JPMorgan Compliance Urged Bank to Drop Epstein

In 2010, JPMorgan compliance officials suggested that Epstein “should go,” with one staff member saying that there was “lots of smoke. Lots of questions”, the complaint outlines.

Lawyers for the USVI detail the contents of emails and memos sent between staff at the bank over several years in a bid to cast light on what decision makers knew and when.

‘Sugar Daddy!’

In its Wednesday filing, the USVI re-alleged a number of claims that had previously been dismissed by the judge in the case. The territory also added a new claim — that JPMorgan obstructed enforcement of human trafficking laws by failing to act on red flags.

The USVI claims that Epstein’s behavior was so widely known at JPMorgan that senior executives joked about his interest in young girls. For example, in 2008 Erdoes received an email jokingly asking whether Epstein was at an event with then-teenage pop star Miley Cyrus. The filing does not identify who sent the email.

Compliance staff also sometimes expressed amusement over Epstein’s activities.

One person flagged “Epstein-sponsored” bank accounts and credit cards for two 18-year-old girls, who appeared to be part of his entourage. Judging by their debit charges, the staff member wrote, both girls could be placed in Palm Beach in 2004, around the time Epstein was accused of molesting young women.

“He did pay other girls, many models no huge amounts,” the staffer allegedly wrote. “Sugar Daddy!”

‘High Risk Client’

In 2011, JPMorgan’s AML compliance director requested re-approval of the bank’s relationship with Epstein “in light of new allegations of human trafficking.” By that stage, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida and served a little over a year in prison.

Another JPMorgan employee allegedly responded to the request, stating: “I thought we did that in approving a $50 million new line of credit last month?”

The revised complaint says JPMorgan’s AML director also raised concern about doing business with Epstein’s former companion Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in December 2021 of luring and grooming girls for abuse by Epstein. Maxwell sought to set up an account for a “personal recruitment consulting business,” according to the suit.

“What does she mean by personal recruitment??” the AML director allegedly asked in an internal email “Are you sure this will have nothing to do with Jeffrey? If you want to proceed, I suggest that we flag this as a High Risk Client.”

At Maxwell’s trial, a JPMorgan banker testified that Epstein transferred around $31 million to the British socialite from 1999 to 2007.

The cases are USVI v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10904-UA, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) and Jane Doe 1 v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10019, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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