Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / The USVI And Their Motion For Partial Summary Judgement Against JPMorgan (Part 4) (9/20/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
- 0:04Speaker 1: In this episode we're picking up where we left off
- 0:07Speaker 1: with the USVI and their request for a partial summary
- 0:10Speaker 1: judgment against J.P. Morgan. D. J.P. Morgan benefited from participation
- 0:16Speaker 1: in Epstein's sex trafficking venture. J.P. Morgan argued that the
- 0:20Speaker 1: government must allege that it received revenue from Epstein in
- 0:23Speaker 1: exchange for the bank's furtherance of Epstein's sex trafficking venture.
- 0:27Speaker 1: The court is not convinced that the benefit element should
- 0:29Speaker 1: be read in that way. Order at 31. And indeed,
- 0:33Speaker 1: the statutory language imposes no such casual relationship requirement. JP
- 0:37Speaker 1: Morgan admits it received fees and other revenue from providing
- 0:41Speaker 1: services to Epstein and his affiliated entities. Order at 31.
- 0:45Speaker 1: In any event, from at least 2006 to Epstein's arrest
- 0:49Speaker 1: in 2019, JP Morgan, knowingly benefited from furthering Epstein's sex
- 0:53Speaker 1: trafficking venture, In her about 2000 time period, Sandy Warner,
- 0:58Speaker 1: then head of JP Morgan, told Staley, then head of PB,
- 1:02Speaker 1: you should meet Epstein. He's one of the most connected
- 1:04Speaker 1: people I know in New York. Warner was right. By 2003,
- 1:09Speaker 1: Epstein had introduced Staley to Google's founders, Sergey Brin and
- 1:13Speaker 1: Larry Page, and helped source billionaire hedge fund, hybrid owner,
- 1:16Speaker 1: Glenn Dubin. By then, Epstein was also bringing in over
- 1:20Speaker 1: $ 8 million in revenue to the private bank, the top
- 1:23Speaker 1: revenue and nearly double the amount of the next highest client.
- 1:26Speaker 1: In 2003, Epstein, through the trading of his accounts and
- 1:30Speaker 1: that of Leslie Wexner, generates one of the largest annual
- 1:34Speaker 1: revenue flows of private clients in the private bank. The
- 1:38Speaker 1: following year, Epstein facilitated JP Morgan's acquisition of Highbridge, a
- 1:43Speaker 1: game-changing acquisition for JP Morgan. Highbridge, a hedge fund with
- 1:47Speaker 1: $ 7 billion in assets under management, was co-founded by Epstein's
- 1:51Speaker 1: close friend Dubin and Epstein was a founding investor. Epstein
- 1:55Speaker 1: advised both J.P. Morgan and Highbridge on the acquisition and
- 1:59Speaker 1: worked with Diamond, then CEO-in-waiting, Bill Harrison, then CEO, and
- 2:03Speaker 1: other J.P. Morgan Chase executive management on acquisition. Epstein was
- 2:08Speaker 1: paid $ 15 million in consulting fees for his work on
- 2:11Speaker 1: the acquisition. Epstein also continued to facilitate introductions to the bank,
- 2:16Speaker 1: including a meeting between Staley and the Sultan of Dubai.
- 2:20Speaker 1: This sets the stage for 2006, after Epstein was arrested
- 2:23Speaker 1: for felony sex crimes and confessed his conduct to Staley,
- 2:27Speaker 1: when JP Morgan could have exited Epstein but did not. Instead,
- 2:31Speaker 1: at the rapid response meeting, the private bank imposed a
- 2:34Speaker 1: condition on his accounts, supposedly to mitigate the risk, he
- 2:37Speaker 1: could remain in a banking but not an investment client.
- 2:42Speaker 1: But when it later benefited the bank, the restrictions were ignored.
- 2:45Speaker 1: and by 2011, Epstein was the private bank's investment arm's
- 2:48Speaker 1: biggest revenue producer. The rapid response meeting was a fiction
- 2:53Speaker 1: in other respects. Though JP Morgan was supposedly considering terminating
- 2:57Speaker 1: its relationship with Epstein at precisely the same time, the
- 3:00Speaker 1: bank was actively trying to find a New York home
- 3:02Speaker 1: for Epstein's accounts as the advisor to the Google founders,
- 3:06Speaker 1: a relationship that would become one of the largest in
- 3:09Speaker 1: the private bank. The bank was also actively growing the
- 3:12Speaker 1: Epstein relationship between post-indictment And post-conviction, rapid response meetings, Epstein's
- 3:18Speaker 1: assets under management increased fourfold, from $ 32 million to over
- 3:23Speaker 1: $ 120 million. By September 3, 2008, when Epstein's private banker, Casey,
- 3:28Speaker 1: thought his assets were a probable outflow, pending Diamond Review,
- 3:32Speaker 1: Epstein's accounts were worth more than $ 156 million and, needless
- 3:37Speaker 1: to say, were not outflowed. Within months of public reports
- 3:41Speaker 1: that Epstein was engaged in sexual abuse of girls, potentially
- 3:44Speaker 1: tied to MC2, JPMorgan moved forward with renewing Epstein's loan
- 3:48Speaker 1: to MC2. The bank's only concern? Are we comfortable taking
- 3:53Speaker 1: on additional credit exposure just ahead of his pending plea arrangement?
