JPMorgan Accused of Knowing About Epstein Accusations 7 Years Before Dropping Him as Client

Financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in court where he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in West Palm Beach, Fla., on July 30, 2008. Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post via Reuters

JPMorgan Chase knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking accusations for years before dropping him, according to new legal filings.

The lawsuit alleges that the bank knew about the accusations against the now-deceased convicted sex offender and financier—namely, paying to have underage girls and young women brought to his home since 2006.

Mary Erdoes, the current head of asset management at JPMorgan, said under oath in a recent deposition that the New York-based financial services company knew about the accusations seven years before it severed ties with Epstein in 2013, reported the Financial Times,

The publication was able to review newly unredacted portions of a lawsuit filed against the bank by the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), where Epstein owned the infamous compound on his private island of Little St. James.

“In 2010, JPMorgan compliance officials decided that Epstein ‘should go,’” wrote attorneys in the filings, but bank executives did not act for three years.

The financier purchased the island of Little St. James in 1998 and owned the property until his death in 2019.

Epstein hosted parties on his island, with guests including former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, son of the late Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry on March 28, 2017. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services via Reuters

A pilot who formerly worked for Epstein testified that he had seen both men, as well as actor Kevin Spacey and others, on Epstein’s private plane.

Epstein died in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking minors. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.

Accused of Facilitating Epstein’s Crimes

Two lawsuits by an unnamed Epstein victim and officials of the U.S. Virgin Islands accuse JPMorgan Chase of financially benefiting from its relationship with Epstein.

Forbes reported on April 3 that the USVI filed a complaint alleging that JPMorgan Chase executives knew enough about Epstein’s “interest in young girls” that they were able to joke about it.

The USVI is seeking damages from JPMorgan, claiming it benefited from human trafficking by continuing to retain Epstein as a client even after he was arrested for procuring underage girls for sex with powerful men in Florida in 2006.

In a hearing in the USVI case against JPMorgan earlier this month, an attorney representing the USVI argued that Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, “knew in 2008 that his billionaire client [Jeffrey Epstein] was a sex trafficker.”

Dimon, who has led the investment bank since 2005 and is one of the most powerful executives on Wall Street, allegedly had friends in common in the financial world with Epstein, going back to the 1980s.

However, according to the Financial Times, there is no record of direct communications between Dimon and Epstein, who worked with JPMorgan Chase between 1998 and 2013.

The attorney, Mimi Liu, also stated that former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley was aware of the accusations about Epstein but noted, “This case was not just Jes Staley … there will be numerous documents that go far beyond his office to the executive suite.”

Staley is facing a lawsuit from the bank for failing to disclose his own alleged participation in Epstein’s sex crimes.

Liu further asserted that “Staley knew, Dimon knew, JPMorgan Chase knew” about Epstein’s criminal activities.

The JPMorgan Chase headquarters are pictured in New York City on April 17, 2019. Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

JPMorgan’s Dimon Pleads Ignorance

JPMorgan Chase has denied that its CEO knew about the warnings by its compliance department regarding its associations with Epstein and that it facilitated his sex trafficking operations.

The bank attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed, but a federal judge ruled that the case could proceed.

The new complaints against JPMorgan come after executors of the Epstein estate agreed to settle a lawsuit with the U.S. Virgin Islands in late 2022 over violations related to the U.S. territory’s laws against fraud, sex trafficking, and child exploitation.

The estate agreed to pay $105 million and half of the proceeds earned from the sale of Epstein’s island, along with $450,000 to remediate environmental damage around Great St. James, another island owned by Epstein.

Dimon, who has denied being involved in any review of Epstein’s account, will be questioned under oath for a May deposition about his knowledge of JPMorgan’s decision to retain Epstein.

The CEO told CNN last week that the financial institution has “some of the best lawyers in the world" working in compliance “who review all of these things and make decisions at the time based on what they know.”

When asked if the bank should have kept Epstein as a client after his 2008 conviction, Dimon responded that “hindsight is a fabulous gift.”

Meanwhile, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker, and real estate titan Mortimer Zuckerman have all been subpoenaed for information related to the case, according to Forbes.

Former Disney president Michael Ovitz has also been asked by authorities from the islands to comply with the investigation.