https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-accusers-sue-deutsche-bank-and-jpmorgan-chase-11669294154?mod=hp_lead_pos6
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The suit against JPMorgan says that Epstein started banking with the firm sometime around 1998 and developed a close relationship with Jes Staley, who was then head of private banking. Epstein turned to Deutsche Bank when the ties with JPMorgan ended around 2013, the lawsuits say.
The suit says JPMorgan turned a blind eye to Epstein’s activities in exchange for financial gain. Epstein introduced Mr. Staley to wealthy clients and helped the bank arrange its deal to buy a majority stake in Highbridge Capital in 2004, at the peak of Epstein’s alleged s-x trafficking, according to the suit.
The suit states that JPMorgan also housed accounts for longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and that she received about $31 million from Epstein between 1999 and 2007 as alleged compensation for her help with s-x trafficking. After Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008, Mr. Staley visited him while he was serving his sentence in Florida, the suit says.
Mr. Staley later left JPMorgan and became CEO of Barclays PLC in December 2015. He resigned in November 2021 amid an investigation by U.K. regulators into his relationship with Epstein and the bank’s disclosures about their ties. The two men exchanged more than a thousand emails during Mr. Staley’s time at JPMorgan, the suit says.
“I deeply regret having had any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Mr. Staley told reporters in 2020. Mr. Staley previously said his relationship with Epstein was professional and ended before he took over Barclays.
A lawyer for Mr. Staley declined to comment.
The suit says Mary Erdoes, currently head of JPMorgan’s asset- and wealth-management division, also protected Epstein as a client after other executives questioned why the bank worked with him. A JPMorgan spokesman has previously disputed Ms. Erdoes protected Epstein and said she only recalled one formal meeting with him, “which was the day she fired him as a client.”
The JPMorgan spokesman declined to comment on Ms. Erdoes’s behalf.
Paul Morris, who was among Epstein’s private wealth managers at JPMorgan and then at Deutsche Bank, emailed his bosses at Deutsche Bank in 2013 to tell them that Epstein’s accounts could generate $100 million to $300 million in money flows and $2 million to $4 million in annual fees, and the men agreed to add him as a client despite his prior conviction, according to the suit against Deutsche Bank.
Mr. Morris didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.