Law&Crime Network published March 18, 2023: Jeffrey Epstein Sex-Trafficking Case: Officials Claim JPMorgan CEO Knew All About It.
Representatives with the Virgin Islands government have asserted they believe JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations. The government’s private counsel urged a judge to advance the lawsuit against the financial powerhouse. JPMorgan Chase will face off against the Epstein survivors and the Virgin Islands government at trial on Oct. 23. Sidebar host Angenette Levy discusses the implications of this lawsuit with Law&Crime’s managing editor Adam Klasfeld.
Reuters News
written by Luc Cohen
Friday October 20, 2023
NEW YORK - Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) on Friday won final approval from a U.S. judge for a $75 million settlement it reached with victims of Jeffrey Epstein who had accused the German company of facilitating the late financier's alleged sex trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who granted preliminary approval for the deal in June, signed off on the settlement during a court hearing in Manhattan.
"This is, in the court's view, a terrific settlement," Rakoff said in court.
The bank did not acknowledge any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The settlement covers women who have said they were sexually abused or trafficked by Epstein or his associates from Aug. 19, 2013, until his death in a Manhattan jail six years later as he awaited trial on criminal charges that he trafficked young women and teenage girls for sex.
New York City's medical examiner ruled Epstein's death a suicide.
The lawsuit was led by a woman known as Jane Doe 1, who said Epstein sexually abused her from 2003 to 2018 and accused Deutsche Bank of missing red flags of his abuses. Epstein had been a Deutsche Bank client from 2013 to 2018, after being a JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) client for 15 years.
Deutsche Bank has said it made an error in taking on Epstein as a client.
Rakoff approved fees of 30% of the settlement amount for the lawyers representing the women.
One of the lawyers, David Boies, said after the hearing that the case "was a wake-up call for banks" that they must keep track of who their clients are.
Rakoff granted preliminary approval to New York-based financial services company JPMorgan's $290 million settlement over similar claims in June. A hearing over final approval in that case is set for Nov. 9.
JPMorgan was also sued by the U.S. Virgin Islands - where Epstein owned two private islands - over claims that the bank aided Epstein. JPMorgan last month agreed to pay $75 million to settle those claims.
JPMorgan has said it regrets its association with Epstein.
*********
Bloomberg TV published June 12, 2023: JPMorgan Agrees to Settlement With Epstein Victim.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced an "agreement in principle" to settle the proposed class action filed by an unnamed Jeffrey Epstein victim late last year alleging it knowingly benefited from former client Epstein's sex-trafficking. Sridhar Natarajan reports on Bloomberg Television.
Reuters News
written by Jonathan Stempel
Monday October 23, 2023
NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase's (JPM.N) $290 million class-action settlement with Jeffrey Epstein's accusers has drawn an objection from many U.S. states, which say the accord could limit their ability to seek compensation for sexual abuse victims.
In a letter made public on Monday in Manhattan federal court, the attorneys general of 16 states and Washington, D.C., complained about settlement language that prevents "any sovereign or government" from seeking damages arising from sex trafficking by Epstein and the late financier's associates.
The attorneys general said including such language without their consent would deter them from seeking damages for sex trafficking victims, not just Epstein's, under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
They also said Deutsche Bank's (DBKGn.DE) similar $75 million agreement with Epstein's accusers did not contain the offending language.
"Jeffrey Epstein's surviving victims should be fully compensated for the profound harm they have suffered," New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez wrote. "However, as it now stands, the settlement agreement improperly seeks to release (the states') claims for victim-specific relief."
The attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont also signed the letter.
JPMorgan did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for Epstein's accusers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff.
********
The Guardian, UK
written by Reuters staff
Monday June 26, 2023
A US judge on Monday granted preliminary approval to JPMorgan Chase’s $290m settlement with women who said Jeffrey Epstein abused them and that the largest US bank ignored the late financier’s sex trafficking.
The approval was issued by US district judge Jed Rakoff at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
“This is a really fine settlement,” Rakoff said.
He said the accord and a similar $75m agreement with Deutsche Bank he approved earlier this month were “very large settlements” that would compensate Epstein’s victims, though not make up for abuses they suffered.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 through 2013, when the bank terminated his accounts.
Victims led by a former ballet dancer known as Jane Doe 1 said JPMorgan missed red flags of Epstein’s abuses and stayed in touch with him long after his official departure.
Lawyers for the victims said last week that the proposed all-cash settlement was “fair, adequate, reasonable” given the risks of further litigation and JPMorgan’s denying involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking.
