2023-05-24 01:10:43
© Reuters. One of Jeffrey Epstein’s properties in the US Virgin Islands 7/21/2019 REUTERS/Marco Bello
Por Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan (NYSE:) has accused the US Virgin Islands (BVMF:) of harboring and protecting Jeffrey Epstein’s financier as he abused women and girls over two decades.
The largest bank in the United States made the allegation in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, where the US Virgin Islands is suing the financial institution for providing banking services to Epstein from 1998 to 2013.
The US Virgin Islands accuses JPMorgan of ignoring signs about Epstein’s abuse of women in Little St. James, a private island he owned within the territory.
JPMorgan said Epstein had a “quid pro quo” relationship with the highest-ranking officials in the Virgin Islands, and bestowed money and favors in return for millions of dollars in tax breaks and a turning a blind eye to his crimes.
JPMorgan said Epstein also “exerted influence” on local legislation for sex offenders and that inspections of his home were “perfunctory” at best.
“For two decades, and even after JPMorgan ended its relationship with Epstein as a client, the entity that most directly failed to protect public safety and that most actively facilitated and benefited from Epstein’s continued criminal activity was the plaintiff himself in this case – the government of the US Virgin Islands,” the bank said.
A spokesperson for the US Virgin Islands attorney general’s office called the document “an obvious attempt to shift blame away from JPMorgan, which had a legal responsibility to report evidence in its possession about human trafficking by Epstein and not him.” he did”.
Epstein died in a Manhattan prison aged 66 in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. The New York City Medical Examiner ruled his death a suicide.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)
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