Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition for the children of the US Virgin Islands governor and first lady, including at Skidmore College in New York, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in court filings.
Cecile de Jong, wife of then-USVI governor John de Jong Jr., sent Epstein in August e-mail With the subject line “Please agree,” accompanying a $25,000 tuition bill for Skidmore, a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. The email is among dozens of previously sealed documents the bank filed late Wednesday in Manhattan federal court.
JPMorgan is fighting a lawsuit by the USVI, accusing it of facilitating Epstein’s sex trade. The bank is defending itself in part by claiming that the USVI government went to much greater lengths to aid the crimes of Epstein, who had a private island retreat, Little St. James, there.
JPMorgan accused Cecil de Jong, who was serving as Epstein’s office manager, in May of acting as “the primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI.” But emails released on Wednesday provide additional details confirming their close relationship.
The latest filing also indicates that JPMorgan continues to vigorously fight the USVI lawsuit even after announcing Monday that it has agreed to settle a similar lawsuit by Epstein abuse victims for $290 million.
The USVI is asking a judge to prevent JPMorgan from asserting the “unclean hands” defense, arguing that the doctrine does not apply to government agencies. Neither de Jong nor a USVI attorney responded to requests for comment Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the USVI Attorney General’s office said last month that JPMorgan, “which has a legal responsibility to report evidence in its possession of Epstein’s human trafficking,” was trying to shift blame to the territory.
According to JPMorgan, Epstein’s tuition for the de Jongh children pushed her compensation as an office manager to $200,000 in 2009. Tuition for a year at Skidmore is currently about $65,000, not including room and board, according to the school website.
The bank claims that in return it gave him access to the USVI’s political elite, which gave him valuable tax advantages and even allowed him to participate in debates about laws that might affect him.
Offenders and predators
in May 2011 e-mail The exchange involved in the JPMorgan court filing, Epstein and de Jongh discuss the USVI’s plans to update the Sex Offender Registration Act to discuss the law’s potential impact on it. Epstein was registered in the United States as a sex offender after he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor to prostitution.
Epstein suggested that the USVI had revised the law to apply it more narrowly to “predators,” a category from which he was apparently excluded.
“Perhaps we should distinguish between perpetrators and predators,” Epstein wrote in an email to de Jong. He also said that the waiver clause “should be broader” to avoid affecting his privacy and work.
It’s not clear how broad the email was shared, though de Jong’s response asked if Epstein wanted to wait for other people to respond. I later wrote that the matter “needs to be settled” within a few days because the attorney general needed to file something by the end of the month.
“I don’t want to send email back and forth,” she added.
According to JPMorgan, Epstein was unhappy with the law passed in June 2012, and de Jong promised she would find ways for him to get around the restrictions. According to emails released Wednesday night, the two expressed frustration that a USVI politician identified only as “Russell” had betrayed them.
“I know this has been a terrible week and I am really sorry for how it went,” De Jong said books. “Not being able to stand someone’s words is so frustrating.” In a likely reference to her husband, she said Russell had “mistaken John” on another bill, but said they could work with other politicians and officials to give you “a free hand in the status quo.”
“Have you joined the ladies?”
Other emails detail de Jong’s efforts to help Epstein obtain student visas for young women by arranging their enrollment at the University of the Virgin Islands.
“Have you joined the ladies?” De Jong followed up with Epstein in June 2013 e-mail. “Isn’t it too late for fall? As we discussed, they have to come down, sign up, and show they can push.”
Epstein was a client of JPMorgan between 1998 and 2013, when the bank cut ties with the financier. JPMorgan highlighted that Epstein’s relations with the US government lasted longer. One 2017 e-mail Epstein is shown communicating directly with the USVI environmental commissioner about the aftermath of the hurricane and the area’s potential need for money.
in October 2019 e-maila few months after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges and found dead in his Manhattan cell, a group of USVI officials contacted about an inquiry from The New York Times about tax incentives the district had given Epstein.
“I personally believe the questions open our doors to public scrutiny,” USVI official Margarita Benjamin wrote.