The US Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan Chase for allegedly reaping financial benefits from Jeffrey Epstein’s pedo sex-trafficking operation and failing to report suspicious banking activity.
“Over more than a decade, JPMorgan clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little too-late efforts after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and shortly after his death, when JPMorgan belatedly complied with federal law,” said US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George in a Thursday complaint reported by CNN.
The new lawsuit comes less than a month after Epstein’s estate settled with George for over $105 million dollars, along with an agreement that the estate will liquidate Epstein’s islands and cease business operations in the region.
“Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan,” reads the filing.
The lawsuit claims that JPMorgan Chase failed to make proper regulatory filings that could have tipped off the government to Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking ring of underage girls through private islands he owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In particular, the government argues that JPMorgan Chase should have given Epstein closer scrutiny as a client after he entered a guilty plea to soliciting prostitution with a minor in Florida in 2008. -CNN
The bank had no comment as of Wednesday evening.
The lawsuit comes after two anonymous Epstein victims slapped JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank with civil lawsuits which claim that the banks enabled and benefited financially from Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
According to the civil suit, JPMorgan is accused of having “provided special treatment to the sex-trafficking venture, thereby ensuring its continued operation and sexual abuse and sex-trafficking of young women and girls.”
“Without the financial institution’s participation, Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme could not have existed,” the filing continues.
Epstein was awaiting trial in 2019 on federal charges accusing him of operating a sex trafficking ring between 2002 – 2005 across several properties, when he was found dead in his prison cell.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/29/2022 – 15:00
