JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) filed a motion in court Wednesday to dismiss a case brought by the US Virgin Islands alleging that a former executive’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein made the bank aware of and even helped facilitate his sex trafficking.
Epstein was a client of former JPMorgan private banking chief Jes Staley from 2000 to 2013, and a previous court filing last week suggested that the two had exchanged roughly 1,200 emails between 2008 and 2012, which included sexual content involving young women.
The US Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan for unspecified damages in December 2022, alleging that the bank should have known about Epstein's misconduct on his private island there.
JPMorgan said it should not be held liable for Staley’s relationship with Epstein, claiming that there was nothing to suggest that Staley could "detect Epstein's sex trafficking”. Additionally, it said there was no proof that Staley’s offending emails or trips to the US Virgin Islands were at all connected to his role at the bank.
Staley has admitted a friendship with Epstein but denied knowing about his alleged sex trafficking. He most recently worked as chief executive of Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) but resigned in November 2021, following a probe into his relationship with Epstein by UK regulators.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial.
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