JPMorgan Chase has announced that it has agreed in principle to settle a class action lawsuit filed by victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
The financial institution has not yet disclosed the details of the settlement. The bank had been fighting the lawsuit for several months. In a joint statement, the bank and lawyers for the victims stated that the payment was in the best interests of all parties, particularly the survivors who were victims of Epstein's abuse. The statement did not reveal the amount of the settlement.
"We all now understand that Epstein's behavior was monstrous, and we believe this settlement is in the best interest of all parties, especially the survivors, who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of this man," JP Morgan wrote in a statement.
The settlement comes after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sat for a deposition with lawyers for the victims. The lawsuit alleged that the bank had repeatedly ignored warnings that Epstein was involved in the sex trafficking young women and girls. Dimon testified that he did not handle Epstein's accounts with the bank.
"Our CEO reaffirmed after his deposition that, as he has previously said, that he never met with him, never emailed him, does not recall ever discussing his accounts internally, and was not involved in any decisions about his account," JP Morgan said in a statement at the time. "There are millions and millions of emails and other documents that have been produced in this case and not one comes close to even suggesting that he had any role in decisions about Epstein's accounts."
Lawyers for Epstein's victims filed a request to interview Dimon a second-time last week. They claimed that the bank had dragged its feet in producing further documents that would have changed their initial questioning of Dimon. In a letter to Judge Jed Rakoff, an attorney for the Epstein victim wrote that JPMorgan's "untimely" and "inexplicably slow" delivery of documents was a strategic move. However, the new settlement agreement would make a second interview moot.
"Any association with him was a mistake and we regret it. We would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes," JP Morgan said in a statement.
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