JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed in principle to settle a class-action lawsuit with a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, the bank said in a statement on Monday.
The settlement resolves one claim against the largest U.S. bank in a proposed class action by women who say Epstein abused them, and by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighbouring islands and allegedly abused victims in his mansion.
Litigation is still pending between the U.S. Virgin Islands and JPMorgan Chase, as are JPMorgan Chase’s claims against former executive Jes Staley, the bank said.
“The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse,” JPMorgan said.
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The lawsuit had claimed JPMorgan had ignored internal warnings about Epstein’s sexual abuses of girls and young women and chose to keep the disgraced financier as a client.
Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 1998 until he was dismissed in 2013.
JPMorgan kept him aboard even after his 2006 arrest in a Florida case and a related guilty plea two years later. Epstein was originally charged with multiple counts of unlawful sex with a minor, but ultimately indicted on a single count of soliciting prostitution.
Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO, sat for a deposition in the case late last month. In his deposition, Dimon said he had barely heard of Epstein before the financier’s arrest.
“Plaintiffs like the headlines, but no amount of time on the record will change the fact that Jamie Dimon never met the man, never worked with the man and wishes in hindsight the man had never been a client,” bank spokesperson Darin Oduyoye said in a statement last week.
Epstein died in August 2019 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. New York City’s medical examiner called Epstein’s death a suicide.
Deutsche Bank, which after his death acknowledged its mistake in taking on Epstein as a client, earlier this year reached a similar settlement, for $75 million US ($101 million Cdn), with his victims.
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