JPMorgan handled Jeffrey Epstein's $1.1M in payments to 'women and girls' AFTER the bank said it shut his accounts because he was a convicted sex offender, lawsuit claims

• e-mail

JPMorgan Chase handled $1.1 million in payments from Jeffrey Epstein to 'women and girls' even after terminating his account over his sex crimes conviction, new court filings allege.

The US Virgin Islands made the claims in a letter to the court unsealed Monday as part of its lawsuit against JPMorgan over the giant bank's ties to its former client, Epstein.

The territory is suing JPMorgan for at least $190 million, saying the bank ignored red flags about convicted sex offender Epstein because he was a wealthy and lucrative client from 1998 to 2013.

In a letter to the court, Virgin Islands attorney Linda Singer alleged that between 2013 and Epstein's arrest on federal charges in 2019, JPMorgan 'handled more than $1.1 million in payments from Epstein to girls or women—many with Eastern European surnames.'

A spokeswoman for JPMorgan slammed the allegation, telling DailyMail.com: 'There is no proof this is accurate. Epstein had no accounts with us after we exited him in 2013.'

Jeffrey Epstein is seen with his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in an undated photo. JPMorgan Chase handled $1.1 million in payments from Epstein to 'women and girls' even after terminating his account, new court filings allege

The US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private island (above), made the allegation in a letter to the court unsealed on Monday, as part of its lawsuit against JPMorgan

The latest claims came as part of a pre-trial discovery dispute between the Virgin Islands and JPMorgan, with the territory accusing the bank of withholding crucial records related to its dealings with Epstein.

Attorneys for JPMorgan denied this in an email included in court records, accusing Virgin Islands attorneys of 'moving goal posts' on discovery issues with 'continual requests for more and attempts to reopen closed issues.' 

Singer's new letter to US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff alleged data turned over by JPMorgan listed over 9,000 transactions payable to Epstein-related persons that occurred between 2005 and 2019 and had a combined value of over $2.4 billion - though the senders were not initially disclosed.

After further back and forth, the bank turned over additional data revealing the senders and dates of payments, the attorney wrote. 

'The data includes transactions from multiple Epstein-related individuals, including Jes Staley, Boris Nikolic, and Leon Black, that JPMorgan never previously disclosed,' wrote Singer. 

'The data also reveals that JPMorgan processed more than $1.1 million in payments from Epstein to girls or women—many with Eastern European surnames—after Epstein was terminated by JPMorgan, including over $320,000 in payments to Eastern European women for whom JPMorgan had not previously identified payments,' the letter added.

The list of transactions was apparently compiled as part of JPMorgan's internal review known as 'Project Jeep,' an abbreviation of Jeffrey Epstein's first and last names, that the bank undertook following his arrest on federal charges in 2019. 

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon may have ordered the Project Jeep review, emails released as part of the ongoing lawsuit suggest.

In a May 26 deposition, CEO Jaime Dimon said he never met Epstein, did not recall discussing his accounts internally, and barely knew who Epstein was prior to his July 2019 arrest on federal charges 

Jes Staley, 66, was Epstein's friend and top contact at JPMorgan. The bank is separately suing Staley, claiming he concealed what he knew about Epstein and internally vouched for him

In its own court filings, JPMorgan countered that the US Virgin Islands itself was to blame for Epstein's sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls

In a July 2019 email, JPMorgan's head of financial crimes compliance wrote that he was working on the review with input from 'top of house,' which attorneys for the Virgin Islands argued is a reference to Dimon. 

In a May 26 deposition, Dimon said he never met Epstein, did not recall discussing his accounts internally, and barely knew who Epstein was prior to his July 2019 arrest on federal charges.

The US Virgin Islands had wanted Dimon to sit for a second deposition, but Judge Rakoff denied the request.

Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 until the bank terminated him in 2013, years after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for sex in a Florida state criminal case.

After JPMorgan cut ties with the sex predator, Deutsche Bank took over his accounts for several years until cutting him off in 2019, when Toronto-based TD Bank began handling his money.  