- 3:57Speaker 1: JPMorgan also kept banking Epstein despite its knowledge of his
- 4:00Speaker 1: sex trafficking because it was trying to settle lawsuits he
- 4:03Speaker 1: had against the bank, one related to his investments at
- 4:06Speaker 1: Bear Stearns and another in Redacted. In 2011, as J.P.
- 4:11Speaker 1: Morgan had near-settled Epstein's claims against Bear Stearns, Cutler wrote
- 4:15Speaker 1: to Erdos, I would like to put it and him
- 4:18Speaker 1: behind us, not a person that we should do business with, period.
- 4:22Speaker 1: But as Shanker, then General Counsel, explained to Erdos, at
- 4:27Speaker 1: the conclusion of J.E. approval of Bear Stearns' settlement, asked
- 4:31Speaker 1: when we are off-boarding J.E. I reminded him that we
- 4:34Speaker 1: have the other matter outstanding. At the time, the bank
- 4:38Speaker 1: was still trying to settle Redacted. In 2008, Bear Stearns,
- 4:41Speaker 1: now part of J.P. Morgan, had made it known that
- 4:44Speaker 1: it wanted to keep Epstein as a brokerage client despite
- 4:47Speaker 1: his felony conviction. Allen, Ace Greenberg, former chairman of Bear
- 4:51Speaker 1: Stearns and now with J.P. Morgan, also wanted to continue
- 4:54Speaker 1: to do business with Epstein and sought an exception to
- 4:57Speaker 1: the felony policy, which on paper required that the G.C.
- 5:02Speaker 1: Cutler approve retaining Epstein. In addition, throughout spring and summer
- 5:06Speaker 1: of 2011, Epstein helped Erdos and Staley, who JPMorgan admits
- 5:11Speaker 1: were involved in the decision to maintain Epstein at the bank,
- 5:14Speaker 1: put together a proposal for a $ 100 billion donor-advised fund
- 5:18Speaker 1: for the Gates Foundation, which Erdos and Staley presented to
- 5:21Speaker 1: the Gates Foundation on August 31st of 2011. Erdos communicated
- 5:26Speaker 1: frequently with Epstein, redacted during DAF development and pitch process. Throughout,
- 5:32Speaker 1: Epstein continued to connect J.P. Morgan with the world's dignitaries
- 5:36Speaker 1: and wealthiest people, including, among others, Gates, Boris Nikolic, advisor
- 5:40Speaker 1: to Gates, Summers, the Sultan of Dubai, Prince Andrew, Barack, Netanyahu,
- 5:46Speaker 1: David Gergen, former advisor to Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton, Pritzker,
- 5:51Speaker 1: and Mandelson. Epstein also continued to bring in significant revenues
- 5:55Speaker 1: to the bank. Epstein was also a personal resource to
- 5:59Speaker 1: Staley and Erdos. Two business executives who J.P. Morgan does
- 6:02Speaker 1: not dispute were involved in the decision to maintain Epstein
- 6:06Speaker 1: at the bank. Epstein helped Staley with Redacted. In 2005,
- 6:10Speaker 1: Erdos personally sought Epstein's help in resolving a $ 600 million
- 6:14Speaker 1: tax issue for Redacted. In December of 2008, after Bernie
- 6:18Speaker 1: Madoff's investment scandal was uncovered, Erdos wrote to Staley, Glenn
- 6:23Speaker 1: and I have been going back and forth all night.
- 6:25Speaker 1: We have hundreds of clients. Can you call J.E. to
- 6:27Speaker 1: get the scoop from down there? Post-exit, J.P. Morgan continued
- 6:32Speaker 1: to benefit from Epstein until months before his 2019 arrest. Duffy,
- 6:36Speaker 1: then CEO of USPB, gave Epstein former J.P. Morgan banker
- 6:41Speaker 1: Justin Nelson permission to continue the relationship with Epstein as
- 6:45Speaker 1: a potential source of referrals. Nelson met with Epstein 8-10 times,
- 6:50Speaker 1: twice as many times as Casey, who had been the
- 6:52Speaker 1: main banker for a decade. prior to the exit, including
- 6:56Speaker 1: about business with Leon Black, CEO of private equity behemoth
- 6:59Speaker 1: Apollo Global Management. In 2019, a few months before Epstein
- 7:04Speaker 1: was arrested, J.P. Morgan was still taking referrals from Epstein. 2. J.P.
- 7:10Speaker 1: Morgan obstructed enforcement of the TVPA in violation of U.S.
