgan mentioned that beneath the deal a huge portion of the income will obtained to the Virgin Islands “to enrich the infrastructure and capabilities of regulation enforcement to reduce and battle human trafficking and other crimes in their territories.”
The bank reported it will shell out tens of millions additional”to assist USVI charitable companies whose do the job is aimed at addressing social ills, including battling human trafficking and other sex crimes, and to assistance survivors on their paths to therapeutic.”
With the remaining money going to attorneys’ costs, JPMorgan is having to pay the exact volume, $75 million, that Deutsche Bank agreed to pay Epstein victims to settle a third Manhattan federal court lawsuit that alleged that financial institution facilitated his intercourse trafficking when he was a shopper from 2013 as a result of 2018.
Deutsche Bank experienced taken on Epstein as a customer immediately after JPMorgan finished its connection with him when Staley remaining the financial institution.
Epstein for yrs socialized with superior-profile people today such as previous President Donald Trump and Monthly bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew, and had business enterprise associations with billionaires these types of as Black and previous L. Brands CEO Les Wexner.
Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who after was Epstein’s girlfriend, was convicted at a federal felony trial in Manhattan in December 2021 of procuring underage women to be sexually abused by him.
Maxwell later was sentenced to 20 yrs in jail.
Staley, the previous JPMorgan executive has denied claims of wrongdoing, together with an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman determined as “Jane Doe,” whose course action go well with led to the prior settlement with the financial institution.
In November 2021, Staley stepped down as CEO of Barclays immediately after an investigation by British bank regulators into how he had characterised his relationship with Epstein.
This is breaking information. Check back again for updates.
