Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) surges around 1% in pre trading session on Wednesday as the bank’s choice to keep late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a customer will be the subject of an oath-taking interview with CEO Jamie Dimon, according to a story in the Financial Times on Tuesday.
An inquiry for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by the bank. The development follows a U.S. judge’s ruling last week that JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank AG must defend themselves against claims that they helped facilitate Epstein’s sex trafficking.
According to a person with knowledge of JPMorgan’s internal investigation, there was no evidence that Dimon had direct contact with Epstein or participated in any discussions about keeping him as a customer.
According to a lawyer engaged in the case, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon will be questioned under oath over the bank’s involvement with late sex offender and former customer Jeffrey Epstein.
According to Brad Edwards, an attorney for women who are suing the biggest U.S. bank for allegedly supporting the financier’s sex trafficking and say they were sexually assaulted by Epstein, the deposition is anticipated to take place in the first few days of May. JPMorgan chose not to respond.
From 2000 until 2013, Epstein was a customer of JPMorgan; the final five years were following his plea to a Florida prostitution case.
A proposed class action by Epstein’s accusers and a case initiated by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein held real estate, are two lawsuits seeking damages over JPMorgan’s interactions with Epstein that are now being defended in federal court in Manhattan.
Jes Staley, a former head of private banking and later the CEO of Barclays Plc who had a cordial relationship with Epstein, is also being sued by the bank.
For the past eight years of remuneration and whatever losses it could sustain in the other claims, JPMorgan is requesting repayment from Staley. The probable deposition of Dimon was first reported by The Financial Times. According to the publication, which cited a person familiar with an internal JPMorgan investigation, there was no evidence of Dimon speaking with Epstein directly or participating in any conversations about maintaining him as a client.
When Epstein was no longer a customer, a federal court rejected JPMorgan’s argument that the U.S. Virgin Islands was engaged in a “fishing expedition” and ordered the bank to provide papers pertaining to Dimon from 2015 to 2019 on March 9.
In addition, Epstein’s accusers have filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG, where the financier was a client from 2013 to 2018. Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 at the age of 66 as he was awaiting a sex trafficking trial.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) surges around 1% in pre trading session on Tuesday as the bank’s choice to keep late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a customer will be the subject of an oath-taking interview with CEO Jamie Dimon, according to a story in the Financial Times on Tuesday.
