By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
JPMorgan Chase kept sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a client for more than a decade despite repeated warnings.
According to a major report in the The New York Times, Epstein was previously a “treasured customer” at the bank.
He had more than $200 million in deposits at the firm. He generated millions in fees and helped broker JPMorgan’s $1.3 billion purchase of hedge fund Highbridge Capital. The deal earned him $15 million, the report said.
In a statement, JPMorgan said the bank’s relationship with Epstein “was a mistake”.
“In hindsight we regret it, but we did not help him commit his heinous crimes,” it said.
“We would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was engaged in an ongoing sex trafficking operation.”
JPMorgan and Jeffrey Epstein links
The bank created at least 134 accounts for Epstein, his firms and associates. It processed $1.1 billion in wire transfers and cash withdrawals. Many were flagged by anti-money laundering (AML) staff as potential trafficking red flags.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor. However, JPMorgan senior executives resisted cutting ties. Then-general counsel Stephen Cutler warned in 2011: “This is not an honorable person in any way. He should not be a client.” Compliance head William Langford also raised concerns about his cash withdrawals.
Jes Staley, then head of JPMorgan’s private bank, defended Epstein. He told colleagues he would trust Epstein with his daughters.
Emails showed decisions on Epstein were sometimes marked for “pending Dimon review.” CEO Jamie Dimon later testified he did not recall knowing Epstein was a client until 2019.
JPMorgan finally cut ties in 2013. Epstein then moved $176 million to Deutsche Bank.
However, the New York Times noted that JPMorgan only retroactively flagged thousands of Epstein transactions as suspicious when he was arrested in 2019.
“Late that year, the bank filed a report with federal regulators as suspicious some 4,700 Epstein transactions,” it said.
These had a combined value of more than $1.1 billion. The New York Times said these transactions included “hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to Russian banks and young Eastern European women who were brought to the United States”.
In 2023, JPMorgan paid $290 million to settle claims by about 200 victims and $75 million to the US Virgin Islands. The bank faced no regulatory action, and no executives lost their jobs.
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