Epstein case: the Virgin Islands are asking JPMorgan for 190 million for its relations with the exploiter
The US Virgin Islands say it plans to seek at least $190 million from JPMorgan accusing the bank of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities.
In a court filing Friday in Manhattan, the USVI also said it wants JPMorgan to commit to reforms that would prevent the bank from allowing human trafficking in the future. Epstein owned a private island in the USVI where he took many of his victims and an unpublished list of associates who abused them.
“I am delighted that the victims have received some measure of compensation from the bank, but more needs to be done to hold JPMorgan Chase accountable and to ensure that this does not happen to another generation of women and girls,” said Ariel Smith of the 'USVI AG in a statement, reports Bloomberg.
JPMorgan settled with a group of Epstein victims last month for $290 million without admitting liability. The USVI lawsuit seeks damages for the bank's relationship with the pedophile who died from 1998 to 2013.
Jeffrey Epstein's Island in the US Virgin Islands
The bank says the USVI's damages claim filed on Friday does not match previous "settlement conversations" between the parties, according to a spokeswoman, who added: are founded and are challenged by JPM in court”.
JPMorgan argued that the USVI lawsuit is flawed because the territory itself facilitated Epstein's crimes. For example, the bank noted that Cecile de Jongh, the former USVI first lady, worked for Epstein and helped arrange visas and travel for the women he brought there. Epstein in return paid for Skidmore College tuition for one of De Jongh's sons and provided several other benefits.
According to its court filing, the USVI is seeking $150 million in penalties from JPMorgan for allegedly facilitating Epstein's sex trafficking. The territory said it also wanted $40 million that JPMorgan estimated it earned in fees from managing Epstein's accounts and the ultra-high-net-worth accounts it reported to the bank.
In its filing, the USVI indicated it will seek additional compensatory and punitive damages to be distributed to the victims.
Both the agreed lawsuit and the USVI action concern the relationship between former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley and Epstein, who had — in Staley's words, a “profound” relationship. So deep that the court has already ordered the bank to compensate some convicted girls.
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The article Epstein case: the Virgin Islands ask JPMorgan for 190 million for its relations with the exploiter comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/caso-epstein-le-isole-vergini-chiedono-190-milioni-a-jpmorgan-per-i-suoi-rapporti-con-lo-sfruttatore/ on Mon, 17 Jul 2023 07:00:15 +0000.