- JPMorgan Chase has reached a settlement over a lawsuit filed by one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims.
- "The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties," JPMorgan said.
JPMorgan Chase has reached an "agreement in principle" over a class-action lawsuit filed by one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims.
"The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein's terrible abuse," JPMorgan and the victim's lawyers said in a joint statement.
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York in November. The plaintiff is an unnamed person who met Epstein when she was working as a ballet dancer in New York. The lawsuit said she was "sexually abused and trafficked by Epstein for several years" and on occasion by some of his friends.
The lawsuit alleged that JPMorgan "knowingly and intentionally participated in the Epstein sex-trafficking venture" from roughly 2000 to 2013 by providing its "essential financial underpinnings" and ignoring red flags.
The lawsuit said Epstein agreed to bring ultrawealthy clients to the bank and in exchange Jes Staley, a longtime executive, "would use his clout within JPMorgan to make Epstein untouchable."
"This meant that JPMorgan would keep Epstein on as a client at all costs," the lawsuit continued.
"JPMorgan chose facilitating a sexual abuse and sex trafficking operation for many years, including through the criminal investigation and incarceration of Jeffrey Epstein, in order to churn profits," the lawsuit said.
"Any association with him was a mistake and we regret it," JPMorgan said in a statement. "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."
Litigation is still pending in the US Virgin Islands' case against JPMorgan, which alleged that the bank "turned a blind eye" to Epstein's sex-trafficking scheme, as well as in a case JPMorgan Chase is pursuing against Staley, who left the firm in 2013.
Epstein died in jail in August 2019 just weeks after he was arrested and charged with the sex trafficking of minors.