JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will be deposed later this month in connection with civil lawsuits alleging the banking behemoth helped facilitate the sex trafficking network of Jeffery Epstein.
An unnamed source told CNBC that Dimon would be questioned under oath in New York on May 26 and 27.
A legal filing by prosecutors in the U.S. Virgin Islands states that “JP Morgan knowingly, negligently, and unlawfully provided and pulled the levers through which recruiters and victims were paid and was indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise.”
According to prosecutors, JP Morgan conducted business with Epstein as far back as 1998. Prosecutors also say that following Epstein’s conviction in 2008, bank personnel were aware of his status as a sex offender and sex trafficker and continued the bank’s relationship with him.
The court filing details:
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.
Despite this knowledge, JP Morgan intentionally paid for, concealed, facilitated and participated in Epstein’s and his co-conspirators’ violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a), which JP Morgan knew and was in reckless disregard of the fact that Epstein and his co-conspirators would use its bank accounts and financial transactions to coerce, defraud, and force young women and underage girls to engage in commercial sex acts.
JP Morgan, through its employees and agents and their role in facilitating the financial aspect of Epstein’s enterprise, actively facilitated or participated in the sex-trafficking conspiracy in which Epstein and his co-conspirators led young women and underage girls in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere to believe that they would be rewarded if they cooperated with Epstein and his co-conspirators and acquiesced to their demands.
Jes Staley, JP Morgan’s former head of private banking, was specifically named in the case, as prosecutors noted that he had developed a close relationship with Epstein while serving at the bank.
Following the action from U.S. Virgin Islands prosecutors, JP Morgan announced that it was suing Staley to make him liable for penalties connected to the case.
In a statement, JP Morgan distanced itself from Staley, writing:
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.
