THE biggest bank in the United States has reached a settlement with the US Virgin Islands after claims it enabled the sex trafficking acts committed by financier Jeffrey Epstein.
JP Morgan Chase has agreed to pay $75 million (£62m) to the US Virgin Islands to settle claims that the bank enabled the sex trafficking acts committed by Epstein.
JP Morgan said that $55m of the settlement will go towards local charities and assistance for victims. Another $20m will go towards legal fees.
The Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate, sued JP Morgan last year, saying its investigation revealed that the financial services giant enabled Epstein’s recruiters to pay victims and was “indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise”.
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In effect, the Virgin Islands argued that JP Morgan had been complicit in Epstein’s behaviour and did not raise any red flags to law enforcement or bank regulators about Epstein being a “high risk” customer and making repeated large cash withdrawals.
The bank also said it reached a confidential legal settlement with James “Jes” Staley, the former top JP Morgan executive who managed the Epstein account before leaving the the bank.
JP Morgan sued Staley earlier this year, alleging that he covered up or minimised Epstein’s wrongdoing in order to maintain the lucrative account.
JP Morgan had already agreed to pay $290m in June in a class-action lawsuit that involved victims of Epstein’s trafficking crimes.
Epstein killed himself whilst awaiting trial in a federal jail in 2019.
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