JPMorgan Chase said the US Virgin Islands gave Jeffrey Epstein more than $300million in tax incentives and waived sex offender monitoring requirements, shielding the disgraced late financier as he gave cash and gifts to top officials and local police.
In a Tuesday court filing, the largest US bank described how Epstein allegedly paid law enforcement entities such as the Virgin Islands Police Department.
The newly unredacted filing is part of JPMorgan’s effort to show that the US Virgin Islands, including former first lady Cecile de Jongh, ‘actively facilitated’ Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls.
JPMorgan is defending in federal court against the territory’s lawsuit filed in December over its relationship with Epstein, a client from 1998 to 2013.
The US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighboring islands, has accused JPMorgan of facilitating Epstein’s crimes by providing banking services, and enabling him to pay victims.
JPMorgan Chase said the US Virgin Islands gave Jeffrey Epstein more than $300million in tax incentives and waived sex offender monitoring requirements, shielding the disgraced late financier as he gave cash and gifts to top officials
US Virgin Islands police said they ‘never received a single complaint’ about Epstein’s sex trafficking and would have investigated complaints. Pictured is Little St. James Island, one of the properties of financier Jeffrey Epstein,
‘JPMorgan Chase is the only party to this lawsuit that had real-time knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s human trafficking operation,’ Venetia Velazquez, a spokeswoman for the US Virgin Islands attorney general, said in a statement.
‘The evidence disclosed so far suggests the bank chose to prioritize its profits over protecting victims.’
US Virgin Islands police said they ‘never received a single complaint’ about Epstein’s sex trafficking and would have investigated complaints, a person familiar with the territory’s law enforcement practices said. The person lacked authority to discuss those practices publicly.
JPMorgan agreed last week to pay $290million to settle a lawsuit by dozens of Epstein’s accusers, pending court approval.
Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.Â
JPMorgan had described a ‘quid pro quo’ relationship between Epstein and US Virgin Islands officials such as de Jongh, whose husband, John, served as governor from 2007 to 2015.
The bank has said Cecile de Jongh managed Epstein’s local companies for eight years and helped arrange visas for some victims, in exchange for Epstein providing a salary, bonuses and tuition for her children’s schools.
The Virgin Islands, including former first lady Cecile de Jongh (pictured), ‘actively facilitated’ his sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls, the bank said. The bank has said Cecile de Jongh managed Epstein’s local companies for eight years and helped arrange visas for some victims
Tuesday’s filing described Epstein’s Financial Trust Co, also known as Southern Trust Co, receiving $219.8million in tax benefits from the US Virgin Islands between 1999 and 2012, and $80.6million between 2013 and 2018.
In connection with some benefits, the bank said Cecile de Jongh certified in 2009 that Epstein was a ‘bona fide resident,’ despite his then serving a 13-month sentence following his 2008 guilty plea to a Florida prostitution charge.
JPMorgan also said the territory waived restrictions on Epstein’s ability to travel, despite his sex offender status.
It said the territory’s Department of Justice on multiple occasions did not make timely notifications of Epstein’s status under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, ‘something Epstein even personally brought up with USVI DOJ.’
The bank also said ‘Epstein was often not present’ when the territory checked up on him at his home.
JPMorgan’s latest disclosures followed Monday’s release by the US Virgin Islands of a 22-page document prepared by the bank in late 2019 after Epstein’s death.
The document described Epstein’s ties to former JPMorgan private banking chief Jes Staley, including dozens of personal messages between them, and messages involving other bank officials.
The Virgin Islands said has accused JPMorgan of facilitating Epstein’s crimes by providing banking services and enabling his abuse
The bank denies any wrongdoing, but has sued Jes Staley – who was friends with Epstein – accusing of him acting on his own to help the sex offender
JPMorgan has sued Staley, and wants him liable for damages it might owe in the accusers’ and US Virgin Islands’ lawsuits.
Staley left JPMorgan in 2013, and later spent six years as Barclays’ chief executive.
He has expressed regret for his friendship with Epstein and repeatedly denied knowing about his crimes.
Internal emails show that following Epstein’s July 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges, JPMorgan conducted an internal review review known as ‘Project Jeep’ investigating the bank’s relationship with Epstein.Â
The review included emails between Epstein and Staley, a former friend and JPMorgan private banking chief whom the bank has tried to blame for its client relationship with Epstein.
In a July 2019 email, JPMorgan’s head of financial crimes compliance Peter Neilson wrote that he was working on the review with input from ‘top of house,’ which attorneys for the Virgin Islands argue is a reference to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
‘Top of house requested that we expand our analysis to related parties and put together slides. Should have in a few days. We are treating it as a project at this point,’ Neilson wrote in the email.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 until the bank terminated him in 2013, years after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for sex in a Florida state case.
In a May 26 deposition, Dimon said he never met Epstein, did not recall discussing his accounts internally, and barely knew who Epstein was prior to the July 2019 arrest.
The US Virgin Islands wanted Dimon to sit for a second deposition after additional documents about Epstein and Staley surfaced, including the emails cited in the newly unsealed letter.
However, US District Judge Jed Rakoff, who oversees the lawsuit, denied that request for a second deposition.
JPMorgan declined to comment when reached by DailyMail.com on Tuesday. The bank has previously denied any wrongdoing, but said it regrets taking on Epstein as a client.Â
