A new lawsuit launched by the US Virgin Islands’ attorney general on Wednesday accuses JPMorgan Chase of ‘turning a blind eye’ to the horrific sex crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein.
In the suit, USVI AG Denise George accuses Chase of ‘knowingly providing and pulling the levers through which recruiters and victims were paid.’ The complaint was filed in Manhattan District Court.
George goes on to allege that Chase ignored the truth surrounding Epstein, such as his 2008 conviction in Florida for procuring a child for prostitution, in order to keep him as a client, reports The New York Times.
The bank, which has yet to comment on the suit, kept Epstein as a client between 1998 and 2013 before finally cutting ties.
For years, the secretive financier was based out of his private island, Little St. James in the Virgin Islands. He was found dead in 2019 in his jail cell in Manhattan while awaiting trial on sexual abuse of minors and trafficking charges. The official cause of death was suicide.
For years, Jeffrey Epstein was based out of his his private island, Little St. James in the Virgin Islands
The new lawsuit explicitly states that Epstein used his home on Little St. James for his sex crimes. In June, Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years prison for trafficking minors for sex.
Epstein first became a client at Chase in 1998. There have been numerous reports since his death that the bank’s executives sought to keep Epstein on board due to his connections with some of the richest people in the world.
One section of the lawsuit reads: ‘Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan.’
AG George said that the suit was part of an ‘outgoing effort’ to bring accountability to those who helped facilitate Epstein’s actions.
The complaint goes on to accuse Chase of concealing ‘wire and cash transactions that raised suspicion of a criminal enterprise whose currency was the sexual servitude’ of young girls.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, shown here in September 2022. His bank has yet to comment on the new lawsuit
US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George says in the new suit : ‘Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan’
The damages being sought by the US Virgin Islands are unspecified in the lawsuit.
The filing comes a day after President Joe Biden traveled to the Virgin Islands to enjoy some downtime and warmer weather and to ring in a new year with family.
The president and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, flew from Washington on Tuesday to St. Croix, one of three islands that make up the US territory in the Caribbean.
The Bidens were joined by their daughter Ashley and her husband, Howard Krein, as well as grandchildren Natalie and Hunter, whose father was the president’s late son, Beau.
Epstein, shown here next to one of his private planes, was previously accused of shuttling victims to his home on a private island on the US Virgin Islands
In November, victims of Epstein sued Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase in a separate lawsuit.
The victims said that the banks facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking operation because large sums of money were withdrawn to pay his victims.
They are also accused of ignoring ‘red flags’ and putting profit before the law.
Bradley Edwards, a lawyer in the case against Deutsche Bank, told the Wall Street Journal: ‘The time has come for the real enablers to be held responsible, especially his wealthy friends and the financial institutions that played an integral role.
‘These victims were wronged by many, not just Epstein. He did not act alone.’
The suits lodged in November claim Epstein’s victims were paid using cash from large withdrawals from JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. The banks are accused of facilitating the pedophile financier’s abuse
Both lawsuits are class action cases that name the plaintiffs as ‘Jane Doe 1, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated.’
The unnamed woman in the case against Deutsche Bank says she was trafficked and sexually abused by Epstein between around 2003 and 2018.
She claims she was paid in cash for sex acts.
A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank said in a statement that the suit was ‘without merit.’