A former JP Morgan Chase executive is scheduled to be deposed next week in connection with his possible role in using the company to facilitate the illicit underage sex trafficking network of Jeffrey Epstein.
The company is suing Jess Staley, JP Morgan’s former head of private banking, to make him liable for penalties it could face in two separate legal battles accusing the company of aiding Epstein’s illegal activities.
Staley was named in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands that accused the multi-national corporation of helping the now-deceased Epstein exploit and traffic underage girls.
Prosecutors say that “JP Morgan and its employees had actual knowledge that they were facilitating Epstein’s sexual abuse and sex-trafficking conspiracy to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, and maintain young women and underage girls to engage in commercial sex acts through the means of force, threats of force, fraud, abuse of process, and coercion.”
In the December 2022 legal filing, Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George said that Staley developed a “close relationship” with Epstein while serving at JP Morgan. Much of the document is redacted, so little more was publicly known about the depth of knowledge Staley had about Epstein’s network.
But, in February, prosecutors released a less-redacted version of the suit, in which prosecutors establish that JP Morgan did business with Epstein as early as 1988, servicing around 55 accounts collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Prosecutors also say that at least 20 people paid through JP Morgan accounts were victims of trafficking and sexual assault.
Prosecutors also obtained internal e-mails between JP Morgan employees discussing Epstein’s indictment, human trafficking allegations, and the disgraced financier being registered as a sex offender. Staley, according to the filing, told JP Morgan’s risk management division there was no truth to the allegations, after speaking directly with Epstein.
The Virgin Islands AG also has records showing that Staley exchanged at least 1,200 e-mails with Epstein, showing a “profound” relationship the two men had, which prosecutors say “suggest that Staley may have been involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.”
JP Morgan has accused Staley of “intentional and outrageous conduct” in concealing information about his close ties with Epstein, Reuters reported on Mar. 16.
In a statement reported by the Guardian, JP Morgan said:
While the conduct Epstein was accused of is despicable, the lawsuits against JPMC are misplaced and without merit. The plaintiffs have made troubling allegations concerning the conduct of our former employee Jes Staley, and if true he should be held responsible for his actions.
At the time, we could not have imagined any of our employees would engage in the type of conduct alleged. We expect all of our employees at every level of the firm to act with honesty and integrity. If these allegations against Staley are true, he violated this duty by putting his own personal interests ahead of the company’s.
The lawsuit seeks to force Staley to repay nearly a decade’s worth of compensation, and reimburse JP Morgan for damages the company may incur in other lawsuits.
