Global Courant 2023-04-13 05:07:18
The charges against Jeffrey Epstein were announced on July 8, 2019 in New York City. Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.
Stephanie Keet | Getty Images News | Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase was privy to allegations in 2006 that former financier Jeffrey Epstein shamed into bringing underage girls to his home, according to the latest allegations in a high-profile lawsuit.
A file released Wednesday as part of a lawsuit initiated last year by the U.S. Virgin Islands contained new revelations about internal discussions at the largest U.S. bank by assets linked to Epstein, who died by apparent suicide in 2019.
Mary Callahan Erdoesa seasoned JPMorgan executive who became head of the bank’s giant wealth and wealth management division in 2009 was recently interviewed under oath in the case.
She “admitted in her statement that JPMorgan knew in 2006 that Epstein was accused of paying cash to have underage girls and young women brought to his home,” the indictment said.
Erdoes was referring to accusations from news reports, according to an expert. New York-based JPMorgan declined to comment on the filing.
The latest filing details the extent to which JPMorgan executives grappled with thorny questions related to the banking of Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes in 2008. Despite concerns raised in 2006, the bench served Epstein for another seven years. The scope of the case seemed to have widened in recent weeks by a series of bold names from the industry, including Google founder Sergey Brin and former disney executive Michael Ovitz would be subpoenaed in the case.
‘Without Merit’
Late last year, the U.S. Virgin Islands and a group of alleged Epstein victims sued and charged JPMorgan with facilitating the sex offender’s crimes. JPMorgan went from initially defending a former executive, ex investment banking executive Jes Staley, to blaming him for any fallout associated with Epstein.
Concerns about whether JPMorgan would bank Epstein urged Erdoes to hold meetings with other senior executives, including Staley and former general counsel Steven Cutler, starting in 2008, the lawsuit alleged.
The USVI lawsuit alleged that Epstein’s reputation was “so widely known” at the bank that executives joked about it. Erdoes allegedly received an email in 2008 asking her if Epstein was attending an event with singer Miley Cyrus.
Internal concerns
“Numerous articles detail various law enforcement agencies investigating Jeffrey Epstein for allegedly participating, directly or indirectly, in child trafficking and molesting underage girls,” the indictment said.
In her deposition, Erdoes testified that JPMorgan dropped Epstein as a client in 2013 after learning his withdrawals were for “real money,” the lawsuit said.
But Epstein had withdrawn a total of more than $800,000 in cash in 2004 and 2005.
Those withdrawals caught the attention of bank employees in 2006, who noted that he routinely withdrew $40,000 to $80,000 several times a month, according to the lawsuit.
The transactions continued in the years following Epstein’s guilty plea, though JPMorgan accepted his explanation that the money was for fuel and landing fees for its planes, even during the years Epstein was under house arrest, the USVI lawsuit alleged.
See below for the US Virgin Islands lawsuit: