JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest financial institution, alleged in a brand new courtroom submitting Thursday that the spouse of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ former governor and different officers within the territory helped Jeffrey Epstein dodge intercourse offender legal guidelines and helped him procure his alleged victims.
The financial institution’s new submitting in a U.S. District Courtroom is a part of an ongoing civil lawsuit that the Virgin Islands filed final yr accusing the corporate of financially benefiting from Epstein’s alleged intercourse trafficking operation within the Virgin Islands, the place he owned a small island, and failing to report his suspicious monetary exercise.
JPMorgan Chase, which denies any legal responsibility in Epstein’s alleged schemes, fired again on the U.S. territory this week, saying in its submitting that Cecile de Jongh, spouse of former Gov. John de Jongh, facilitated a “quid professional quo relationship” between Epstein and the island’s strongest figures whereas she first woman from 2007 to 2015.
“Epstein’s main conduit for spreading cash and affect all through the USVI authorities was First Woman de Jongh,” Thursday’s submitting alleges, saying she “drove donations from Epstein to help her husband and allies.” He additionally paid her $200,000 in 2007 alone for administration work at his firms and paid the college tuition for her and the governor’s kids, the financial institution claimed in its submitting.
In trade, JPMorgan Chase’s legal professionals say, de Jongh used her affect with high-ranking public officers to assist Epstein ― who was convicted in 2008 of procuring a toddler for prostitution ― acquire pupil visas for 3 ladies concerned in his alleged intercourse trafficking ring, organize for his or her enrollment at a neighborhood college, discover employment for them and coordinate their journey to the territory.
“In sum, in trade for Epstein’s money and items, USVI made life simple for him,” the submitting says. “The federal government mitigated any burdens from his intercourse offender standing. And it made positive that nobody requested too many questions on his transport and preserving of younger ladies on his island.”
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on costs of intercourse trafficking minors however died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell forward of his trial.
A spokesperson for the legal professional basic of the Virgin Islands referred to as JPMorgan Chase’s new submitting “an apparent try and shift blame.”
De Jongh has not returned media inquiries in regards to the allegations towards her.