Dimon in the rough
Court order for docs in ‘aiding Epstein’ suit vs. Chase
JPMorgan Chase was ordered by a Manhattan federal judge to hand over more documents concerning Chief Executive Jamie Dimon to the US Virgin Islands for the territory’s lawsuit accusing the bank of aiding in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Judge Jed Rakoff said Thursday the bank must turn over requested documents from 2015 to 2019, a period after JPMorgan had dropped Epstein as a client. Rakoff did not explain his reasoning in his onesentence order.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
Rakoff’s ruling comes a day after the bank filed two lawsuits accusing former private banking chief Jes Staley of “intentional and outrageous conduct” in concealing information about Epstein, with whom he had been friends.
JPMorgan says Staley abandoned the bank’s “interests in favor of his own and Epstein’s personal interests” and should be on the hook for damages incurred by the bank as a result of litigation related to Epstein, according to the court documents.
Staley has previously denied involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking. His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The US Virgin Islands is seeking damages from JPMorgan for allegedly aiding in Epstein by keeping him as a client and overlooking red flags about misconduct on his private island, Little St. James.
Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 2000 to 2013. He killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The US Virgin Islands has called Dimon “a likely source of relevant and unique information.”
JPMorgan countered by accusing the Virgin Islands of going on a “fishing expedition” after having obtained a “massive trove” of information in litigation and recovered more than $105 million from Epstein’s estate.
US Virgin Islands lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
JPMorgan also faces a proposed class action over its ties to Epstein by Jane Doe 1, a former ballet dancer who said Epstein abused and trafficked her from 2006 to 2013.
Rakoff scheduled a March 16 conference in the case.