JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank, has reached a tentative settlement with sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier who was a longtime client of the bank. The bank said on Monday that it was prepared to pay $290 million to resolve the lawsuit on behalf of the victims, who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of Epstein.
The proposed deal would settle a lawsuit filed last November in Manhattan federal court by an unidentified woman on behalf of victims who were sexually abused by Epstein over a roughly 15-year period when they were teenage girls and young women. The number of victims could potentially rise to more than 100.
The lawsuit claimed that JPMorgan ignored repeated warnings that Epstein had been trafficking teenage girls and young women for sex, even after he registered as a sex offender and pleaded guilty in a 2008 Florida case to soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl. The complaint said the bank had overlooked red flags in Epstein’s activity because it valued him as a wealthy client who had access to dozens of even wealthier people.
David Boies, one of the lead lawyers for the victims, said the settlement was an “object lesson of how much farther we need to go, as a society, to really implement the rule of law — not just for the rich and powerful, but for the weak and the vulnerable.”
The settlement came after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon gave a deposition in which he said he had barely heard of Epstein before his July 2019 arrest on federal
Relevant articles:
JPMorgan settles with Epstein victims after accuser’s lawyers sought new Dimon testimony, CNBC, June 12, 2023
JPMorgan Reaches $290 Million Settlement With Epstein’s Victims, The New York Times, June 12, 2023
Epstein fallout: JPMorgan settles victim lawsuit for $290M, Boston Herald, June 13, 2023
JPMorgan Chase settles lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Epstein victim, CBC News, June 12, 2023