JP Morgan has consented to pay generally $290m (£232m) to settle a claim welcomed for the benefit of supposed casualties of indicted sex guilty party Jeffrey Epstein
It was “in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse,” according to the bank’s attorneys.
During a 15-year relationship, the lawsuit claimed that the largest US bank ignored warning signs about its client.
The arrangement is liable to court endorsement.
David Boies, one of the victims’ attorneys, told CNN that although JPMorgan Chase will not admit guilt in the case, the bank will release a statement regretting its association with Epstein following the approval of the settlement.
Lawyers for the bank said in a statement on Monday, “We all now understand that Epstein’s behavior was monstrous.”
“We regret any association with him. It was a mistake. If we had believed that he was using our bank in any way to assist in the commission of terrible crimes, we would not have continued doing business with him.
The settlement comes after embarrassing details about JP Morgan’s relationship with the late financier were made public for weeks.
Long-time CEO Jamie Dimon gave a formal statement for the case late last month in what turned out to be a day-long deposition from the bank’s New York headquarters.
Legal counselors addressing the anonymous informer who documented the suit – recognized exclusively as Jane Doe 1 – asked a government judge on Friday to permit them to take new declaration from Mr Dimon.
They additionally requested to resume affidavits for three other key observers for the situation.
At the end of last year, a second federal court lawsuit was filed against the bank. The government of the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private island with a mansion, brought that case.
Between 1998 and 2013, five years after pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution, the financier kept hundreds of millions of dollars in more than 50 accounts at JP Morgan.
In 2019, his 66-year-old body was discovered in a prison cell. The death was ruled a suicide by the medical examiner in New York City.
According to the Jane Doe 1 lawsuit, JP Morgan “knowingly facilitated, sustained, and concealed” Epstein’s frequent cash withdrawals to pay the young women he trafficked while making a profit from the deals and clients he brought in.
The bank, which had previously failed to dismiss the two lawsuits, has responded by arguing that Epstein’s friend Jes Staley, a former top executive, should bear any civil responsibility.
Mr Staley has said his previous business is attempting to “avoid fault” for its own disappointments and tried to excuse the cases, however the protest against him stays dynamic.
After Epstein left JP Morgan in 2013, Deutsche Bank, where he was a client, settled with Epstein’s accusers for $75 million last month.
Until now, the Epstein home has paid out more than $150m to more than 100 of his casualties.
Epstein: Deutsche Bank to pay $75m over sex-dealing claim
Deutsche Bank has consented to pay $75m (£60m) to settle a claim that guaranteed the moneylender had empowered Jeffrey Epstein’s supposed sex dealing ring.
An unidentified woman brought the case, claiming that despite knowing that Epstein’s accounts were used to facilitate abuse, the banking giant continued doing business with Epstein.
Additionally, she claimed that Epstein abused her and trafficked her to his friends.
Deutsche Bank declined to remark looking into it when drawn nearer by the BBC.
The anonymous plaintiff, who is referred to in court documents as “Jane Doe,” filed the class-action lawsuit in November of last year in New York on behalf of herself and other women who were alleged to have been abused by the late American financier.
She stated that because it was aware that it would “earn millions of dollars from facilitating Epstein’s sex trafficking,” Deutsche Bank “chose profit over following the law.”
The woman also claimed that Epstein abused her sexually and that she was sold to his friends for 15 years, receiving cash compensation for her sex acts.
Dutzende of women are expected to receive compensation from the settlement.
According to the BBC, the outcome was “likely the largest sex-trafficking settlement involving a banking institution in US history,” according to Edwards Pottinger, one of the law firms that represented the unidentified woman.
The company went on to say that “the settlement will allow dozens of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein to finally attempt to restore their faith in our system knowing that all individuals and entities who facilitated Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation will finally be held accountable.” This is what the agreement will enable the survivors to do.
The lawsuit had previously been dismissed by Deutsche Bank.
On Thursday, the bank’s spokesman Dylan Riddle did not provide any additional information regarding the settlement, but he did state that it had “made considerable progress in remedying a number of past issues.”
Mr. Riddle went on to say that the bank had invested more than 4.3 billion euros; £3.5bn) to work on its controls, preparing and functional cycles, and developed its group devoted to battling monetary wrongdoing.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein passed away in his New York prison cell as he awaited his sex trafficking trial without the possibility of being released on bail.
It came after he was registered as a sex offender for more than a decade for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
