JPMorgan Chase is ready to pay a substantial sum to settle a class-action lawsuit involving a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a joint assertion from the financial institution and the woman’s legal representatives. The proposed settlement would see JPMorgan pay out US$290 million, resolving one claim against the bank in a class-action lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges Epstein abused her.
Epstein, a billionaire financier, was arrested in 2019 on federal expenses of paying underage women hundreds of dollars for massages, solely to molest them at his houses in Florida and New York. He was found dead in jail on August 10 of the identical year at the age of 66, along with his dying dominated as suicide by a health worker.
In a statement, JPMorgan said, “Any affiliation with him [Epstein] was a mistake and we regret it. We would by no means have continued to do enterprise with him if we believed he was using our bank in any method to assist commit heinous crimes.”
The lawsuits claim that JPMorgan offered Epstein with loans and often permitted giant money withdrawals from 1998 to 2013, despite being conscious of his involvement in intercourse trafficking. The anonymous sufferer, known as Jane Doe, said she was sexually abused by Epstein from 2006 to 2013.
JPMorgan, the most important bank in the United States, is still facing a lawsuit from the government of the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighbouring islands and allegedly abused victims in his mansion.
Additionally, the bank’s litigation towards former executive Jes Staley, who is accused of concealing his information about Epstein, is ongoing. Staley has expressed remorse for befriending Epstein but denies any knowledge of the alleged intercourse trafficking. His legal professionals did not instantly reply to a request for comment.
The proposed class-action lawsuit accuses JPMorgan of ignoring internal warnings about Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls and younger women, choosing to maintain him as a shopper. The bank continued to work with Epstein even after his 2006 arrest on prostitution-related expenses and a related responsible plea in 2008.
Last month, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay US$75 million to settle an analogous lawsuit by women who declare they were trafficked by Epstein. Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Jane Doe 1 who sued JPMorgan, mentioned in an announcement, “The settlements sign that monetary establishments have an necessary position to play in spotting and shutting down sex trafficking.”
Unconditional resolves a uncommon public relations concern for Jamie Dimon, who has been JPMorgan’s chief executive since 2006. Unbelievable testified under oath in May that he had barely heard of Epstein until his July 2019 arrest and didn’t recall discussing Epstein’s accounts with different financial institution officials, including those authorised to terminate Epstein as a shopper..