After weeks of revelations regarding its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, JPMorgan Chase has reached a preliminary settlement with victims of the deceased financier’s sexual abuse.
In a joint statement, the bank and lawyers for the victims confirmed the tentative agreement. David Boies, one of the lead attorneys representing the victims, stated that JPMorgan Chase is prepared to pay $290 million to resolve the lawsuit. Initially, the settlement amount was not disclosed in the joint statement, but it is expected to be included in a court filing within the coming week.
The lawsuit, filed in November 2020 in Manhattan federal court, was brought by an anonymous woman on behalf of victims who suffered sexual abuse by Epstein over a period of approximately 15 years when they were teenagers and young women. The suit indicated that the number of victims could exceed 100. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest.
According to the lawsuit filed by the victims, JPMorgan Chase allegedly disregarded multiple warnings about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage girls and young women, even after he had registered as a sex offender and pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl in a 2008 case in Florida. The complaint stated that the bank overlooked suspicious activities related to Epstein because it considered him a valuable client who had connections with numerous wealthy individuals.
JPMorgan Chase had been providing banking services to Epstein from approximately 1998 to 2013.
