© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Homes on Little St. James Island, one of the properties of financier Jeffrey Epstein, near Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands, August 17, 2019. REUTERS/Marco Bello/file photo
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Virgin Islands has unveiled new charges against JPMorgan Chase (NYSE::) over the bank’s ties to former client Jeffrey Epstein, including executives who discussed how the late, defeated financier surrounded himself with “nymphs.”
JPMorgan responded by saying that the US Virgin Islands is also responsible for allowing Epstein to sexually assault young women and teenage girls, saying the territory used its powers to enable these crimes.
The bank accused the province of facilitating the visas that allowed Epstein to bring in the victims, and of “looking the other way” whenever Epstein arrived at local airports accompanied by young women and girls.
Both sets of accusations were leveled in a duel Monday night in Manhattan federal court.
The US Virgin Islands has sued JPMorgan for at least $190 million, saying the bank ignored red flags about Epstein because he was a wealthy and profitable client from 1998 to 2013.
Ahead of the trial, scheduled for October 23, the US Virgin Islands wants the judge to declare that JPMorgan participated in Epstein’s sex trafficking and obstructed law enforcement.
Her filings include several new details about the New York-based bank’s alleged behavior, including more than $25 million in payments to Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Epstein’s victims.
They also quoted a September 2012 email from a senior JPMorgan executive to Mary Erdos, now the bank’s head of asset and wealth management, comparing another client’s home to Epstein’s.
“It reminded me of JE’s house, except with a little more flair, and fewer nymphs,” the executive wrote. “It’s like a Frick Museum. The art was great.”
Erdos replied, “Wow.”
In contrast, JPMorgan wants the judge to declare that the US Virgin Islands should not be able to seek cash relief, and that the territory’s claim that the bank obstructed enforcement of the law.
The bank has already criticized the US Virgin Islands for its cozy relationship with Epstein, with senior officials giving it tax breaks and waiving sex offender probation requirements in return for money and gifts.
Epstein owned two private islands within the territory, and he allegedly purchased the second to prevent people from spying on his sexual abuse on the first.
The US Virgin Islands has already received more than $105 million from Epstein’s estate, and has reached a settlement with billionaire Leon Black, a former friend of Epstein’s.
JPMorgan last month agreed to pay $290 million to settle a separate lawsuit brought by dozens of Epstein’s accusers.
Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The case is US Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-10904.
