© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The then CEO of Barclays, Jes Staley, arrives at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, January 11, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
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By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:) said on Wednesday it should not be held liable for a former top executive’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in a lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. bank of facilitating the venture. of sex trafficking from his former client.
In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, JPMorgan said the emails between former executive Jes Staley and Epstein provided no basis for the US Virgin Islands, which filed the lawsuit, to suggest that Staley could “detect the Epstein Sex Trafficking”.
The bank also said there was no evidence that Staley’s personal trip to the islands or the alleged inappropriate emails were part of his job, and that even assuming Staley helped “direct” Epstein’s sex trafficking, “his conduct would be far beyond your purview as an employee of JPMC.” ”
Seeking dismissal of the “misdirected and flawed” lawsuit, JPMorgan said there was no explanation for how it could have known about and benefited from Epstein’s misconduct by having him as a client between 2000 and 2013.
Attorneys for the US Virgin Islands did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Staley is not a defendant.
Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
JPMorgan’s motion to dismiss came a week after a court filing said Staley and Epstein had exchanged about 1,200 emails between 2008 and 2012, including some about young women that contained sexual content.
Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to one charge of prostitution in the state of Florida.
Staley, the former head of private banking at JPMorgan, has acknowledged a friendship with Epstein but denied knowledge of his alleged wrongdoing.
After leaving JPMorgan, Staley became CEO of barclays (LON:) Plc, but resigned in November 2021 amid a dispute with British financial regulators examining his links to Epstein.
The US Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan for unspecified damages in December 2022, saying the bank should have known about Epstein’s misconduct on a private island he owned there.
Epstein’s victims are also suing JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:), where Epstein was a client from 2013 to 2018. Both banks are seeking dismissals.
The case is Government of the US Virgin Islands v JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-10904.