JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it knowingly benefited from former client Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The "agreement in principle" would settle a proposed class action filed by an unnamed Epstein victim late last year, JPMorgan said in a statement Monday. The bank makes no admissions of liability, the person said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.
"We all now understand that Epstein's behavior was monstrous, and we believe this settlement is in the best interest of all parties, especially the survivors, who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of this man," the New York-based bank said. "Any association with him was a mistake and we regret it. We would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes."
The deal with the victim identified only as Jane Doe doesn't end JPMorgan's legal headache over its ties to Epstein. It's still facing a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the financier had a private retreat where he brought several of his victims. The bank is also litigating its own case against former private banking head Jes Staley, who JPMorgan says should be held responsible for damages it incurs over its Epstein ties.
"Taken together or individually, the historic recoveries from the banks who provided financial services to Jeffrey Epstein speak for themselves," said David Boies, one of the attorneys for Doe. "It has taken a long time — too long — but today is a great day for Jeffrey Epstein survivors, and a great day for justice."
Doe filed her proposed class action against JPMorgan, where Epstein was a client from 1998 to 2013, in November. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Monday ruled that the case could go forward as a class action on behalf of all women who were sexually abused or trafficked by Epstein during the time he maintained accounts at JPMorgan.
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A different Doe plaintiff represented by the same lawyers also sued Deutsche Bank. The German bank, which became Epstein's main financial institution after JPMorgan cut ties with him in 2013, agreed to settle its Doe suit in May for $75 million.
The U.S. Virgin Islands filed its suit against JPMorgan weeks later. Both Doe and the Virgin Islands accused the bank of turning a blind eye to signs Epstein was using his accounts to traffic young women, including paying settlements to victims and transporting them between his properties. Epstein allegedly moved hundreds of millions of dollars through at least 55 accounts.
Though neither suit named Staley as a defendant, both alleged that he knew about Epstein's sex-trafficking and argued that his knowledge should be imputed to JPMorgan. JPMorgan has denied knowing about Epstein's crimes and has questioned whether the conduct allegedly witnessed by Staley fell under the legal definition of sex-trafficking.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 facing sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
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But in March, the bank took the big step of suing Staley using a so-called third-party complaint. JPMorgan accused him of misleading it into maintaining Epstein as a client and also said it believed Staley was the unidentified "financial executive" who raped Doe at Epstein's house, according to her suit. Doe later said it was Staley but accused JPMorgan of raising the issue to intimidate her.
Staley, who was deposed by the other parties this weekend, has denied the allegations by JPMorgan, Doe and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"We are gratified to hear about the settlement that will provide victims of Jeffrey Epstein some compensation for JPMorgan Chase's role in facilitating Epstein's crimes against them," a spokesman for the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General said. The territory will continue with its case against the bank to prevent it from "assisting and profiting from human trafficking in the future," he said.
