New York CNN –
The U.S. Virgin Islands is seeking a $190 million fine and recovery from JPMorgan Chase and is asking it to implement anti-trafficking safeguards in its ongoing lawsuit alleging the bank learned of the disgraced financier’s sex trafficking operation Jeffrey Epstein benefited financially and failed to report suspicious financial activity.
The Virgin Islands government said in a court filing it also wanted JPMorgan Chase to use an independent compliance advisor to help prevent human trafficking and separate its business and compliance functions.
Epstein was found dead in a jail cell in 2019, which was later ruled a suicide; His death came before he could be tried for sexually abusing underage girls. Investigations into his alleged actions, the legal ramifications and the impact on individuals and institutions around the world have continued ever since.
JPMorgan should also “analyze the root causes of the bank’s failure in its banking relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and identify missed opportunities to report his criminal activities,” the Virgin Islands Justice Department said in a statement.
But the bank had a different opinion.
“This document does not reflect the nature of the settlement discussions,” said a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase. “The USVI’s theories on misguided claims for damages are unfounded and are being challenged by JPM in court.”
The guidelines required by the Virgin Islands would prevent JPMorgan from opening bank accounts without basic customer information and “prohibit the involvement of employees with personal relationships with customers in decisions related to those customers’ retention,” the government said in a press release.
The Virgin Islands government argued that JPMorgan Chase should have given Epstein more scrutiny as a client after he filed a guilty plea to prostitution with a minor in Florida in 2008.
The Virgin Islands Department of Justice filed a brief in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York on Friday.
In June, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex abuse victims, who accused the bank of facilitating sex trafficking through the late financier when he was a customer.
The Virgin Islands government filed its own lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase in December 2022.
“For more than a decade, JPMorgan has been keenly aware of its failure to comply with federal regulations regarding Epstein-related accounts, as evidenced by its too little and too late effort after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking allegations Federal level had been arrested, and shortly after his death. when JPMorgan (JPM) belatedly complied with federal laws,” said U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George’s complaint.
The lawsuit also alleged that “human trafficking was the primary business of Epstein’s JPMorgan accounts.”
When he died, Epstein was awaiting trial on federal indictments, which accused him of operating a sex trafficking ring at his Manhattan mansion and Palm Beach estate from 2002 to 2005 and allegedly targeting girls as young as 14 for sex to have paid.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, denied knowing of internal reviews of Epstein’s criminal conduct and account at the bank when they took place in testimony for the lawsuit.
A JPMorgan spokesman said of the statement, “Had the company believed that he was involved in an ongoing sex trafficking operation, Epstein would not have been accepted as a client.” “In retrospect, we regret he was ever a client,” it said in a previous statement to CNN.
The trial is scheduled to begin on October 23.