A former JPMorgan Chase bank executive said top officials at the bank were constantly in the loop about the status of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s accounts with the bank.
However, officials for the bank deny the claim, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Although the debate touches on some history from the period of 2008 to 2013, it is in connection with a current lawsuit in which JPMorgan is being sued by the government of the Virgin Islands, claiming that the bank facilitated Epstein’s predations.
In response, the bank filed a lawsuit in which JPMorgan Chase is suing Jes Staley, a former senior executive at the company.
Staley fired back in documents the Wall Street Journal said it has seen in which Staley says he kept CEO Jamie Dimon informed about Epstein.
Staley said that Dimon was in touch when Epstein was arrested in 2006 on sex-related charges and in 2008 when Epstein pleaded guilty and became a registered sex offender, according to the report. From then through 2012, Staley claimed, Dimon communicated with him off and on about Epstein.
Staley also said that Dimon communicated with him various times about whether to maintain Epstein as a client through 2012, the Journal reported.
In a Friday deposition, Dimon said he does not recall ever talking about Epstein’s accounts, according to a representative of the bank.
“There is no evidence that any such communications ever occurred—nothing in the voluminous number of documents reviewed and nothing in the nearly dozen depositions taken, including that of our own CEO. The one person who claims this to be true is currently accused of horrific acts and dishonesty,” the representative said.
Should the lawsuits over Jeffrey Epstein’s activities end?
Yes: 13% (2 Votes)
No: 87% (14 Votes)
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.’”
Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing an unnamed alleged victim of Epstein who is also suing JPMorgan Chase, called for Dimon’s deposition to go public, according to the Financial Times.
“Rather than mislead anyone about what was or was not said, why don’t they just agree to release the whole transcript?” Edwards said. “Then the world can put their comment in context and decide for themselves what they thought of Mr Dimon’s testimony as a whole.”
A report in the Daily Mail said newly disclosed records show Epstein had a meeting scheduled with someone named “Dimon” scheduled for March 2, 2010.
A bank representative said no meeting ever took place.
