JPMorgan Chase agreed on Tuesday to pay the US Virgin Islands $75 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the Wall Street behemoth enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring by ignoring red flags related to Epstein’s accounts at the investment bank.
The historic settlement, which marks the first enforcement action filed against a bank for profiting from human trafficking, comes just one month before JPMorgan and USVI were set to go to trial in Manhattan.
“As part of the settlement, JPMorgan has agreed to implement and maintain meaningful anti-trafficking measures, which will help prevent human trafficking in the future,” USVI Attorney General Smith said in a press release.
JPMorgan didn’t admit to any wrongdoing as part of the agreement, which will see $30 million contributed to USVI-based charitable organizations and $25 million paid to enhance the USVI’s infrastructure and law enforcement.
JPMorgan will dish out an additional $20 million to cover attorneys’ fees.
“The firm deeply regrets any association with this man, and would never have continued doing business with him if it believed he was using the bank in any way to commit his heinous crimes,” JPMorgan said in a statement.
Patricia Wexler, a spokesperson for the bank, said that the settlement “recognizes that JPMorgan remains committed to previous and ongoing efforts to fight human trafficking through its anti-money laundering (AML) program, and lists a number of processes we previously committed to.”
“There are no new commitments,” Wexler noted. “Our controls, compliance, risk and other functions are always improving, and we are continually investing to become even better.”
Also on Tuesday, JPMorgan reached an agreement with Jes Staley, a former executive at the bank who was sued by the institution earlier this year for allegedly failing to disclose information about Epstein’s abusive regime to his bosses.
In the lawsuit, filed in March, JPMorgan said Staley — the ex-chief of Barclays who was forced to step down in 2021 over the Epstein scandal — should personally be held liable for any damages that JPMorgan will have to pay out as part of the lawsuit the banking giant faced against the USVI involving the convicted pedophile.
The terms of JPMorgan’s agreement with Staley are confidential.
The two settlements conclude JPMorgan’s in-court saga involving its affiliation with Epstein, who was a client of the bank’s from 1998 through 2013.
In July, JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit with Epstein victims, including an anonymous Jane Doe and other unnamed Epstein accusers over the course of a 15-year period.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.