US banks face lawsuits for ‘conniving’ over Jeffrey Epstein abuse

Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims claim major banks were indispensable to the operation and concealment of his trafficking enterprise.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Picture: Southern District Court of New York

Alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein can pursue legal claims against two major banks that are accused of “knowingly” profiting from his sex-trafficking ring, a judge in New York has ruled.

Women who say they were abused by the convicted paedophile filed class actions against JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank in November, alleging that the banks provided financial services to Epstein that allowed him to operate his sex-trafficking ring.

They say the banks did so “knowing they would earn millions of dollars” from their relationship with Epstein and chose to put “profits over the law”.

A month later the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned an island called Little Saint James, launched its own lawsuit against JP Morgan, alleging that the bank “knowingly, negligently, and unlawfully provided and pulled the levers through which recruiters and victims were paid”. It said the bank was “indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise”.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 awaiting trial for sex trafficking minors. In the first two years after his death, a fund created from his estate paid dollars 121 million to more than 135 women who said that he abused them.

In a motion to dismiss the case against it last month, lawyers for Deutsche Bank argued that the alleged victim had agreed to relinquish any claims against Epstein or any entity that worked for him in a settlement with his estate. Deutsche also said the lawsuit did not show that it knew of Epstein’s crimes. JP Morgan said it did not participate in the sex trafficking, profit from it or have “actual or constructive knowledge” about it.

It accused the US Virgin Islands of a “masterclass in deflection” that sought to hold the bank “responsible for not sleuthing out Epstein’s crimes” even though the island authorities had more information and were nearer the scene.

Yesterday (Monday) Jed Rakoff, the senior district court judge, dismissed some of the motions against the banks but allowed other claims to proceed, including the allegation that they “knowingly benefited from participating in a sex-trafficking venture”. He said he would explain his reasoning in due course.

The litigation against JP Morgan has drawn on more than 1,000 emails between Epstein and Jes Staley, a former bank executive who later headed Barclays, which were said to show a “profound” friendship and discussions of sex with young women. Staley stepped down in 2021 after an investigation by British regulators into his ties with Epstein and denies any knowledge of, or involvement in, his crimes.

The Times