A federal judge said Wednesday that he will not block JPMorgan’s legal efforts to charge a former executive with covering up decades of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein in order to keep the financier as a client.
Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan denied requests by lawyers for the executive, Jes Staley, to dismiss claims the bank made against Staley after it was sued last year in the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein remains. a residence, and a woman who identified herself as one of Epstein’s victims.
The judge said he would explain his reasoning later in a written decision.
Staley’s attorneys have filed court papers seeking dismissal of JPMorgan’s claims, saying the bank used Staley as a “public relations shield” by stating the claims did not exist. ‘y legal basis.
They said Staley did not have decision-making authority over Epstein’s accounts and did not allegedly see any suspicious activity in the account that other JPMorgan employees ignored.
Epstein was 66 when he apparently killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail cell where he was awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial after his application for bail was denied. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually abused multiple girls, some as young as 14.
Staley, who worked at JPMorgan from 1979 until January 2013, reported to Jamie Dimon, the bank’s president and chairman, after he became chief executive officer of JPMorgan’s Corporate and Investment Banking division in 2009, his lawyers said. Dimon is set to be ousted from office this week in Epstein-related litigation.
Staley left JPMorgan to become CEO of London-based bank Barclays, although he resigned last year after British regulators reported his past links to Epstein.
Staley’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment on the judge’s decision Wednesday.
In lawsuits filed late last year against JPMorgan, the U.S. Virgin Islands and a woman who identified herself in court papers as “Jane Doe” claimed the bank provided Epstein with large sums of money from 1998 to August 2013 even though it knew about Epstein’s sex. trafficking practices.
The two lawsuits were filed after New York state in November enacted a temporary law that allows adult victims of sexual abuse to sue others for the abuse they suffered, even if the abuse happened a long time ago.
JPMorgan, in opposing Staley’s request to be dismissed from the litigation, called the charges “misleading” for targeting the bank.
It noted that the Jane Doe lawsuit referred to Staley 97 times and claimed that Staley “knew without a doubt that Epstein was trafficking and abusing women” while the US Virgin Islands’ lawsuit he was named 41 times.
“If these allegations are proven to be true then Staley should be held accountable for his alleged misconduct and any harm caused to the victims and the company,” the bank’s lawyers wrote in court papers.
The New York bank is seeking to hold Staley personally liable for any financial penalties JPMorgan may face in the case and is also seeking to recover wages Staley earned during the years she knew about the abuse. said Epstein.
On Tuesday, JPMorgan filed court papers accusing the government of the Virgin Islands of complicity in Epstein’s crimes, saying government officials were bribed by Epstein to look the other way. while he used his land to host teenage girls who were sexually abused.
A spokeswoman from the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney’s office said Tuesday in an email that JPMorgan was trying to “shift the blame” from the bank, which had a responsibility to report human trafficking but failed to do so.
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