[1/2] A view of the outside of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. company headquarters in New York Metropolis Might 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar
NEW YORK, Might 31 (Reuters) – A former JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) government wrote in a 2011 e mail that the late financier and intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein shouldn’t be a consumer of the financial institution, in accordance with a transcript of a deposition of Chief Government Jamie Dimon seen by Reuters.
Dimon stated within the deposition he was not conscious of the e-mail on the time however “I do know it at the moment.”
Dimon additionally stated that if the financial institution had identified up to now what is understood at the moment about Epstein – citing, particularly, his arrest in 2019 and the 2020 conviction of his longtime affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell on expenses together with intercourse trafficking – that he would have been terminated as a consumer.
The biggest U.S. financial institution faces lawsuits looking for damages by ladies who declare that Epstein sexually abused them, and by the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place the late financier had a house.
Epstein was a JPMorgan consumer from 2000 to 2013, remaining so after pleading responsible in 2008 to a Florida state prostitution cost.
In Dimon’s Might 26 deposition, he was requested concerning the e mail former basic counsel Stephen Cutler despatched to different executives, together with former personal banking chief Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, now head of asset and wealth administration, calling Epstein “not an individual we must always do enterprise with, interval.”
“This isn’t an honorable particular person in any manner,” Cutler wrote. “He shouldn’t be a consumer.”
The e-mail was learn by a lawyer for the Virgin Islands throughout questioning, in accordance with the transcript. Reuters has not seen the e-mail itself.
“Had the agency believed he was engaged in an ongoing intercourse trafficking operation, Epstein wouldn’t have been retained as a consumer,” a JPMorgan spokesperson stated in a press release. “In hindsight, we remorse he was ever a consumer.”
Cutler didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
David Boies, a lawyer for the lady referred to as Jane Doe who’s suing the financial institution, stated in a press release that the deposition “confirms that individuals on the hugest degree inside JP Morgan, together with its basic counsel, acknowledged that the financial institution was complicit in offering banking companies to Epstein, however nonetheless continued to take action.”
Within the deposition, Dimon additionally repeatedly denied talking about Epstein with Staley, who was pleasant with Epstein. The financial institution is suing Staley, arguing he ought to be held responsible for any damages JPMorgan is compelled to pay for concealing what he knew about Epstein.
Staley has stated he regrets his friendship with Epstein, however denied realizing about Epstein’s alleged intercourse trafficking. His attorneys didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.
The New York Occasions reported on Wednesday that Erdoes stated throughout a March deposition that she determined to dismiss Epstein as a consumer in 2013 due to considerations about massive withdrawals from his accounts.
Through the deposition, Dimon stated he trusted each Erdoes and Cutler and thought they had been “making an attempt to do the precise factor,” in accordance with the transcript.
Epstein died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking expenses. New York Metropolis’s medical expert referred to as the demise a suicide.
Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Luc Cohen in New York; Modifying by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Rosalba O’Brien
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