JPMorgan agrees to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit with US Virgin Islands government over alleged Jeffrey Epstein trafficking ties
By Lauren del Valle, CNN
New York (CNN) — JPMorgan Chase has reached a settlement with the US Virgin Islands over a lawsuit alleging the bank enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes.
The settlement includes “significant commitments” by JPMorgan Chase to curtail human trafficking, and a $75 million payment to the US Virgin Islands.
The USVI attorney general sued JPMorgan Chase in December in the Southern District of New York, claiming that the bank benefited financially from disgraced financier Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation and failed in its duty to report suspicious financial activity, according to a press release from the attorney general.
JPMorgan said in a statement Tuesday that it was not conceding any liability in the settlement, reiterating that it “deeply regrets any association” with Epstein.
A federal judge will ultimately have to approve the settlement.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking dozens of underage girls. Just over a month after his arrest, Epstein died by suicide his jail cell, according to New York’s medical examiner.
According to the criminal indictment, between 2002 and 2005, Epstein ran a trafficking enterprise in which he paid girls as young as 14 to have sex with him at his Upper East Side home and his estate in Palm Beach. He worked with employees and associates, according to the indictment, to lure the girls to his residences and paid some of his victims to recruit other girls.
The bank said that $30 million of the settlement will help support charitable organizations working to end human trafficking and to support survivors. Another $25 million will be paid to the USVI to enhance infrastructure and bolster law enforcement. The remaining $20 million is earmarked for legal fees.
JPMorgan said it also reached a settlement agreement with former executive James “Jes” Staley, against whom the bank filed a cross claim in connection with his alleged role in facilitating Epstein’s relationship with the bank.
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