JPMorgan in a statement this month said any association it had with Epstein “was a mistake and we regret it”.
Epstein remained a JPMorgan client for five years after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida prostitution charge and registered as a sex offender.
At Monday’s hearing, Rakoff asked Jane Doe 1’s lawyer, David Boies, why there was no minimum distribution for each victim, noting that the Deutsche Bank settlement, which Boies also negotiated, guaranteed each at least $75,000.
Boies said many victims in the Deutsche Bank case were from Russia or eastern Europe and difficult to contact, making the guaranteed minimum an incentive to come forward. He said that was not needed in the JPMorgan case.
Rakoff appointed Simone Lelchuk, a lawyer who specializes in administering settlements, to consider individual claims and determine payouts in the JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank cases.
JPMorgan is also facing a lawsuit over Epstein by the US Virgin Islands, where the financier owned two neighboring islands. That case is currently scheduled to go on trial on 23 October.
Epstein died at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. New York City’s medical examiner called the death a suicide.
CNBC published Sep 26, 2023: JPMorgan Chase to settle Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking suit by U.S. Virgin Islands for $75 million. CNBC's Eamon Javers reports on news from JPMorgan Chase.
Reuters News
written by Nupur Anand, Lananh Nguyen and Jonathan Stempel
Tuesday September 26, 2023
NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) agreed to pay $75 million to settle claims by the U.S. Virgin Islands that the bank aided in the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking.
The largest U.S. bank also reached a confidential settlement with Jes Staley, a former private banking chief who was close to Epstein and who JPMorgan blamed for keeping him as a client.
Both settlements were reached four weeks before a scheduled trial, largely resolving a scandal that has weighed on JPMorgan all year.
They conclude the final pieces of major litigation over Epstein's sexual abuse of women, which has embroiled prominent people such as Britain's Prince Andrew and powerful figures in business.
Lawsuits against JPMorgan also called into question the bank's oversight of clients, with accusations it ignored red flags and internal warnings about Epstein, including over money he supposedly withdrew to pay young women and teenage girls.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 until 2013, when the New York-based bank fired him.
"The firm deeply regrets any association with this man, and would never have continued doing business with him if it believed he was using the bank in any way to commit his heinous crimes," JPMorgan said in a statement.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
The U.S. Virgin Islands settlement calls for JPMorgan to pay $30 million to support charitable organizations, $25 million to combat human trafficking, and $20 million to the territory's lawyers.
JPMorgan did not admit wrongdoing. It agreed in June to pay $290 million to resolve separate claims by dozens of Epstein's accusers.
US Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel Smith said the settlement was a "historic victory for survivors and for state enforcement, and it should sound the alarm on Wall Street about banks' responsibilities under the law to detect and prevent human trafficking."
Last November, the territory reached a separate settlement of at least $105 million with Epstein's estate.
Lawyers for Staley did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
JPMorgan had wanted him to cover its losses in its other two lawsuits, and forfeit eight years of pay.
Staley left JPMorgan in 2013, shortly before Epstein was fired, and later spent six years as Barclays' (BARC.L) chief executive. He has expressed regret for his friendship with Epstein and denied knowing about his sex trafficking.
Epstein died in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. New York City's medical examiner called his death a suicide.
LAYING BLAME
The U.S. Virgin Islands had been seeking at least $190 million from JPMorgan.
It accused the bank of ignoring warning signs about Epstein's misconduct, even after his 2006 arrest on prostitution charges and guilty plea two years later.
The territory also said some bank officials stayed in touch with Epstein long after he was dismissed as a client.
JPMorgan countered that the U.S. Virgin Islands was also at fault, for giving Epstein tax incentives and waiving monitoring requirements in exchange for cash and gifts to local officials, including a former first lady.
Epstein had owned two private islands within the territory, including one he allegedly bought to keep onlookers from spying on his misconduct on the other.
JPMorgan's ties to Epstein became a rare public relations problem for Jamie Dimon, the bank's CEO since 2006.
Dimon testified under oath in May that he had barely heard of Epstein until the financier's July 2019 arrest.
Among those ensnared by the scandal was Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO.N), who had close business ties with Epstein.
Black reached his own $62.5 million settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this year, to avoid a possible lawsuit.
He has denied enabling Epstein's sex abuses, and regretted his ties with the financier.
Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), where Epstein was a client from 2013 to 2018, reached a $75 million settlement with Epstein's accusers in May.
No comments:
Post a Comment