JPMorgan Offers Up One of Its Own Past Bankers to Take the Fall for Jeffrey Epstein Liability
Financial giant JPMorgan is claiming it should not be sued over its relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The government of the Virgin Islands has sued the financial giant. A newly released version of the lawsuit said that “at least 20 individuals paid through JP Morgan accounts were victims of trafficking and sexual assault in Little St. James, New York, and/or other Epstein properties.”
Little St. James was the location of Epstein’s Virgin Islands home.
JPMorgan is also being sued by a former sex trafficking victim, known in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1.
In response, a new lawsuit has been filed in which JPMorgan is suing Jes Staley, a former senior executive at JPMorgan.
The JPMorgan lawsuit repeats claims Doe made in her suit that “Staley knew without any doubt that Epstein was trafficking and abusing girls” and that “all of [Epstein’s] staff, including his main attorney and accountant, worked full time to conceal the illegal operation.”
“Doe also alleges, ‘Staley had observed victims personally, and he was aware that Epstein was shelling out millions of dollars to attorneys to take on these well-founded allegations,’” the JPMorgan lawsuit claims, adding, “Doe alleges that Staley ‘personally observed Doe as a sex trafficking and abuse victim at times including through his departure from JP Morgan in 2013.’”
The claim cites allegations from Doe that Stalely “‘personally spent time with young girls whom he met through Epstein on several occasions’; ‘personally visited young girls at Epstein’s apartments located at 301 East 66th Street’; ‘personally observed Epstein around young girls’; and personally observed, ‘Epstein sexually grab young women in front of him.'”
The Morgan lawsuit said Staley never informed JPMorgan about his connections with Epstein.
The suit said that if the claims from Doe and the Virgin Islands government are true, “Staley repeatedly abandoned the interests of JPMC and served his own and Epstein’s interests.”
The bank summed up its claims by writing “to the extent that Staley knew of, participated in, or witnessed sexual abuse associated with Epstein and did not report it to, actively concealed it from, or misrepresented his knowledge to JPMC, Staley, not JPMC, is responsible for any injuries Epstein may have caused.”
“Staley affirmatively misrepresented the true facts of his and Epstein’s personal interactions and activities to JPMC and repeatedly provided misleading information to JPMC when vouching for Epstein’s character and conduct,” the suit said.
JP Morgan executive Jes Staley emails Jeffrey Epstein in July 2010, ONE YEAR AFTER Epstein got out of jail
Staley:
“That was fun. Say hi to Snow White”
Epstein:
“What character would you like next?”
Staley:
“Beauty and the Beast”
Epstein:
“Well, one side is available” pic.twitter.com/2UY0DWtUmU
— An Open Secret (@AnOpenSecret) February 16, 2023
The Virgin Islands lawsuit delved into what it called Epstein’s “close personal relationship” with Staley.
“Between 2008 and 2012, Staley exchanged approximately 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JP Morgan email account. These communications show a close personal relationship and ‘profound’ friendship between the two men and even suggest that Staley may have been involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit noted that on two separate occasions when Staley visited Epstein properties, “a woman with an Eastern European surname” was wired money by Epstein.
In July 2010, according to the lawsuit, Staley “sent an email to Epstein, saying: ‘Maybe they’re tracking u? That was fun. Say hi to Snow White.’ Epstein responded: ‘[W]hat character would you like next?’ When Staley said ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Epstein replied: ‘well one side is available.’”
A lawyer for Staley declined to comment on the initial lawsuit in which his communications with Epstein were made public, according to the Financial Times.
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