JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG were accused of aiding and abetting the sexual assault of Jeffrey Epstein in a New York lawsuit. The two lawsuits, filed separately in a New York court, say the banks “knowingly benefited and received things of value for aiding, abetting, facilitating and otherwise providing the most critical service to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking organization .
JPMorgan was accused in the lawsuit of “financially benefiting from participation” in the alleged sex trafficking by providing financial support from 1998 to August 2013, the lawsuit said. Deutsche Bank was accused of knowing it would “make millions of dollars” from its relationship with Epstein.
The suit seeks unspecified damages and wants the suit to be certified as a class action. Representatives for JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank in London did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. “Epstein and his co-conspirators could not have been victimized without the help of wealthy individuals and financial institutions,” said Bradley Edwards, a lawyer at Edwards Pottinger, one of the firms bringing the suit. We will not stop fighting for the survivors until all are held accountable.”
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Epstein was found dead in his US prison cell in 2019 after being arrested and charged with sex trafficking. Epstein spent decades cultivating ties to the American and British elite, including several Wall Street figures.
A who’s who of prominent financiers, entrepreneurs, politicians and even royalty have been tainted by their association with the convicted pedophile.
United Kingdom Prince Andrew had to step down from public duties after a disastrous television interview about his ties to Epstein. Jess Staley abruptly stepped down as chief executive of Barclays Plc last year after British regulators shared with Barclays the preliminary findings of their years-long investigation into what he told the bank’s board about his relationship with Epstein.
Staley said he had known Epstein since 2000, when he was head of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s private bank, and had been told to establish a professional relationship with the financial adviser.
“Staley made sure that Epstein and his illegal sexual assault organization were absolutely protected by the bank,” according to the lawsuit filed Nov. 24. A lawyer for Staley declined to comment.
The anonymous plaintiffs are represented by David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner, who represented Virginia Giuffre in a lawsuit against Prince Andrew that was subsequently settled. None of the allegations against Staley in the case have been publicly proven.
After reviewing Deutsche Bank’s relationship with Epstein, banking regulators in New York found that “although the bank correctly classified Epstein as high risk, the bank failed to scrutinize the activity in the accounts for the types of activity that were clearly implicated by Epstein’s past.” “, the lawsuit says.
— With the assistance of William Shaw and Jonathan Browning.
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