JPMorgan to pay $117m to settle Epstein lawsuit with US Virgin Islands

afr.com:

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $US75 million ($117 million) to the US Virgin Islands to settle claims that it facilitated the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died by suicide in 2019, according to a statement released by the bank on Tuesday.

The tentative settlement comes just weeks before a scheduled trial in federal court in New York City on the US territory’s claim that the bank enabled Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation of teenage girls and young women for nearly 15 years.

JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank, already agreed in June to pay $US290 million to the nearly 200 victims of Epstein in a class-action lawsuit. AP

The bank also said it had reached a confidential settlement with James (Jes) Staley, a former top banker who had been one of the biggest advocates for keeping Epstein as a client.

JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank, already agreed in June to pay $US290 million to the nearly 200 victims of Epstein in a class-action lawsuit that mirrored many of the claims raised by the Virgin Islands.

The US Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan in December, and about a month later, lawyers for Epstein’s victims had sued the bank. The US territory said it was seeking up to $US190 million in compensation from the bank, which it claimed had ignored warning signs about Epstein’s activities and chose to look the other way because he generated business for it.

The money the bank is paying to the Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a private island residence for roughly two decades, will mostly go toward funding charitable causes in the US territory in the Caribbean and paying lawyer fees. The settlement specifically calls for $US30 million to go to local charities that support local victims of sex