JPMorgan to pay $290m in Epstein-linked class-action lawsuit

JPMorgan Chase is set to pay a substantial sum to settle a class-action lawsuit involving a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a joint statement from the bank and the woman’s legal representatives. The proposed settlement would see JPMorgan pay out US$290 million, resolving one claim against the bank in a class-action lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges Epstein abused her.

Epstein, a billionaire financier, was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars for massages, only to molest them at his homes in Florida and New York. He was found dead in jail on August 10 of the same year at the age of 66, with his death ruled as suicide by a medical examiner.

In a statement, JPMorgan said, “Any association with him [Epstein] was a mistake and we regret it. We would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes.”

The lawsuits claim that JPMorgan provided Epstein with loans and regularly permitted large cash withdrawals from 1998 to 2013, despite being aware of his involvement in sex trafficking. The anonymous victim, referred to as Jane Doe, stated she was sexually abused by Epstein from 2006 to 2013.

JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, is still facing a lawsuit from the government of the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighbouring islands and allegedly abused victims in his mansion.

Additionally, the bank’s litigation against former executive Jes Staley, who is accused of concealing his knowledge about Epstein, is ongoing. Staley has expressed regret for befriending Epstein but denies any knowledge of the alleged sex trafficking. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposed class-action lawsuit accuses JPMorgan of ignoring internal warnings about Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls and young women, choosing to keep him as a client. The bank continued to work with Epstein even after his 2006 arrest on prostitution-related charges and a related guilty plea in 2008.

Last month, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay US$75 million to settle a similar lawsuit by women who claim they were trafficked by Epstein. Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Jane Doe 1 who sued JPMorgan, said in a statement, “The settlements signal that financial institutions have an important role to play in spotting and shutting down sex trafficking.”

The settlement partially resolves a rare public relations issue for Jamie Dimon, who has been JPMorgan’s chief executive since 2006. Dimon testified under oath in May that he had barely heard of Epstein until his July 2019 arrest and did not recall discussing Epstein’s accounts with other bank officials, including those authorised to terminate Epstein as a client.

Former JPMorgan counsel Stephen Cutler had requested the bank sever ties with Epstein, but other executives resisted.