The authorities of the U.S. Virgin Islands in a court filing Friday believed that it will seek damages of at least $190 million from JPMorgan Chase in a lawsuit accusing the big financial institution of facilitating intercourse trafficking by its previous very long-time customer Jeffrey Epstein.
The Virgin Islands also claimed it desires an buy necessitating JPMorgan to choose a series of techniques to shield younger ladies and ladies from other predators in the long run.
“These sets of recommendations purpose to tackle the exact core challenge: JPMorgan’s understanding of
and failure to report Epstein’s trafficking because it lacked the financial incentive and motivation
to place compliance with the legislation and avoidance of trafficking forward of its possess revenue,” the filing in U.S. District Courtroom in Manhattan claims.
The American territory also stated it will request even more compensatory damages exclusively for victims of Epstein outside of the nearly $300 million JPMorgan agreed to pay victims past month to settle a lawsuit by one particular of his accusers. The submitting did not give an total for people further damages.
The new submitting came in response to a request past 7 days by Judge Jed Rakoff that the territory element the damages it seeks in the circumstance as it heads towards a scheduled Oct. 23 demo.
The Virgin Islands’ match accuses JPMorgan of benefiting from Epstein’s trafficking of young gals to be abused by him and other people for the duration of the 15 decades he was a customer of the lender, which is the premier in the United States.
The criticism alleges JPMorgan allowed Epstein to keep numerous hundreds of thousands of dollars in accounts at the bank, which he applied to fund his trafficking of females, regardless of various pink flags about him lifted by bank staff members more than the several years.
JPMorgan, which experienced no fast comment Friday, has frequently denied any wrongdoing in the scenario.
“We are pursuing this enforcement action due to the fact JPMorgan Chase’s institutional failure enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, and JPMorgan Chase need to make considerable improvements to detect, report and end human trafficking,” explained U.S. Virgin Islands Lawyer General Ariel Smith in a assertion Friday.
“Financial penalties, as effectively as carry out adjustments, are important to make guaranteed that JPMorgan Chase is familiar with the expense of placing its own gains forward of community protection,” said Smith.
She claimed that if the Virgin Islands wins its accommodate, it will works by using the financial damages it receives “to assistance attempts to reinforce, tell, and extend local law enforcement and greatly enhance the Virgin Islands’ solutions for victims of human trafficking and other victims of criminal offense.”
The submitting suggests the Virgin Islands wishes at least $150 million in civil penalties by itself. The submitting also states that it desires JPMorgan to disgorge at least yet another $40 million in service fees that Epstein generated for the lender, and that JPMorgan been given from “many extremely-high net truly worth customers” he referred to the lender.
People consumers, the filing stated, involved Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft founder Monthly bill Gates, Lex Wexner, the founder of Confined Brands, and the billionaire Glenn Dubin.
In addition to the financial damages, the Virgin Islands also is asking JPMorgan be compelled “to implement new procedures, including separating its business and compliance capabilities and designating an impartial compliance marketing consultant, to stop human trafficking,” in accordance to a press launch by Smit’s office environment.
JPMorgan in its personal court filings has accused the Virgin Islands alone of being “complicit in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.”
The bank alleges Epstein gave higher-ranking officers there income, assistance and favors in exchange for on the lookout the other way when he trafficked younger ladies to be abused there.
Epstein had a home on a personal island in the territory, in which accusers say he and other folks sexually abused them.
Previous thirty day period in the very same court docket exactly where the Virgin Islands is suing the financial institution JPMorgan agreed, with out admitting wrongdoing, to pay back $290 million to victims of Epstein to settle a go well with by a person of his accusers.
In Could, Deutsche Bank agreed to shell out Epstein victims $75 million to settle a separate lawsuit by an accuser who accused that back of abetting his sexual intercourse trafficking of her and some others. Deutsche Financial institution took on Epstein as a customer right after JPMorgan severed ties with him in 2013, decades right after bank workers initial voiced issues about him.
Deutsche Financial institution previously agreed to pay out New York state’s Department of Monetary Solutions a $150 million penalty for failure to detect or stop hundreds of thousands of dollars of suspicious transactions associated to Epstein, which provided “payments to Russian models and to numerous women with Eastern European surnames,” the filing Friday by the Virgin Islands pointed out.
Epstein, who had been a buddy to previous Presidents Donald Trump and Monthly bill Clinton, as properly as Prince Andrew of Good Britain, pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida point out cost of soliciting sex from an underage lady. He served 13 months in jail, but spent much of that time on do the job launch every working day.
Epstein, then 66, killed himself in a federal jail in New York in August 2019, a thirty day period after he was arrested on federal youngster intercourse trafficking charges.
