NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase said the U.S. Virgin Islands gave Jeffrey Epstein more than $300 million in tax incentives and waived sex offender monitoring requirements, shielding the disgraced late financier as he gave cash and gifts to top officials.
The largest U.S. bank made the allegations on Tuesday night in an unredacted version of an earlier filing in Manhattan federal court, where it is defending against a lawsuit by the U.S. territory over its relationship with Epstein, a client from 1998 to 2013.
Spokespeople for the U.S. Virgin Islands did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The territory, where Epstein owned two neighboring islands, has accused JPMorgan of facilitating Epstein’s sex crimes by providing banking services, and enabling him to pay his victims.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
He had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida prostitution charge and registered as a sex offender.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
