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Victims said the bank “knowingly” facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes and benefitted from the relationship with the financier.
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, Business reporter @taaffems
US bank JPMorgan has agreed to pay $290m (£232m) to victims of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to settle claims the bank knowingly financially benefitted from Mr Epstein’s crimes.
A class action lawsuit was taken against the Wall Street lender by victims of Mr Epstein, who say it turned a blind eye to the signs he was trafficking young women, including processing victim settlements and funding transport.
The suit alleged JPMorgan benefited from the deals and clients Mr Epstein, as a successful financier, brought to the bank and “knowingly facilitated, sustained and concealed” cash withdrawals used to pay his victims.
Details of the “agreement in principle” settlement are not public but it is worth a reported $290m to the anonymous victims.
Mr Epstein was a client of JPMorgan from 1998 to 2013 before the bank cut ties with him. He was convicted for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008 but held millions of dollars across more than 50 JPMorgan accounts for five years following the conviction.
The case against JPMorgan had been growing as victims asked a federal judge on Friday to allow new evidence to be taken from former chief executive at the bank, Jamie Dimon, as well as other witnesses.
The bank is also being sued by the government of the US Virgin Islands, where Mr Epstein had a private island, alleging the bank missed red flags about his abuse in the territory.
Settling the case is “in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse”, the JPMorgan legal team said.
“Any association with [Mr Epstein] was a mistake and we regret it. We would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes.”
The bank had failed to have the charges against it dismissed in March, when a judge ruled it must face the class action.
In turn JPMorgan is pursuing legal action against former chief executive Jes Staley over his links to Mr Epstein, seeking to hold him personally liable for financial penalties it pays and force him to pay back wages earned when he was allegedly aware of Epstein‘s sexual abuse.
Mr Epstein died aged 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Deutsche Bank, his bank from 2013, is also being sued by victims.
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