NEW YORK, Could 18 (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is looking for paperwork from Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg as a part of a lawsuit in opposition to the financial institution by girls who say they had been abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, court docket data confirmed on Thursday.
A lawyer for Bragg took half in a Could 16 phone convention within the case alongside attorneys for the victims, the financial institution, former JPMorgan personal banking chief Jes Staley and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place Epstein had a house, the Manhattan federal court docket data confirmed.
U.S. District Choose Jed Rakoff instructed Bragg to supply JPMorgan with a privilege log – or an outline of paperwork the financial institution was looking for that he says he isn’t required to show over – by Friday.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.”
A spokesperson for Bragg stated: “A protecting order is in place, so we can not touch upon the character of the requested paperwork.”
JPMorgan’s request got here to gentle after Deutsche Financial institution AG (DBKGn.DE) agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit by girls who accused the German financial institution of facilitating Epstein’s intercourse trafficking.
Rakoff has stated JPMorgan may very well be liable if the ladies can present that Staley, who had been pleasant with Epstein, had first-hand information that the financier ran a sex-trafficking enterprise. Staley’s lawyer has known as allegations in opposition to him “slanderous.” His attorneys didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
JPMorgan is individually suing Staley – who led its asset administration enterprise from 2001 to 2009 and its company and funding financial institution from 2009 to 2013 – to cowl its losses within the two lawsuits it faces, and make him forfeit eight years of pay.
Staley has requested Rakoff to dismiss the financial institution’s case, accusing JPMorgan of utilizing him as a “public relations protect” to deflect blame for its personal failures in working with Epstein.
In its lawsuit accusing JPMorgan of enabling Epstein’s abuses, the U.S. Virgin Islands stated Epstein and Staley swapped sexually suggestive messages about younger girls, together with an e mail that Rakoff quoted the place Staley stated: “That was enjoyable. Say hello to Snow White.”
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking expenses.
Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York
Modifying by Chizu Nomiyama
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