The US Virgin Islands has unsealed new allegations against JPMorgan Chase over the bank’s ties to former client Jeffrey Epstein, including executives discussing how the disgraced late financier surrounded himself with “nymphets.”
JPMorgan countered that the USVI was also at fault for allowing Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenagers, saying the territory used its powers to enable these crimes.
The bank accused the territory of providing visas that allowed Epstein to bring in victims and of “looking the other way” whenever Epstein arrived at local airports accompanied by young women and girls.
Both sets of charges were made in duels filed Monday night in Manhattan federal court.
The US Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan for at least $190 million, saying the bank ignored red flags about Epstein because he was a wealthy and lucrative client from 1998 to 2013.
Before a trial scheduled for October 23, the US Virgin Islands wants a judge to find that JPMorgan engaged in Epstein’s sex trafficking and obstructed law enforcement.
Their filings include many new details about the New York-based bank’s alleged conduct, including more than $25 million in payments to Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Epstein’s victims.
They also cited a September 2012 email from a senior JPMorgan executive to Mary Erdoes, now the bank’s director of asset and wealth management, comparing another client’s home to Epstein’s.
“It reminded me of JE’s house, except it was more tasteful and less nymphets,” the executive wrote. “More like the Frick [museum]. The art was fabulous.”
“Wow,” Erdoes replied.
JPMorgan, by contrast, wants the judge to rule that the US Virgin Islands should not be able to seek monetary compensation, and to deny the territory’s claim that the bank obstructed law enforcement.
The bank has already criticized the US Virgin Islands for having a cozy relationship with Epstein, where top officials granted him tax breaks and waived sex offender monitoring requirements in exchange for cash and gifts.
Epstein had owned two private islands within the territory and allegedly bought the second to prevent people from spying on his sexual abuse on the first.
The US Virgin Islands has already received more than $105 million from Epstein’s estate and reached a settlement with billionaire Leon Black, a former friend of Epstein’s.
JPMorgan agreed last month to pay $290 million to settle a separate lawsuit by dozens of Epstein accusers.
Epstein committed suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
