JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, has agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands $75 million as part of a settlement in a lawsuit that accused the company of aiding the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in his notorious child sex trafficking operation, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
Marquee at the main entrance to JPMorgan Chase headquarters building in Manhattan. (Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
LightRocket via Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- The lawsuit, filed by prosecutors in the Virgin Island, alleged that JPMorgan Chase obstructed federal law enforcement investigating Epstein and that company executives Jes Staley and CEO Jamie Dimon knew about Epstein’s sex trafficking as early as 2008, (both Staley and Dimon have denied this) but looked the other way because Epstein was generating a large amount of revenue for the company.
- Of the $75 million to be paid, $30 million will go to charitable organizations focused on fighting human trafficking, sex crimes and other social ills as well as supporting survivors, while $25 million will be spent on enhancing the Virgin Island’s law enforcement infrastructure, specifically relating to human trafficking, and $20 million will go towards attorney’s fees.
- JPMorgan Chase did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.
- The company also settled a separate lawsuit it had filed against Staley for an undisclosed amount, it said Tuesday.
Key Background
The U.S. Virgin Islands filed its lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase in December, accusing the company of knowing about Epstein’s crimes, which included running a child sex trafficking ring for years out of his private island in the Virgin Islands and his home in Florida, but actively looking the other way because he generated lots of revenue for the bank as a client. The bank was also sued by a group of Epstein’s victims on similar allegations a month later, though it already settled that lawsuit in June. In March, JPMorgan Chase turned around and sued its own executive Staley, pinning the blame on him and arguing to the court that if it is found responsible for any damages in its lawsuit “it is entitled to recover the entire amount of any damages from Staley.” Epstein was a client at JPMorgan Chase from 1998 until 2013 when he switched to Deutsche Bank, where he banked until 2018, shortly before he died in prison in 2019 awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.
News Peg
This settlement comes a month before a trial was set to begin that likely would’ve provided a fuller picture of the bank’s relationship with Epstein.
Tangent
The case has already revealed a number of embarrassing details for the bank, including emails where Epstein sent Staley photos of young women in what the lawsuit described as “seductive poses” and discussed trips to his private island where much of the sex trafficking allegedly occurred.
Other emails that surfaced over the course of the case showed that Staley once told Epstein in 2010: “That was fun. Say hi to Snow White,’ to which Epstein replied asking him “what character would you like next?” Additionally, Epstein allegedly wired money to a woman two times, once after one of Staley’s visits to his Florida mansion and again after Staley told Epstein he was coming to London. Staley’s lawyers denied the allegations during court proceedings in which he argued the bank was trying to use him as a “public relations shield” and unsuccessfully tried to get the lawsuit dismissed.
Big Number
$365 million. That’s how much money in total JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay to various entities in settlements related to its relationship with Epstein.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
