Jamie Dimon, the longtime chief government of JPMorgan Chase, will probably be interviewed beneath oath over his financial institution’s determination to retain the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein as a shopper, based on individuals accustomed to the matter.
The sworn deposition, attributable to happen behind closed doorways in Could, is the most recent improvement in two high-profile circumstances introduced in opposition to the biggest US financial institution by an alleged Epstein sufferer and the US Virgin Islands, the place the disgraced financier had a house.
The lawsuits declare that JPMorgan, which banked Epstein for 15 years from 1998 to 2013, benefited from human trafficking and ignored a number of inner warnings about their shopper’s unlawful behaviour. The lender has described the claims as meritless.
The pre-trial course of unearthed communications between JPMorgan workers that contained a reference to a “Dimon assessment” into the financial institution’s relationship with Epstein. The financial institution has denied that Dimon had any data of such a assessment.
An individual accustomed to the financial institution’s inner probe stated there was no file discovered of Dimon being in direct communication with Epstein or being included in any dialogue over retaining him as a shopper. JPMorgan declined to remark.
Attorneys for JPMorgan had beforehand resisted makes an attempt to depose Dimon and had tried to restrict the vary of paperwork handed over in the course of the pre-trial course of.
Final week, Choose Jed Rakoff, who’s presiding over the circumstances, denied partly JPMorgan’s request to dismiss the lawsuits and allowed a number of the claims in opposition to the financial institution — in addition to some in opposition to Deutsche Financial institution, which is being sued individually by an alleged Epstein sufferer — to proceed.
He later ordered JPMorgan handy over paperwork containing communications involving Dimon and former basic counsel Steve Cutler from earlier than 2006, the yr that Epstein was first arrested.
A provisional trial date for each circumstances has been set for October.
Dimon’s looming deposition comes after different senior figures on the financial institution, together with Mary Erdoes, the pinnacle of the financial institution’s $4tn asset and wealth administration enterprise, have been scheduled to be interviewed by plaintiffs’ attorneys as a part of the lawsuits.
Former JPMorgan government Jes Staley can also be set to be deposed by his former employer’s attorneys in April, after the US financial institution countersued him for any potential damages. JPMorgan’s grievance claims Staley witnessed and took part in intercourse crimes at Epstein’s residences, and alleges he didn’t disclose this “regardless of having a fiduciary obligation” to take action.
Staley has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein’s unlawful actions.
The financial institution is making an attempt to claw again greater than $80mn of pay from Staley, one of many largest such makes an attempt in US historical past.
Dimon was initially scheduled to be deposed in April as properly, however JPMorgan’s attorneys argued for his interview to happen after Staley’s, based on an individual accustomed to the matter.
Staley, who later grew to become head of London-based Barclays financial institution, has denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes. Earlier this month, Barclays’ board acknowledged in a discover forward of its annual assembly in Could that the current allegations in opposition to their former chief government have been “critical and new”.
Staley left Barclays in 2021 to “contest” the outcomes of an investigation by UK regulators that concluded he had mischaracterised his relationship with Epstein.