A federal judge has granted JPMorgan Chase’s settlement of a class action lawsuit. The nation’s largest bank will pay $290 million to victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who was found guilty of sexual abuse.
Court documents indicate that JPMorgan will pay nearly 200 of Epstein’s victims, because the bank was sued for ignoring warning signs about its sex-trafficking business while Epstein was a client.
A preliminary agreement was reached in June. On Thursday, Judge Jed Rakoff gave his final approval to the settlement after an afternoon hearing to make sure it was fair to Epstein’s victims.
The attorneys general of 16 states and Washington, D.C., raised concerns about some of the settlement’s language because a broad release given to JPMorgan could prevent other states from bringing their own sex-trafficking claims under a federal law that allows state governments to file civil lawsuits on behalf of sexual abuse victims.
Judge Rakoff, however, said it was just an idea and that he was not bothered by the language of the settlement. He also said: “This case sent a message through this very substantial settlement that banking institutions have a responsibility.”
The settlement between JPMorgan and Epstein’s victims ends a class action case that more than 40 women filed last year on his behalf. The victim who filed the lawsuit was known only as “Jane Doe 1.”
The victim, who did not want to be named, said JPMorgan ignored warning signs for years that Epstein sexually abused women and children. After working with the investor for 15 years, the bank cut ties with Epstein in 2013, five years after he was found guilty of having a child work as a prostitute.
The case was one of two civil lawsuits that arose out of JPMorgan’s business relationship with Epstein.
In September, the bank agreed to pay the US Virgin Islands $75 million to settle claims it did nothing to prevent Epstein from running a sex business on his private island.
The Epstein case remains controversial to this day, primarily because the subject of the investigation, Jeffrey Epstein, was found strangled to death in a prison cell under suspicious conditions in August 2019.
Although Epstein’s “Black Book” was released by the courts in subsequent legal proceedings, his flight records have remained sealed.
“With records from Epstein’s private jet, published in 2015, the book paints a picture of a man deeply enmeshed in the highest social circles,” New York says in an article.
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee pressed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to issue a subpoena for Epstein’s flight records so they can find others who may have been involved in his “horrific behavior.”
“Since we’re in the business of issuing subpoenas now, I’ve filed a few more here,” Blackburn told the committee.
“A subpoena to the estate of Jeffrey Epstein to provide the flight logs of his private jet. Given the many allegations of human trafficking and abuse surrounding Mr. Epstein, we need to identify everyone who may have been involved in his horrible conduct,” he said.
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