US bank JPMorgan Chase told a New York court on Thursday that the government of the US Virgin Islands was complicit in the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. And that his senior officials exchanged favors with him in a “corrupt relationship.”
This was argued by JPMorgan (JPMC) in a document delivered this Thursday to defend itself in the case filed against it last year by the US Territory Prosecutor’s Office. Ruling accusing the country’s largest bank of financially benefiting from Epstein’s sex trafficking networks.
The document was handed over to the court a day before the bank’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is due to testify in the evidence-gathering phase of the process, according to reports. CNBC.
Epstein abused women in the Virgin Islands
Epstein (a bank client between 2008 and 2013) settled in the US Virgin Islands in 2009. The move occurred after being convicted in Florida for soliciting the prostitution of a minor and going to jail. In addition, in his residences in that territory – he had two islands – he sexually abused young women.
JPMorgan accuses the Virgin Islands government of maintaining a something for something with Epstein. In which high officials of the territory accepted gifts, favors and political donations from the financier in exchange for tax benefits and protection.
“Money and Influence”
The bank alleges that to spread his “money and influence” in the government, Epstein used the wife of former Governor John de Jongh (2007-2015), Cecile de Jongh, who managed the financier’s companies between 2007 and 2015.
Cecile allegedly helped Epstein obtain visas and work permits for the young women associated with the financier, the document states.
It also notes that Epstein paid the school fees for De Jongh’s children. And that those payments “allowed the governor to channel additional money to his political campaigns.”
In the case, the territory’s Prosecutor’s Office called other well-known figures and billionaires to testify. Tesla founder and Twitter owner Elon Musk; Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Michael Ovitz, a former Disney executive, and Thomas Pritzker, CEO of Hyatt Hotels.