JPMorgan Chase Agrees to Pay $75 Million Settlement in Jeffrey Epstein Case
JPMorgan Chase agreed Tuesday to pay $75 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to settle claims that the bank enabled the sex trafficking acts committed by financier Jeffrey Epstein.
JPMorgan said that $55 million of the settlement will go toward local charities and assistance for victims. Another $20 million will go toward legal fees.
The Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate, sued JPMorgan last year, saying its investigation has revealed that the financial services giant enabled Epstein’s recruiters to pay victims and was “indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise.”
In effect, the Virgin Islands had argued that JPMorgan had been complicit in Epstein’s behavior and did not raise any red flags to law enforcement or bank regulators about Epstein being a “high risk” customer and making repeated large cash withdrawals.
Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel Smith issued a statement, calling the settlement “an historic victory for survivors and for state enforcement, and it should sound the alarm on Wall Street about banks’ responsibilities under the law to detect and prevent human trafficking.”
JPMorgan said it “deeply regrets any association” with Epstein.
The bank also said it reached a confidential legal settlement with James “Jes” Staley, the former top JPMorgan executive who managed the Epstein account before leaving the bank.
JPMorgan sued Staley earlier this year, alleging that he covered up or minimized Epstein’s wrongdoing in order to maintain the lucrative account.
JPMorgan had already agreed to pay $290 million in June in a class-action lawsuit that involved victims of Epstein’s trafficking crimes.
Epstein died in a federal jail in 2019.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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