Judge says Google co-founder Larry Page can be served with legal papers in Jeffrey Epstein suit

A federal judge said that Google co-founder Larry Page can be served with legal papers by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands for its civil lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase related to sex trafficking by the bank’s longtime customer Jeffrey Epstein.

A docket entry on Thursday did not disclose the nature of the legal papers the USVI wants to serve Page in the suit, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

However, the USVI previously issued subpoenas in the suit to Page’s fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as well as former Disney executive Michael Ovitz, Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker and Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire real estate investor. The subpoenas sought documents and other information about Epstein and JPMorgan.

Page was CEO of Google’s parent Alphabet from 2015 through 2019, after previously serving as Google’s chief executive officer. He remains a director of Alphabet.

The USVI and a woman who says she was sexually abused by Epstein are separately suing JPMorgan, claiming the bank was complicit in his sex trafficking of multiple women.

Epstein for years had millions of dollars on deposit at JPMorgan, and used money from those accounts to facilitate the travel of women to his residence on a private island in the USVI and elsewhere.

JPMorgan, whose CEO Jamie Dimon is due to be deposed in the case in late May, denies wrongdoing.

On Wednesday, Judge Jed Rakoff held the latest in a series of telephone conferences in the case with lawyers for the parties to the suit.

The docket entry detailing the conference was posted on the court’s website on Thursday. It says “USVI has leave to file for alternative service of Larry Page by no later than noon on” Thursday.

The term “alternative service” suggests that the USVI previously tried to serve Page with legal papers for the suit, but was unable to do so through traditional means, including by having a process server hand him the papers, or getting his own attorneys to accept them on his behalf.

Alternative service can include mailing the legal papers, publishing them on a public news site or emailing them.

CNBC has reached out to Page for comment.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges. He previously pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex from an underage girl in Florida.

JPMorgan only severed ties with Epstein in 2013.

Epstein over the years had been a friend to many rich and famous people, among them former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.