JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will not be facing a second round of questioning in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ lawsuit over the bank's ties with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Bloomberg and Reuters reported Friday.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff denied the USVI's request to approve questioning of one former and two current bank employees, including Dimon, according to Bloomberg.
Dimon already faced a deposition May 26, in which he declared that he wasn't involved in the long-held accounts of Epstein and said he hadn’t met him. His deposition was tied to two lawsuits — one by USVI and another by an alleged Epstein victim — regarding JPMorgan's connection to Epstein, a former client.
The USVI is seeking damages, and alleges the bank ignored Epstein's involvement in illegal sex trafficking activities in the early 2000s. Epstein owned an island in the territory.
The USVI is confident that it has "more than sufficient" evidence to show the bank "facilitated and concealed Jeffrey Epstein's heinous crimes in violation of the law," a spokesperson for the territory said, according to Reuters.
Lawyers for the USVI argued that JPMorgan submitted important information after the first round of depositions, including a summary of emails between Epstein and JPMorgan’s private-banking chief, Jes Staley. The emails were compiled after Epstein died in 2019 and were produced May 28, after Dimon's deposition, so the USVI did not get a chance to question him about it, Bloomberg reported.
In a letter made public Thursday, JPMorgan said Dimon made "crystal clear" in his deposition that he was unaware of Epstein's sexual abuse of young women, including teenage girls when the former financier was the bank's client, Reuters noted.
During the deposition, Dimon said he hardly heard of Epstein until his 2019 arrest, the wire service said.
Weeks after Dimon's deposition, JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million as part of a settlement to a class-action lawsuit filed by an unidentified woman on behalf of the victims who claim the bank's knowledge of Epstein's illegal sex trafficking activities.
JPMorgan did not admit liability as part of the settlement, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The bank sued Staley, alleging he concealed knowledge of Epstein’s conduct. Staley, for his part, claimed the bank is trying to “deflect blame” and use him as a “public relations shield” for the mistakes it committed.
An adviser to Staley
A summary of emails obtained by Bloomberg details the depth of Staley and Epstein's personal and professional relationship when Staley was an executive at the bank and Epstein a wealthy client.
The emails, which are yet to be made public in the legal proceedings, also bring to light Epstein's role in facilitating a meeting between Staley and Price Andrew. The relationship between the two men adds tension to the high-profile lawsuit between the bank and USVI.
Staley often turned to Epstein for advice on various topics, including his salary negotiations at the bank and help with his daughter's education, Bloomberg reported.
"Jamie wants me to tell him how much I should make this year, given the expected bank results and my results," Staley wrote to Epstein on July 16, 2008, according to the publication. "What do you think? I hope you're managing. I miss our calls. It's boring without you around?"
Epstein was a JPMorgan client between 1998 and 2013, when the bank cut ties with him following Staley's exit. Epstein died in prison in 2019.