Epstein died of an apparent suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking dozens of girls as young 14.

The US Virgin Islands has accused JPMorgan of turning a blind eye to Epstein's crimes, claiming the bank 'knowingly handled virtually every financial transaction Epstein needed to operate his sex-trafficking venture.'

In its own court filings, JPMorgan countered that the US Virgin Islands itself was to blame for Epstein's sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls, saying the territory used its powers to enable these crimes.

The bank accused the territory of facilitating visas that allowed Epstein to bring victims, and of 'looking the other way' whenever Epstein arrived at local airports accompanied by young women and girls.

Epstein had owned two private islands within the US Virgin Islands, including Little St. James, where he infamously brought many young women and girls, and which locals commonly referred to as 'orgy island' or 'pedo island'. 

JPMorgan's filings have shown that the former first lady of the territory, Cecile de Jongh, was on Epstein's payroll and managed his affairs even as her husband served as territorial governor. 

JPMorgan's filings have shown that Cecile de Jongh, the former USVI first lady, was on Epstein's payroll and managed his affairs even as her husband served as territorial governor 

Epstein had owned two private islands within the US Virgin islands, including Little St. James (above) where he infamously brought many young women and girls

'Rather than account for its own failures to investigate and monitor this criminal under its jurisdiction and to protect its citizens and sovereign interests, USVI blames a third-party bank that did not have USVI's authority to enforce any law, nor USVI's knowledge of Epstein's crimes in USVI's territory, and seeks to pursue such claims at the expense of dragging Epstein's victims through yet more litigation,' the bank said in a recent filing. 

In court filings last week, the Virgin Islands attorneys said that former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley testified under oath that he discussed Epstein's 'very public' 2006 indictment with the bank's CEO Dimon at the time it was making headlines. 

Dimon has previously denied any knowledge of Epstein or his account with JPMorgan until his 2019 arrest on federal charges, saying that he did not recall any conversations about Epstein with top lieutenants.

The US Virgin Islands said that Epstein in July 2006 confessed to Staley, his close friend and top contact at JPMorgan, that he'd had sex with multiple young women for money, only denying the 'ages' of the women in question.

The filing states that Staley communicated the exchange to another senior JPMorgan executive the following day, saying: 'I went and saw him last night. I've never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages.' 

'Many e-mails over JPMorgan e-mail between Staley and Epstein demonstrate that Staley had personal knowledge of Epstein's sex-trafficking,' the filing claims. 

'Epstein was too big to fail,' attorneys for the territory wrote in the filing. 

Staley, 66, led JPMorgan's asset management business from 2001 to 2009, and its corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. He later spent six years as Barclays Plc's chief executive. 

Jeffrey Epstein is seen with his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in an undated photo. Epstein died behind bars in an apparent suicide. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence

JPMorgan is separately suing Staley to cover its losses in the lawsuits filed by the Virgin Islands and Epstein's victims, claiming he concealed what he knew about the disgraced financier and internally vouched for him.

Staley has acknowledged being friendly with Epstein, but denied knowing about his sex trafficking, accusing JPMorgan of using him as a 'public relations shield' to deflect blame for its own failures in working with Epstein.

Ahead of a scheduled October 23 trial, the US Virgin Islands is seeking a court ruling that JPMorgan participated in Epstein's sex trafficking and obstructed law enforcement. 

On the other side, JPMorgan wants the judge to declare that the US Virgin Islands should not be able to seek monetary relief, and that the territory's claim the bank obstructed law enforcement be denied.

The bank has already faulted the US Virgin Islands for having a cozy relationship with Epstein, alleging top officials there gave him tax breaks and waived sex-offender monitoring requirements in exchange for cash and gifts.

Epstein had owned two private islands within the territory, and allegedly bought the second to keep people from spying on his sexual abuses on the first.

The US Virgin Islands has already received more than $105 million from Epstein's estate, and reached a settlement with billionaire Leon Black, a former Epstein friend.

JPMorgan agreed in June to pay $290 million to settle a separate lawsuit by dozens of Epstein accusers, without admitting wrongdoing.