JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay around $290 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by victims of Jeffrey Epstein, ending a substantial portion of litigation over the bank’s involvement with the late financier charged with sex trafficking.
America’s largest bank said on Monday that it had reached an agreement in principle to resolve the class action lawsuit with the attorneys representing the lady who had sued JPMorgan Chase. According to a source familiar with the matter, the company did not acknowledge guilt by agreeing to settle.
“Any association with him (Epstein) was a mistake and we regret it,” JPMorgan said. “We would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes.”
The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two adjacent islands and was said to have abused victims in his house, are also currently pursuing legal action against the bank. According to the proposed class action complaint, JPMorgan disregarded internal alerts on Epstein’s sex assault of young girls and women. Even after Epstein was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of prostitution-related offenses and entered a related guilty plea two years later, JPMorgan continued to hold Epstein as a client of the bank until he was dismissed in 2013.
