But consistent with subject material learn into the file all the way through the wondering of Dimon, Cutler in his personal May 24 deposition stated the 2 executives who led JPMorgan’s asset and wealth control department, Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, have been liable for eliminating Epstein. And Erdoes in her deposition in March stated the financial institution retained Epstein as a result of Staley vouched for him.
The U.S. Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan, arguing that during doing industry with Epstein, the financial institution facilitated his operation of a sprawling kid sex-trafficking ring.
JPMorgan has rejected the allegations as meritless and expressed be apologetic about for its previous affiliation with Epstein. “Had the Firm believed he was engaged in an ongoing sex trafficking operation, Epstein would not have been retained,” JPMorgan spokeswoman Patricia Wexler stated in a remark.
The financial institution, in flip, has sued Staley, accusing him of performing on his personal to advance Epstein’s pursuits. Staley has denied the ones claims, and in legal filings he has argued that JPMorgan is making an attempt to “deflect blame” onto him.
Cutler, Erdoes, Staley and Dimon himself, all had the authority to behave unilaterally to take away Epstein, Dimon stated in his deposition.
Dimon stated he was once now not accustomed to Epstein — a outstanding JPMorgan shopper, a cash supervisor for different purchasers and a determine who tried to solicit new industry for the financial institution — “until the stories [about his trafficking ring] broke sometime in 2019.”
That 12 months, Epstein was once arrested on federal fees of kid intercourse trafficking. He died in jail days after his arrest. A New York clinical examiner dominated the loss of life a suicide.
Asked whether or not he idea the financial institution owed Epstein’s sufferers an apology, Dimon stated that he “wouldn’t mind” giving a private apology, however that he believes the financial institution dedicated no crime and must now not be held liable for Epstein’s movements.
“Any potential thing, what little role that we could have eased it or helped catch it quicker or something like that, or get it to law enforcement quicker or get law enforcement to react to it quicker … I would apologize to them for that,” Dimon stated.
When a financial institution has ties to any individual accused of wrongdoing, it raises questions on responsibility, stated Eric Chaffee, a professor on the University of Toledo College of Law.
“Hindsight is 20/20, but there were a lot of red flags,” Chaffee stated. “When that happens, you can end up with people pointing fingers.”
A transcript of a March 15 deposition given by means of Erdoes confirmed she were alerted no less than six instances between 2006 and 2013 of the financier’s prison or civil felony hassle for intercourse crimes. She had additionally been knowledgeable as early as 2006 that JPMorgan flagged suspicious job on his accounts.
Officials from the U.S. Virgin Islands and legal professionals for his sufferers declare the financial institution was once complicit in investment Epstein’s lengthy historical past of abuse and kid intercourse trafficking. A complaint filed last month by means of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place Epstein owned a non-public island and gaudy mansion, cites Erdoes’s deposition as proof that JPMorgan knew of accusations in opposition to Epstein years ahead of the financial institution severed ties with him.
“What has become clear is that Epstein could not have run his sex trafficking operation without the valuable assistance of JP Morgan Chase,” Bradley Edwards, an legal professional for Epstein’s sufferers, stated in a remark to The Post. “Conveniently, each banker points a finger at the other, claiming this hot potato was someone else’s fault. Regardless how unbelievable the finger-pointing or purported lack of knowledge is, responsibility rests with the bank.”
Dimon in his nine-hour deposition stated JPMorgan had wisdom of suspicious job by means of Epstein as early as 2007, regardless that different information referenced in felony filings and depositions show some senior financial institution executives have been knowledgeable a 12 months ahead of.
In 2011, Cutler, a former Securities and Exchange Commission legal professional who left JPMorgan in 2018, wrote in an e-mail to Staley, Erdoes and two different executives that the financial institution must finish its courting with Epstein.
“This is not an honorable person in any way. He should not be a client,” wrote Cutler, who didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Epstein remained a JPMorgan shopper till 2013, when Erdoes ended the financial institution’s courting with him at a gathering at his New York mansion, she stated in her March deposition. The financial institution known Epstein’s regimen and large money withdrawals — transactions it had identified about for seven years — as the cause of terminating the connection, she stated.
Since Dimon changed into CEO in 2006, JPMorgan has turn out to be the biggest non-state-owned financial institution on the planet, consistent with S&P Global, and Dimon has turn out to be one of the high-profile figures within the monetary trade. In an interview printed previous Friday with Bloomberg, he alluded to an interest in political office.
“I love my country, and maybe one day I’ll serve my country in one capacity or another,” he stated, when requested about electoral pastime.