JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon received’t face a second spherical of questioning over the financial institution’s ties to late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein after a choose on Friday blocked an try and reopen depositions.
The US Virgin Islands is in search of damages from JPMorgan for allegedly aiding in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring by holding him on as a shopper and lacking purple flags about his misconduct on Little St. James, a non-public island he owned that was the reported headquarters for Epstein’s abuse.
In its newest effort to search out the Wall Street funding large responsible, the Virgin Islands requested for a federal court docket’s approval to query Dimon, one different present financial institution worker and one former employee, in response to Bloomberg.
However, US District Judge Jed Rakoff denied the request on Friday, the outlet reported.
Dimon gave sworn testimony over his ties to Epstein in a two-day deposition centered round two lawsuits in opposition to the financial institution — one by the Virgin Islands and one other by one in every of Epstein’s victims.
Earlier this week, the financial institution agreed to pay $290 million to settle the case introduced by the sufferer.
During Dimon’s deposition, which happened May 26-27, the financial institution boss reportedly maintained that he by no means had any dealings with Epstein, and didn’t even know the intercourse offender was a JPMorgan shopper till his 2019 arrest.
However, his predecessor, former JPMorgan CEO Jes Staley, contradicted the declare, and reportedly was deposed once more over the weekend.
Earlier in March, Judge Rakoff ordered JPMorgan to show over paperwork linked to Dimon from 2015 to 2019 — the interval after the financial institution dropped Epstein as a shopper.
Lawyers for the Virgin Islands instructed Bloomberg that the financial institution produced a abstract of emails between Staley and Epstein that have been compiled right into a singular doc after Epstein died by suicide behind bars in 2019 whereas awaiting trial.
Staley, who was ousted from his function as Barclays CEO in November 2021, reportedly exchanged round 1,200 emails with Epstein throughout his time at JPMorgan.
However, that doc was produced on May 28 — the day after the primary spherical of depositions, thus prompting the US territory to ask for an additional spherical of questioning.
Despite being denied, legal professionals for the Virgin Islands instructed Bloomberg it believes it has sufficient proof to this point to show the financial institution “turned a blind eye to proof of human trafficking” on Epstein’s property, as acknowledged within the December 2022 criticism.
Dimon, nonetheless, has maintained his innocence, together with at his deposition when he pointed fingers at ex-JPMorgan boss Staley — who left the large financial institution in 2013 following a 30-year tenure.
According to paperwork reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Staley admitted that he and Dimon did, in truth, talk about Epstein each in 2006, when Epstein was first arrested, and once more in 2008, when he pleaded responsible for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.
Attorneys for the Virgin Islands don’t imagine Dimon is totally off the hook, although, have stated they imagine he’s “a possible supply of related and distinctive info” about why the financial institution stored servicing Epstein.
They additionally declare that Dimon might have details about Epstein’s alleged referrals of rich shoppers, and have been issuing subpoenas to the likes of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in addition to Elon Musk and Hyatt lodge inheritor Thomas Pritzker to be taught extra.
The court docket paperwork, initially filed in 2009, claimed JPMorgan “knowingly” ignored purple flags about Epstein till 2013 as a result of and profited from his sex-trafficking enterprise as he introduced different rich shoppers to the financial institution.
JPMorgan lower ties with Epstein in 2013 for being a “high-risk shopper” over his federal costs for sex-trafficking minors.
However, the financial institution stored him on after he was being investigated for molesting a 14-year-old lady in 2005 and was first arrested in 2006 for soliciting prostitution.
Internal financial institution paperwork later revealed that the convicted pedophile “routinely” made money withdrawals from his JPMorgan accounts between $40,000 and $80,000, totaling greater than $750,000 per 12 months.
