By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase urged a federal judge to reject the U.S. Virgin Islands’ demand that Chief Executive Jamie Dimon sit for a second deposition for its lawsuit about the bank’s long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
In a letter made public on Thursday, the largest U.S. bank said Dimon made “crystal clear” in his May 26 deposition that he knew nothing about Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls when the disgraced financier was a client.
JPMorgan also said messages between Epstein and former bank executive Jes Staley, where Epstein name-dropped people like billionaires Bill Gates and Leon Black and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, did not justify more questioning of Dimon about alleged “Epstein referrals” of prospective customers.
A spokesman for the U.S. Virgin Islands had no comment on the letter to U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan.
The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighboring islands, is suing JPMorgan for allegedly enabling Epstein to set up a sex trafficking operation there.
JPMorgan has fought back, saying the territory was complicit in Epstein’s crimes.
Late on Wednesday, the bank released emails between Epstein and a former first lady of the U.S. Virgin Islands, to support its earlier claim that the territory looked the other way in exchange for cash and perks.
Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013. He died of an apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, one month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges.
On Monday, JPMorgan agreed in principle to pay $290 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by dozens of women who said Epstein sexually abused them, and accused the bank of ignoring his activities.
JPMorgan is separately suing Staley for concealing what he knew about Epstein, and wants him liable for damages it might face in both lawsuits.
Staley was deposed on Saturday. He has in court papers denied wrongdoing or knowing about his former friend’s crimes.
A trial is scheduled for Oct. 23.
The case is U.S. Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-10904.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by Deepa Babington)
