Two women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse slapped JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank with separate lawsuits, claiming the financial giants chose profits over reigning in the convicted pedophile’s alleged sex-trafficking operation.
The women, identified only as Jane Does, filed the lawsuits Thursday in New York federal court, seeking class-action status and unspecified financial damages, according to the complaints reviewed by The Post.
The lawsuits state both banks assisted and participated in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking by enabling him to make payments to women for sex acts and that the banks profited from Epstein’s activities.
“We believe this claim lacks merit and will present our arguments in court,” a Deutsche Bank spokesman told The Post.
JPMorgan declined comment.
Both banks worked with the disgraced financier after he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida in 2008. Epstein died in a federal Manhattan detention center in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
In the suit against Deutsche Bank, the woman claims she was sexually abused by Epstein and trafficked to his friends for 15 years — from about 2003 until about 2018. She was also paid in cash for sex acts, according to her suit.
During that time, the bank ignored several red flags including payments to numerous young women and large withdrawals of cash, the suit said. New York’s regulator found Epstein, his related entities and associates had more than 40 accounts at Deutsche Bank, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first broke news of the lawsuits.
“[Deutsche Bank] knowingly participated in the Epstein sex-trafficking venture by (among other things) providing the financial underpinnings for Epstein to have ready and reliable access to resources — including cash — to recruit, lure, coerce, and entice young women and girls to be sexually abused and to cause them to engage in commercial sex acts and other degradations,” the suit said.
“When considering whether to participate in the sex-trafficking venture, and before on-boarding Epstein, Deutsche Bank estimated that it would earn between $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 annually by funding the sex-trafficking venture and handling the accounts of Epstein-related entities,” the suit adds.
The woman suing JPMorgan was recruited by another young female and sexually abused by Epstein from 2006 through 2013, according to her suit. Identified as a former ballet dancer in New York, she alleges she was trafficked to Epstein’s friends for large sums of money that were withdrawn from JPMorgan to make cash payments to her and other women. Epstein used the cash to pay for sex acts, the suit said.
The suit accuses former JPMorgan head of private banking Jes Staley of first establishing a business relationship in 2000 with Epstein that lasted through 2013 when he left JPMorgan and the bank distanced itself from Epstein, giving Epstein’s operations credibility. The suit does not allege that Staley was personally aware of Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring.
“The relationship between Epstein and Staley was symbiotic,” the suit said. “Epstein agreed to bring many ultra-high wealth clients to JP Morgan, and in exchange, Staley would use his clout within JPMorgan to make Epstein untouchable.”
A lawyer for Staley declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal.
“This meant that JP Morgan would keep Epstein on as a client at all costs, including failing to act on any red flags and ultimately allowing him the ability to run and grow what to the bank was obviously an operation designed to sexually abuse and traffic countless young women,” the suit continued.
“With JP Morgan’s complicity, Epstein was free to sexually abuse hundreds of women, paying millions in hush money, without the fear of detection by law enforcement. Epstein used the support from a reputable institution — JPMorgan — to help cover up his criminal activity,” the suit said.
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