The previous prime JPMorgan Chase government accountable for the financial institution’s 15-year relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein swapped sexually suggestive emails about younger girls with him — even after Mr. Epstein had been convicted of intercourse crimes in 2008, in accordance with a submitting Wednesday in a lawsuit towards JPMorgan in federal courtroom.
The doc bolstered claims within the unique criticism, filed in late December, that James E. Staley, who was the lead non-public banker of JPMorgan, and Mr. Epstein had been unusually shut and that the financial institution ought to have been conscious of the connection. The 2 males exchanged greater than 1,000 emails, in accordance with the courtroom submitting.
Mr. Staley, who goes by Jes, later grew to become the chief government of the British financial institution Barclays. However in 2021, the bank pushed him out within the swirl of a regulatory inquiry into his years-earlier relationship with Mr. Epstein and whether or not he had totally disclosed the extent of these ties earlier than becoming a member of Barclays.
Attorneys for the federal government of the U.S. Virgin Islands mentioned within the amended civil criticism that Mr. Epstein had emailed Mr. Staley “pictures of younger girls in seductive poses,” and that the 2 had engaged in “discussions of intercourse with younger girls.” The criticism is towards JPMorgan, and Mr. Staley is just not a defendant.
The lawsuit mentioned, “JPMorgan had a greater than close-up view of Epstein’s sex-trafficking” of younger girls due to Mr. Staley’s shut relationship to Mr. Epstein.
The unique criticism was closely redacted, with a lot of the extra salacious allegations involving Mr. Staley hidden from public view till Wednesday.
In December, the lawyer basic of the U.S. Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan in Manhattan, saying the bank should have known about Mr. Epstein’s actions on Little St. James Island, an island off St. Thomas that he owned. Dozens of ladies have come ahead to say they had been victims of Mr. Epstein’s sexual abuse as youngsters or younger adults.
His property has paid out greater than $125 million in settlements and not too long ago agreed to pay greater than $105 million to the Virgin Islands authorities to settle one other lawsuit filed by the lawyer basic’s workplace.
JPMorgan has moved to dismiss the Virgin Islands go well with. Mr. Staley has confirmed that he was pleasant with Mr. Epstein, however mentioned he had by no means identified of any allegations past Mr. Epstein’s earlier responsible plea. Mr. Epstein died of an obvious suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking fees.
JPMorgan and a lawyer for Mr. Staley declined to remark.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the governor of the Virgin Islands, Albert Bryan, fired Denise N. George as lawyer basic on New Yr’s Eve. The firing was partly over tensions arising from Ms. George’s dealing with of a three-year investigation into Mr. Epstein’s dealings within the Virgin Islands. An interim lawyer basic, who was certainly one of Ms. George’s deputies, has continued the lawsuit.
Not like a few of Mr. Epstein’s different high-profile associates, Mr. Staley maintained a relationship with the financier after he pleaded responsible in 2008 to a prostitution cost involving an underage lady. In 2013, Mr. Epstein listed Mr. Staley as a reference in an software for a banking license from the Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands’ submitting this week provides to the proof of an intensive relationship between the 2 males.
In a single change earlier than Mr. Staley visited Mr. Epstein on Little St. James in August 2009, Mr. Epstein requested if the banker wanted something, and Mr. Staley replied merely, “Yup.”
“Quickly after, JPMorgan wired $3,000 from an Epstein account” to an Jap European lady, prosecutors mentioned.
A couple of 12 months later, Mr. Staley emailed Mr. Epstein after one other go to to say: “That was enjoyable. Say hello to Snow White.” Prosecutors mentioned the reference and one other one to a Disney princess had been code phrases for younger girls or women.
