- JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon will give sworn testimony about his bank’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein in May
- It is part of two suits brought against the bank by an alleged victim and the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home
- They claim the bank benefitted from human trafficking and ignored internal warnings about their client’s illegal activities
By MELISSA KOENIG FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will face federal prosecutors under oath about his bank’s decision to retain pedophile Jeffrey Epstein as a client despite his sex trafficking.
Dimon is set to give a sworn deposition behind closed doors in May, the Financial Times reported, as part of two suits brought against the largest US bank by an alleged Epstein victim and the US Virgin Islands, where the disgraced financier had a home.
The lawsuits claim that JPMorgan, where Epstein banked from 1998 to 2013, benefitted from human trafficking and ignored internal warnings about their client’s illegal activities.
A pre-trial investigation later found that Dimon conducted some sort of ‘review’ about the bank’s relationship with Epstein in the years before he was arrested.
But the bank has repeatedly denied that Dimon conducted any such review, and has described the lawsuits against it as ‘meritless.’ Instead, bank officials have tried to shift the blame of its business dealings with Epstein to former executive James Edward ‘Jes’ Staley.
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Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is set to give sworn testimony about his bank’s dealings with sex pest Jeffrey Epstein in a closed-door hearing in May. He is pictured here last month
The US Virgin Islands filed a lawsuit against the bank alleging knew about Epstein’s nefarious behavior for years but turned a blind eye to it
JPMorgan Chase lawyers have repeatedly denied that Dimon was involved in Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme, with one person familiar with an internal investigation telling the Financial Times that there is no record of Dimon being in direct communication with Epstein or being included in any discussions about retaining him as a client.
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That suit and another brought by one of his alleged victims claims the bank benefitted financially from its relationship with the disgraced financier
But the attorneys have previously resisted attempts to depose Dimon and had tried to limit the range of documents handed over during the pre-trial process.
Instead, the bank has countersued Staley, arguing that he should be held responsible for JPMorgan’s financial damages if a federal judge finds that the bank did benefit from its relationship with Epstein.
The lawsuit also demands Staley pay back the wages he was paid from 2006 to 2012, which could amount to tens of millions of dollars, according to Reuters.
Lawyers claim Staley witnessed and participated in sex crimes at Epstein’s residences, and alleges he did not disclose this ‘despite having a fiduciary duty’ to do so.
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Staley was known to have shared a close relationship with Epstein over the years, with the pair sometimes taking trips together.
In total, he is said to have exchanged roughly 1,200 emails with Epstein from his JPMorgan Chase account from 2008 through 2012, when Epstein had over $120million in assets at the bank.
And while he was still a high-ranking JPMorgan executive, Staley is said to have visited Epstein in prison after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
But Staley has not been convicted of any crimes in relation to Epstein.
He left JPMorgan in 2013 and became CEO of Barclays in 2015. He then resigned in 2021 to contest findings by regulators on his connection to Epstein.
The UK-based bank has now admitted that the recent allegations against the former CEO were ‘serious.’
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Former JPMorgan Chase executive James ‘Jes’ Staley (left) with Jeffrey Epstein in 2011. The picture was taken after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a underage girls in 2008
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After the full extent of Epstein’s crimes became known in 2019, Staley initially claimed he and Epstein were little more than acquaintances tied by business
In its lawsuit against JPMorgan filed in December, the US Virgin Islands alleged the bank ‘had a more than close-up view of Epstein’s sex-trafficking.’
It also said the bank ‘ignored obvious red flags relating to Epstein’s accounts.’
Epstein ran much of his criminal activities out if Little St. James Island, a private island he owned off the coast off the St. James islands.
The government further claimed that JPMorgan had more than enough exposure to Epstein’s accounts to determine he was conducting criminal behavior in their territory.
Last week, federal Judge Jed Rakoff last week allowed that lawsuit to proceed — along with one brought by an alleged Epstein victim and another against Deutsche Bank for similar charges.
He also ordered JPMorgan to hand over documents containing communications involving Dimon and former general counsel Steve Cutler from before 2006, when Epstein was first arrested.
Along with Dimon, other senior officials at the bank, like Mary Erdoes, the head of the bank’s $4trillion asset and wealth management business, are also expected to be deposed before the bank faces trial in both cases in October.
JP Morgan has been contacted for comment.
