JPMorgan Chase pays $290 million to settle with Epstein victims

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $290 million to settle a class-action lawsuit from Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse victims, according to David Boies, one of the victims’ attorneys. The victims had accused the bank of enabling sex trafficking by the deceased financier when he was a client.

The settlement is subject to court approval. Under terms of the settlement, JPMorgan Chase will not admit liability in the case, but upon the settlement’s approval the bank will put out a statement regretting its association with Epstein, Boies told CNN.

The bank and the victims’ lawyers said the settlement is in the best interests of all parties, “especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse,” according to a joint statement.

It’s hard to say how many victims will ultimately benefit from the settlement funds, but more than 100 women are expected to seek compensation. Many women who filed a claim with Epstein’s estate through the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program are likely to be included in the two pending bank settlements, Boies said.

The lawyers representing the victims issued their own statement, calling the settlement “life changing and historic.”

“Money, which for far too long flowed with impunity between Jeffrey Epstein’s global sex trafficking enterprise and Wall Street’s leading banks, is decisively being used for good,” said Sigrid McCawley, managing partner at the firm Boies Schiller Flexner. “The settlements signal that financial institutions have an important role to play in spotting and shutting down sex trafficking.”

“It has taken a long time, too long, but today is a great day for Jeffrey Epstein survivors, and a great day for justice,” said Boies.

Victims of Epstein had previously reached a $75 million settlement with Deutsche Bank. There is expected overlap of victims eligible to file a claim in the settlements with both banks, according to Boies.

Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, who is hearing the case, Monday approved a class of eligible victims defined as “all women who were sexually abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein during the time when JP Morgan maintained [accounts] for Epstein and/or Epstein-related entities.” That period runs period runs from January 1, 1998, through August 19, 2013, as well as the subsequent period until his death on August 10, 2019.”

USVI case pending

Litigation is still pending between JPMorgan and the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home. The bank continues to pursue its case against Jes Staley, a former JPMorgan executive and ex-Barclays CEO who the suit said is largely responsible for JPMorgan’s 15-year financial relationship with Epstein.

Epstein was a JPMorgan Chase client for 15 years until the bank severed ties with him in 2013. In 2008, Epstein was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution. He died by suicide in 2019 at a New York City correctional center where he was being held on federal sex-trafficking charges.

The head of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, said in a deposition last month that he never met Epstein and had never even heard of him until his arrest in 2019.

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