American government The Virgin Islands in a court The filing Friday estimates it will seek at least $190 million in damages JPMorgan in a litigation The big bank is accused of facilitating the sex trade of its former longtime client Jeffrey Epstein.
The Virgin Islands also said it wanted an order requiring JPMorgan to take a series of steps to protect young women and girls from other predators in the future.
“These proposals seek to address the same core issue: JPMorgan’s understanding of:
Failure to Report Epstein’s Trafficking Due to Lack of Financial Incentive and Motivation
Prioritizes compliance with the law and preventing trafficking over its own profits,” said the filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The U.S. territory also said JPMorgan would seek further justice specifically for Epstein’s victims, in addition to agreeing to pay victims nearly $300 million last month to settle a lawsuit by one of Epstein’s accusers. compensation. The filing did not give an amount for those additional losses.
The new filing comes in response to a request last week by Judge Jed Rakoff for the district to detail what it is seeking in the case ahead of its Oct. 23 trial. penalty for damages.
The Virgin Islands lawsuit alleges that JPMorgan benefited from Epstein’s trafficking of young women who were abused by him and others during Epstein’s 15 years as clients of the bank. The bank is the largest bank in the United States.
The indictment alleges that JPMorgan allowed Epstein to keep millions of dollars in accounts at the bank that he used to fund his trafficking of women despite repeated red flags raised by bank employees over the years.
JPMorgan, which had no immediate comment on Friday, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case.
U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel Smith said in a statement Friday: “We are taking this enforcement action because JPMorgan Chase’s institutional failures led to the sex trafficking of Jeffrey Epstein, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chase must make significant changes to detect, report and stop human trafficking.”
“Financial penalties, as well as behavioral change, are important to ensure that JPMorgan understands the cost of putting its own profits above public safety,” Smith said.
If the Virgin Islands prevails, it will use the monetary compensation it receives “to support efforts to strengthen, inform and expand local law enforcement and enhance the services available to victims of human trafficking and other crimes in the Virgin Islands,” she said.
The Virgin Islands is only asking for a civil penalty of at least $150 million, the document said. The document also said it wanted JPMorgan to return at least another $40 million in fees Epstein incurred for the bank, as well as fees JPMorgan received from what he referred to as the bank’s “many ultra-high-net-worth clients.”
Those clients include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Limited Brands founder Lex Wexner and billionaire Glenn Dubin, the documents said.
In addition to monetary compensation, the Virgin Islands is asking JPMorgan to “implement new policies, including separating its business and compliance functions and appointing an independent compliance advisor, to prevent population Trafficking”.
In its own court filing, JPMorgan accused the Virgin Islands itself of “participating in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.”
The bank alleges that Epstein offered money, advice and favors to senior officials there in return for turning a blind eye when he trafficked young women there to be abused.
Epstein had a residence on a private island in the Territory, where accusers say he and others sexually abused them.
Last month, in the same court in which the Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan, JPMorgan agreed to pay Epstein’s victims $290 million to settle a lawsuit by one of the plaintiffs, without admitting wrongdoing.
in May, Deutsche Bank Agreed to pay Epstein victims $75 million to settle a lawsuit brought by another plaintiff alleging that Epstein abetted him to traffic her and others for sex. Deutsche Bank began accepting Epstein as a client years later, years after JPMorgan cut ties with Epstein in 2013, and years before bank employees first expressed concerns about Epstein.
Deutsche Bank previously agreed to pay a $150 million fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services for failing to detect or stop millions of dollars in suspicious Epstein-related transactions, including “payments to Russian models and women with numerous Eastern European surnames.” . Documents filed by the Virgin Islands on Friday noted.
Epstein, a former friend of former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as Britain’s Prince Andrew, pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges in Florida of sex trafficking an underage girl. He served 13 months in prison, but spent most of his days on work release.
Epstein, then 66, committed suicide in a New York federal prison in August 2019, a month after he was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.