(Pension&Investments) - J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and its top executives, including CEO Jamie Dimon, risked the bank's reputation by dealing with Jeffrey Epstein and failing to report suspicious activity in his accounts, an investor said in a lawsuit seeking an order to force the bank to improve its compliance procedures.
The Operating Engineers Construction Industry and Miscellaneous Pension Fund is also seeking a ruling from a judge finding that the bank's officers breached their duty to report Mr. Epstein's conduct and to pay its legal costs.
"J.P. Morgan has suffered and will continue to suffer substantial monetary and reputational harm for its longstanding role in assisting the most egregious sex trafficker in modern history," the fund said in the complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.
The New York-based bank had a 15-year relationship with Mr. Epstein, from 1998 to 2013, during which time he withdrew large sums of money in cash to support his sex-trafficking operation, according to the complaint. J.P. Morgan failed to file suspicious activity reports and comply with similar anti-money laundering regulation during that time, the fund said.
J.P. Morgan didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fund said "J.P. Morgan is exposed to substantial legal risk due its role in helping conceal Epstein's crimes," citing two cases that J.P. Morgan is defending, in which an Epstein victim and the U.S. Virgin Islands are separately seeking monetary damages over claims that the bank facilitated abuse by Mr. Epstein.
J.P. Morgan is also at the risk of paying penalties following potential government probes, the fund said in the complaint.
The case is Operating Engineers Construction Industry and Miscellaneous Pension Fund vs. Dimon, 1:23-cv-03903, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
By Bloomberg
May 10, 2023
