JPMorgan Chase & Co. former executive Jes Staley asked a judge to dismiss the bank’s lawsuit against him over liability for Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, arguing he had no power over Epstein and that the bank waited years to act.
(Bloomberg) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. former executive Jes Staley asked a judge to dismiss the bank’s lawsuit against him over liability for Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, arguing he had no power over Epstein and that the bank waited years to act.
JPMorgan seeks to hold Staley responsible for any damages from other suits accusing the company of facilitating Epstein’s abuse. In a filing late Monday, Staley said he had no decision-making authority over Epstein’s accounts and accused JPMorgan of using him as “a public relations shield.”
Confronted with documented failures in its anti-money-laundering compliance, the bank sought to “change the narrative and deflect blame by pulling Jes Staley” into the cases, Staley’s lawyer Brendan Sullivan said in the filing.
Sullivan also took aim at JPMorgan for making its claims against Staley only now, despite public regulatory and criminal inquiries related to Epstein’s sex trafficking surfacing several years ago.
“After all, numerous JPMorgan employees knew that Mr. Staley had a relationship with Epstein, and the bank had access to Mr. Staley’s communications from his tenure that JPMorgan now alleges reflect that relationship,” Sullivan wrote in the motion to dismiss.
JPMorgan contends Staley should be held liable for any damages it faces due to his relationship with Epstein and for misleadingly vouching for the former sex offender.
Epstein’s Private Island
The US Virgin Islands and a Jane Doe victim of Epstein sued the bank last year, alleging that its 15-year financial relationship with Epstein aided his years of abuse of underage women and girls. The USVI alleged JPMorgan knowingly benefited from Epstein’s sex trafficking, some of which took place on his private island there, Little St. James.
JPMorgan pivoted in March and filed its own suit against Staley, claiming he breached his duty to the bank and should pay back tens of millions of dollars in compensation.
Read More: Epstein Victim Suing Deutsche Bank Must Give Name to JPMorgan
Staley has been deposed as part of the USVI’s and Doe’s cases and was recently granted the court’s permission to question JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon as part of the litigation.
Clouded Career
Staley was at JPMorgan for more than 30 years, rising to the head of the investment bank and the asset management division. He left and eventually joined Barclays Plc as chief executive in 2015 but stepped down over his ties to Epstein in 2021.
That relationship has overshadowed his career in recent years, with emails exchanged between the pair during Staley’s tenure at JPMorgan revealed in the lawsuits.
In its claim against Staley, JPMorgan named him as the “powerful financial executive” who sexually assaulted Doe according to her suit. Staley has called the allegation baseless. In arguing for the bank’s case to be thrown out, Sullivan said JPMorgan’s employment contract with Staley precluded him from indemnification claims.
Staley denies having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and says the bank is trying to make him a scapegoat. While its claims against him created “provocative media fodder,” the bank failed to explain how an employee without decision-making power over Epstein’s accounts caused the plaintiffs’ injuries, Sullivan wrote.
It “remains to be seen” whether JPMorgan should be held liable for damages, according to Sullivan’s filing. “What is certain is that the bank cannot treat Mr. Staley as its public relations shield by asserting claims that lack any legal (or factual) basis.”
The cases are USVI v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10904, and Jane Doe 1 v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10019, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–With assistance from Joe Schneider.
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