JPMorgan Chase Financial institution is seen in New York Metropolis, USA on March 21, 2023. Portal/Caitlin Ochs//File Photograph acquires license rights
NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Portal) – A lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands stated on Thursday that JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) had instructed U.S. authorities it had paid greater than $1 billion over 16 years Jeffrey Epstein dealt with.
JPMorgan reported the transactions to the U.S. Treasury Division as suspicious after Epstein’s suicide in 2019, Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, stated at a listening to on its lawsuit towards the most important U.S. financial institution.
Portal has not seen the financial institution’s disclosures to the Treasury Division as a result of they don’t seem to be public. A JPMorgan spokesman declined to remark.
Epstein was a JPMorgan consumer from 1998 to 2013, when the financial institution fired him. The disgraced financier was awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking costs on the time of his dying.
The U.S. Virgin Islands, the place Epstein owned two non-public islands, is suing JPMorgan for a minimum of $190 million and sure far more, saying the corporate ignored warnings that Epstein ran a intercourse commerce as a result of he was a profitable buyer .
JPMorgan has denied understanding that Epstein ran a intercourse trafficking operation and has accused the territory of getting a comfy relationship with him.
Liu talked about the $1 billion quantity, which had not been beforehand disclosed, and argued that U.S. District Decide Jed Rakoff in Manhattan ought to decide earlier than the trial that the financial institution was concerned in Epstein’s intercourse trafficking.
She stated no cheap juror may discover that JPMorgan was at midnight about its jet-setting clients.
“JPMorgan was a full-service financial institution for Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse trafficking operation,” Liu stated.
Felicia Ellsworth, a lawyer for JPMorgan, stated it was not acceptable for the choose to handle the query of the financial institution’s information earlier than trial as a result of present and former staff have testified that they knew nothing about Epstein’s intercourse trafficking.
She stated JPMorgan knowledgeable the Treasury Division about Epstein’s transactions a minimum of six instances, together with as early as 2002.
Ellsworth additionally disputed the U.S. Virgin Islands’ declare that JPMorgan obstructed the investigation into Epstein, saying the financial institution had requested federal authorities about their very own investigation into his conduct.
That is “the precise reverse of making an attempt to impede,” she stated.
A trial is scheduled for October twenty third. Rakoff stated he’ll resolve by the top of September whether or not main litigation can be resolved sooner.
In June, Rakoff tentatively permitted JPMorgan’s $290 million settlement with girls who declare Epstein abused them.
Deutsche Financial institution (DBKGn.DE), the place Epstein was a buyer from 2013 to 2018, had beforehand reached a $75 million settlement together with his accusers.
Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Edited by Noeleen Walder and Grant McCool
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