JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon will answer under oath Friday questions about his knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, as the legal reckoning over the bank’s decision to keep the late sex offender as a client reaches the top of Wall Street.
The sworn testimony that the largest U.S. bank is trying to block marks a marked escalation in two high-profile cases involving JPMorgan’s 15-year relationship with Epstein, embarrassing some current and former executives and raising concerns about the bank’s internal compliance. process. The testimony will be held behind closed doors and is expected to last two days.
Dimon’s name has emerged in a controversial lawsuit filed late last year by an unnamed Epstein accuser and Epstein’s home, the U.S. Virgin Islands.
JPMorgan executive Mary Erdoes told lawyers in sworn testimony in March that Dimon had sole responsibility for overseeing former bank executive Jes Staley, according to people familiar with the matter. Said he had repeatedly vouched for Epstein at JP Morgan.
The 67-year-old was also mentioned in an internal email expressing concerns about Epstein that included the words “pending Dimon’s review.”
JPMorgan said in a statement that its boss never met with Epstein, “spoke to him, (or) contacted him by email, and was not involved in any decisions regarding his account.” “Plaintiffs know this based on decades of discovery and millions of emails . . . but they persist in pursuing publicity,” the bank added.
Yet the cases remain one of the few blemishes on the longtime executive’s transcript. He recently announced a nearly $16 billion spending spree at JPMorgan Chase & Co., has been at the forefront of Wall Street’s lobbying efforts to stave off a default on the U.S. debt ceiling, and has taken over a failed U.S. bank, First Republic, under a government-led bid. auction.
JPMorgan first had Epstein as a client in 1998 and continued to bank him until 2013.
Dimon is expected to testify that he was ignorant of multiple internal red flags raised by Epstein’s account. Still, the cases have raised questions about the soundness of the bank’s controls more generally.
“If Dimon doesn’t know, it’s actually not good news,” said a person familiar with the bank’s organizational structure. “It could be even worse news if, for about 10 years, no one contacts him after knowing about his behavior and making it public.”
JPMorgan called Epstein’s plan “appalling” and regretted banking him. “In hindsight, any connection to (Epstein) was false . . . but we did not help him commit his heinous crime.”
Last week, Deutsche Bank settled separate Epstein-related claims that would be shared by dozens of women for $75 million.
The stakes for JPMorgan could soon be even higher. When Dimon is ousted on Friday, a federal judge in New York will hear arguments from representatives of Epstein’s accusers, who argue dozens, if not hundreds of women, should be entitled to compensation from the banks they blamed. Women profit from humans. trafficking.
On the eve of Dimon’s testimony, JPMorgan fired back at USVI, claiming in court documents that officials in the district turned a blind eye to Epstein’s crimes and even issued visas to some of his victims.
“Epstein could have lived anywhere in the world. He chose USVI,” JPMorgan’s lawyers said. “They protected and even rewarded him, gave him (millions of dollars) tax breaks . . . as he walked through the U.S. Virgin Islands airport with girls and young women, he looked the other way.”
In response, the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General’s Office said such charges were “a clear attempt to deflect blame on JPMorgan, which had a legal duty to report evidence it had of Epstein’s human trafficking and failed to do so”.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of soliciting minors for prostitution in Florida. More than a decade later, he was charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors and committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial.