JPMorgan Chase said Monday it has reached a settlement with one of late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who had been suing the bank in federal court in Manhattan.
“The parties in Jane Doe 1 v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. have informed the Court that they have reached an agreement in principle to settle the putative class action lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, which is subject to court approval,” the bank said in a news release.
“The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse,” JPMorgan added.
The unnamed woman filed the complaint last year, alleging the bank knowingly benefited from and facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. The woman, who alleges she was raped and trafficked, sued on behalf of a “large number” of other victims of that operation. The judge in the case hadn’t yet ruled whether the case should have class action status.
The bank’s litigation with the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Epstein matter remains, however. Its claims against former executive Jes Staley, who was friends with Epstein, are also active, the bank said. JPMorgan argues that Staley is responsible for any civil liability a jury might find in the Epstein case. It is also looking to claw back more than $80 million in pay from the former executive.
The announcement didn’t disclose the terms of the settlement. Last month, Deutsche Bank, where Epstein became a client after he was forced out by JPMorgan in 2013, settled with Epstein victims for $75 million.
The victim and the Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private island where he would sexually abuse girls, both claim JPMorgan continued working with Epstein after learning he had been a predator, and facilitated his sex trafficking crimes. The Virgin Islands’ government, however, is pushing forward, pointing to multiple new exhibits featuring email chains that show more concern within the bank about Epstein than was previously known, especially among its legal and compliance staff.
The announcement comes more than a week after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon gave a deposition in the Epstein cases. On Friday, lawyers for the Epstein victim, called Jane Doe 1 in documents, asked the court to reopen Dimon’s deposition.
The accuser’s lawyers also sought to reopen the depositions of Mary Erdoes, who is CEO of JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management division; Mary Casey, who was Epstein’s banker for about a decade at JPMorgan; and a fourth person, only identified in the filing as JPMorgan’s “representative.” All four would be asked about documents turned over after their initial depositions, according to a filing.
JPMorgan has denied wrongdoing and says it regrets having had Epstein as a client. Dimon had said he barely knew of Epstein until 2019, when federal authorities arrested him.
One of the late-produced documents was a timeline that referenced emails in which Staley, the one-time JPMorgan executive, asks Epstein a question. (Staley left another big bank, Barclays, in late 2021 after a probe into his Epstein relationship.)
“Plaintiff would have confronted JPMC’s CEO, Mr. Dimon, with this document during his deposition had it been produced in a timely manner,” a legal filing said.
JPMorgan has said Dimon did not review Epstein’s accounts when he was a client there from 1998 through 2013, which is when JPMorgan severed its relationship with him. That termination happened years after multiple concerns were raised within the bank about keeping him as a client and five years after he pleaded guilty to a Florida state charge of soliciting sex from a minor.
Epstein died in 2019 from suicide in a New York jail, weeks after federal authorities charged him with trafficking girls for sex.
Despite his criminal history, Epstein nonetheless cultivated friendships and relationships among the richest, most powerful people in the world, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Prince Andrew of the UK and former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Read the full release:
JPMorgan Chase and Jane Doe 1 Reach Agreement to Settle Lawsuit in Epstein Matter
NEW YORK, June 12, 2023 –The parties in Jane Doe 1 v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. have informed the Court that they have reached an agreement in principle to settle the putative class action lawsuit related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, which is subject to court approval.
Litigation is still pending between the US Virgin Islands and JPMorgan Chase, as are JPMorgan Chase’s claims against Jes Staley.
The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse.
–CNBC’s Eamon Javers and Dawn Giel contributed to this article.
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