According to a newly published investigation, Jeffrey Epstein used JPMorgan accounts to pay more than 20 victims of sex trafficking, despite the fact that senior employees at the bank regularly raised alarming abuse accusations against him.
The government of the United States Virgin Islands filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, saying that the bank was involved in Epstein’s illegal sexual activities.
According to a report from Law & Crime, the government of the Virgin Islands declassified and released on Wednesday some elements of the federal case that had been previously sealed.
“These women were trafficked and abused during different intervals between at least 2003 and July 2019, when Epstein was arrested and jailed, and these women received payments, typically multiple payments, between 2003 and 2013 in excess of $1 million collectively,” based on the unlocked passageways.
“Epstein also withdrew more than $775,000 in cash over that time frame from JPMorgan accounts, especially significant as Epstein was known to pay for ‘massages,’ or sexual encounters, in cash,” the complaint says.
In 2019, while Epstein was waiting to be tried on a federal sex trafficking accusation, it is believed that he took his own life by hanging himself in a prison cell in Manhattan.
On his expansive property on Little Saint James, his private island in the United States Virgin Islands, he was responsible for the abuse of many of his victims.
JPMorgan has made an effort to get the case thrown out of court by arguing that the government of the Virgin Islands has already reached a settlement with Epstein’s estate for more than one hundred million dollars.
According to the sections of the case that have been unsealed, bank employees reportedly took note on many occasions of concerning information regarding their customer.
An executive reportedly made reference to in an email “[s]everal newspaper articles… that detail the indictment of Jeffrey Epstein in Florida on felony charges of soliciting underage prostitutes,” according to the suit.
Epstein was convicted in Florida in 2008 of soliciting a prostitute and of obtaining a child for the purpose of prostitution as part of a plea deal that allowed him to serve just 13 months in custody; the majority of this time was spent on work release in his Palm Beach office. Both of these crimes were committed in 2008.
In an email sent in 2010, the risk management section of JPMorgan drew attention to newly leveled allegations of abuse against Epstein.
“See below new allegations of an investigation related to child trafficking — are you still comfortable with this client who is now a registered sex offender,” the email states.
The court documents include further information about Epstein’s friendship with Jes Staley, who was a top executive at JPMorgan at the time but later left due to his links to the pedophile.
“Between 2008 and 2012, Staley exchanged approximately 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan email account,” the lawsuit alleges. “These communications show a close personal relationship and ‘profound’ friendship between the two men and even suggest that Staley may have been involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.”
On November 1, 2009, Staley reportedly wrote an email to Epstein from the late financier’s private island when he was there.
“Presently, I’m in the hot tub with a glass of white wine,” Staley allegedly wrote. “This is an amazing place. Truly amazing. Next time, we’re here together. I owe you much. And I deeply appreciate our friendship. I have few so profound.”
At the time, Epstein was being held in custody in Florida.
Not only did JPMorgan know about Epstein, but they also knew about the person who is said to have recruited him, a French modeling scout named Jean-Luc Brunel who is the owner of the MC2 Modeling Company.
Brunel is said to have committed himself in a French jail last year as he was preparing to stand trial on claims that he procured women and girls for Epstein.
“Financial information also reflects payments drawn from JPMorgan accounts of nearly $1.5 million to known recruiters, including to the MC2 modeling agency, and another $150,000 to a private investigative firm,” According to Law & Crime, the lawsuit claims.
