JPMorgan Chase is ready to pay a considerable sum to settle a class-action lawsuit involving a sufferer of Jeffrey Epstein, in line with a joint assertion from the financial institution and the lady’s authorized representatives. The proposed settlement would see JPMorgan pay out US$290 million, resolving one declare towards the financial institution in a class-action lawsuit filed by a girl who alleges Epstein abused her.
Epstein, a billionaire financier, was arrested in 2019 on federal costs of paying underage women a whole bunch of {dollars} for massages, solely to molest them at his properties in Florida and New York. He was discovered useless in jail on August 10 of the identical yr on the age of 66, along with his loss of life dominated as suicide by a medical expert.
In a press release, JPMorgan stated, “Any affiliation with him [Epstein] was a mistake and we remorse it. We’d by no means have continued to do business with him if we believed he was utilizing our financial institution in any means to assist commit heinous crimes.”
The lawsuits declare that JPMorgan offered Epstein with loans and commonly permitted giant money withdrawals from 1998 to 2013, regardless of being conscious of his involvement in intercourse trafficking. The nameless sufferer, known as Jane Doe, said she was sexually abused by Epstein from 2006 to 2013.
JPMorgan, the most important financial institution in america, remains to be going through a lawsuit from the government of the US Virgin Islands, the place Epstein owned two neighbouring islands and allegedly abused victims in his mansion.
Moreover, the financial institution’s litigation towards former govt Jes Staley, who’s accused of concealing his data about Epstein, is ongoing. Staley has expressed remorse for befriending Epstein however denies any data of the alleged intercourse trafficking. His legal professionals didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The proposed class-action lawsuit accuses JPMorgan of ignoring inside warnings about Epstein’s sexual abuse of ladies and younger girls, selecting to maintain him as a shopper. The financial institution continued to work with Epstein even after his 2006 arrest on prostitution-related costs and a associated responsible plea in 2008.
Final month, Deutsche Financial institution agreed to pay US$75 million to settle an identical lawsuit by girls who declare they had been trafficked by Epstein. Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Jane Doe 1 who sued JPMorgan, stated in a press release, “The settlements sign that monetary establishments have an necessary function to play in recognizing and shutting down intercourse trafficking.”
The settlement partially resolves a uncommon public relations subject for Jamie Dimon, who has been JPMorgan’s chief govt since 2006. Dimon testified underneath oath in Could that he had barely heard of Epstein till his July 2019 arrest and didn’t recall discussing Epstein’s accounts with different financial institution officers, together with these authorised to terminate Epstein as a shopper.
Former JPMorgan counsel Stephen Cutler had requested the financial institution sever ties with Epstein, however different executives resisted.