The U.S. Virgin Islands filed a suit this week against JPMorgan Chase, accusing the financial institution of turning a “blind eye” and aiding in the “concealment” of the late Jeffrey Epstein‘s sex trafficking crimes.
Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George filed a complaint in the Manhattan District Court accusing JPMorgan Chase of facilitating Epstein’s trafficking of minors for sexual abuse. The institution allegedly “provided and pulled the levers through which recruiters and victims were paid,” George wrote.
The lawsuit states that the bank should have been aware of Epstein’s illegal actions at a villa on Little St. James Island, which Epstein owned, and should have reported them to law enforcement as part of his obligation to anti-money-laundering laws.
“Over more than a decade, JPMorgan (JPM) clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little too-late efforts after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and shortly after his death, when JPMorgan (JPM) belatedly complied with federal law,” the complaint states.
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Epstein was a client of the bank’s high-end services for nearly 15 years and continued to be long after his 2008 conviction on two counts of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl. The bank eventually removed him as a client in 2013, three years before he was accused of attempting to cover up a larger investigation into his actions.
Epstein, who died in 2019 as he was awaiting a trial on charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse of minors in New York, was also a client of the Deutsche Bank.
Last month, separate lawsuits were filed by two anonymous women alleging both financial institutions enabled and benefited from Epstein’s abusive actions. A spokesperson for JPMorgan declined to comment at the time, while a representative for Deutsche Bank told the Washington Examiner the claim “lacks merit” and vowed to defend the institution in court.
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A representative for JPMorgan declined to comment to the Washington Examiner.
George’s complaint follows a Nov. 30 announcement between the Virgin Islands and Epstein’s estate to settle a separate sex-trafficking lawsuit for $105 million. George filed the complaint in 2020, claiming Epstein and other associates created a sprawling network that used properties and companies across the Virgin Islands to traffic dozens of women and girls to be raped, sexually abused, and held captive on Epstein’s private island.
