Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, MA in 1984.
Rick Friedman | Corbis News | Getty Images
A lawyer for the US Virgin Islands told a federal judge in a hearing that JPMorgan Chase notified the Treasury Department of more than $1 billion in transactions related to “human trafficking” by Jeffrey Epstein 16 years ago, when the infamous sexual Shikari killed himself in 2019. ,
“Epstein’s entire business with JP Morgan and JP Morgan’s entire business with Epstein,” Mimi Liu, a lawyer from the Virgin Islands, told Judge Jed Rakoff in US District Court in Manhattan on Thursday, according to a transcript reviewed by CNBC. The business was human trafficking.”
Liu cited the bank’s notification to the Treasury Department as he argued that Rakoff should issue a summary judgment against JPMorgan.
The giant bank is being sued by the Virgin Islands government for allegedly promoting sex trafficking of young women by Epstein while he was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013.
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The lawyer referred to $9 million in block transfers to the women and suspicious withdrawals from Epstein’s accounts at JP Morgan, saying it related to “facilitating” more than 20,000 sex acts, with Epstein paying several hundred for each sexual encounter. Given the habit of paying with dollars.
“JP Morgan was a full-service bank for Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking,” Liu said at the hearing.
“The only reason JPMorgan reported a $1 billion suspicious transaction 16 years later was because he was arrested and then died,” he said. [cover your a–] All the money coming into his JPMorgan accounts after his death was reported after 16 years.
The Virgin Islands have accused the bank of continuing to do business with Epstein for years despite repeated red flags internally and after he pleaded guilty to a Florida sex offense in 2008.
Liu argued, “By 2006, the bank had a lot of financial information related to Jeffrey Epstein that corroborated his sex crimes involving children.”
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a New York prison in August 2019, a month after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
In addition to a residence in Manhattan, Epstein also owned a private island in the Virgin Islands, where he was accused of sexually abusing women.
A lawyer for JPMorgan, which denies wrongdoing in the case, rejected claims by the Virgin Islands that it should be found liable for inciting Epstein to abuse women.
The Virgin Islands is seeking at least $190 million in damages in the case, which will be heard on October 23 if Rakoff does not grant summary judgment to either party.
The bank’s attorney, Felicia Ellsworth, told Rakoff that the Virgin Islands presented “not a single piece of evidence” that JPMorgan violated laws regarding sex trafficking.
Ellsworth also argued that the Virgin Islands lacked legal standing to sue the bank.
JP Morgan has said that the US territory can only sue to verify the rights of residents, and that there is no evidence that any of Epstein’s victims were residents of the Virgin Islands.
Ellsworth told Rakoff, “There’s a lot of conflicting testimony and evidence out there.”
“As I said, there is testimony from current and former JPMorgan employees denying knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct,” he said.
A spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment to CNBC about claims by the Virgin Islands that the bank had notified the Treasury Department of more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions by Epstein.
JPMorgan agreed in July to pay $290 million in a settlement with Epstein’s victims to settle a similar lawsuit filed by an accuser in Manhattan federal court.
In June, Deutsche Bank, which had taken Epstein on as a client after JP Morgan ousted him in 2013, agreed to pay $75 million to Epstein’s victims to settle a third lawsuit in the same court. .