- 7:14Speaker 1: Code 18, Section 1591-D. By 2007, J.P. Morgan knew of
- 7:15Speaker 1: an effort to enforce the TVPA and intentionally obstruct or
- 7:23Speaker 1: attempt to obstruct that enforcement effort. Order at 33. Though
- 7:27Speaker 1: Epstein confessed the conduct except the ages, J.P. Morgan redacted
- 7:32Speaker 1: and instead actively handled payments to Epstein's lawyers, who it
- 7:35Speaker 1: knew were discrediting the victims, hiring private investigators to target witnesses,
- 7:40Speaker 1: and negotiating a deal where federal prosecutors would, and did,
- 7:44Speaker 1: defer prosecution of TVPA charges. Further, next section, redacted. J.P.
- 7:50Speaker 1: Morgan redacted the payments to Redacted and Maxwell and credit
- 7:54Speaker 1: cards to Redacted and Redacted, including for monthly travel through Paris, Europe,
- 7:59Speaker 1: and the U.S. Virgin Islands and the U.S., and revoked
- 8:02Speaker 1: a credit card to Redacted, who had talked to police.
- 8:05Speaker 1: The DDR information Epstein provided for Redacted or any of
- 8:09Speaker 1: the other girls Epstein referred to the bank, the payments
- 8:11Speaker 1: to the girls and women, including with Eastern European names
- 8:15Speaker 1: or their names and locations, which it also had. J.P. Morgan, Redacted,
- 8:20Speaker 1: and redacted that it helped Epstein financially back Brunel and
- 8:24Speaker 1: MC2 since 2005, Super Part 1. In 2019, Brunel was
- 8:30Speaker 1: charged with rape of minors and under investigation for trafficking
- 8:33Speaker 1: tied to Epstein and was widely known, including by JP Morgan,
- 8:37Speaker 1: years earlier as among the sleaziest people in the fashion industry.
- 8:41Speaker 1: A conveyor belt, not a casting couch. Even when it
- 8:45Speaker 1: knew that the feds had subpoenaed Bear Stearns for Epstein's
- 8:48Speaker 1: account and transaction information related to its investigation, redacted and
- 8:52Speaker 1: redacted Super 1, in 2010 J.P. Morgan learned of a
- 8:56Speaker 1: new federal investigation of Epstein for child sex trafficking, but redacted, redacted, redacted,
- 9:02Speaker 1: and redacted. J.P. Morgan's own due diligence on Epstein shows
- 9:06Speaker 1: it knew that names and contact information of material witnesses
- 9:10Speaker 1: and additional victims would have been extremely useful in investigations
- 9:13Speaker 1: and and prosecuting the federal case. J.P. Morgan had the
- 9:17Speaker 1: names and information for dozens of accomplices, victims, and other
- 9:21Speaker 1: material witnesses, including, for example, his pilots, his assistants, and
- 9:25Speaker 1: his accountants, who J.P. Morgan later acknowledged controlled movement of
- 9:29Speaker 1: Epstein's funds that potentially assisted in facilitating the sex trafficking,
- 9:34Speaker 1: as well as the long list of dignitaries and ultra-wealthy
- 9:37Speaker 1: men Epstein referred or connected to the bank, redacted Supra
- 9:42Speaker 1: Part 1. By Epstein's arrest in 2006, there should have
- 9:46Speaker 1: been a constant stream of information from JPMC to the
- 9:49Speaker 1: FBI about Epstein's ongoing, redacted, human trafficking is an ongoing
- 9:54Speaker 1: crime with harm incurred every day that the crime continues.
- 9:58Speaker 1: Redacted and redacted. There's no genuine dispute that Epstein would
- 10:02Speaker 1: have been federally charged with sex trafficking much earlier. 3.
- 10:06Speaker 1: The USVI's requested relief for violations of the TVPA. Declaratory
- 10:13Speaker 1: judgment and injunction. The government requests that the court declare J.P.
- 10:17Speaker 1: Morgan violated TVPA Section 1591a and 2nd by participating in
- 10:23Speaker 1: Epstein's sex trafficking venture and obstructing federal law enforcement efforts
- 10:27Speaker 1: to enforce the TVPA against Epstein from 2006 to 2019.
- 10:31Speaker 1: The government seeks an injunction to prevent J.P. Morgan from
- 10:36Speaker 1: participating in trafficking ventures in the future and obstructing efforts
- 10:39Speaker 1: to stop such ventures in violation of the TVPA. Civil penalties.
- 10:45Speaker 1: The government has proven even greater participation by J.P. Morgan
- 10:48Speaker 1: in Epstein sex trafficking than the NYSDFS found against Deutsche
- 10:52Speaker 1: Bank and seeks at least $ 150 million in civil penalties.
- 10:57Speaker 1: Other remedies. The government defers its request for disgorgement, compensatory
- 11:02Speaker 1: and punitive damages, and other appropriate relief for J.P. Morgan's
- 11:06Speaker 1: TVPA violations until trial. All right, we're going to wrap
- 11:10Speaker 1: up right here, and in the next episode, we're going
- 11:12Speaker 1: to pick up with part four, J.P. Morgan's equitable and
- 11:15Speaker 1: fault-shifting defenses do not apply to the government's TVPA, Perrin's
- 11:19Speaker 1: Patriot claim. All of the information that goes with this
- 11:23Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box.