JPMorgan Chase’s former general counsel Stephen Cutler wrote in a 2011 email that the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein should not be a client of the bank, according to a transcript of a deposition of CEO Jamie Dimon seen by Reuters.
Dimon said in the deposition he was not aware of the email at the time but “I know it today.”
The largest US bank faces lawsuits seeking damages by women who claim that Epstein sexually abused them, and by the US Virgin Islands, where the late financier had a home.
Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 2000 to 2013, remaining so after pleading guilty in 2008 to a Florida state prostitution charge.
In Dimon’s May 26 deposition, he was asked about the email Cutler sent to other executives, including former private banking chief Jes Staley and Mary Erdoes, now head of asset and wealth management, calling Epstein “not a person we should do business with, period.”
“This is not an honourable person in any way,” Cutler wrote. “He should not be a client.”
The email was read by a lawyer for the Virgin Islands during questioning, according to the transcript.
“Had the firm believed he was engaged in an ongoing sex trafficking operation, Epstein would not have been retained as client,” a JPMorgan spokesperson said in a statement. “In hindsight, we regret he was ever a client.”
Cutler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
David Boies, a lawyer for the woman known as Jane Doe who is suing the bank, said in a statement that the deposition “confirms that people at the hugest level within JP Morgan, including its general counsel, recognised that the bank was complicit in providing banking services to Epstein, but nevertheless continued to do so.”
In the deposition, Dimon also repeatedly denied speaking about Epstein with Staley, who was friendly with Epstein. The bank is suing Staley, arguing he should be held liable for any damages JPMorgan is forced to pay for concealing what he knew about Epstein.
Staley has said he regrets his friendship with Epstein, but denied knowing about Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The New York Times reported that Erdoes said during a March deposition that she decided to dismiss Epstein as a client in 2013 because of concerns about large withdrawals from his accounts.
Epstein died in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. New York City’s medical examiner called the death a suicide.
Australian Associated Press