JPMorgan’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein have been exposed in a new, bombastic report – as the bank continues to try to fend off a lawsuit alleging it is linked to the late financier’s Caribbean-based sex trafficking ring.
The 22-page internal report the bank produced following Epstein’s arrest in 2019 reportedly showed the sex offender regularly providing business advice to then-CEO Jes Staley and providing personal assistance through his high-profile connections.
At the time, Staley — who left his job as chairman of JPMorgan Chase’s investment banking division in 2013 — was tasked with managing Epstein’s multimillion-dollar account.
The unpublished report obtained by the Wall Street Journal on Monday may indicate that Staley’s relationship with Epstein runs deeper, and even saw the pedophile offer help with an application that one of Staley’s daughters sent to Columbia University.
Perhaps most startling, however, are notes showing Epstein inviting Staley to meetings with various senior officials from foreign governments, including those of Dubai and the United Kingdom.
JPMorgan’s 22-page internal report, prepared after Epstein’s arrest in 2019, reportedly showed how the late sex offender regularly provided then-CEO Jes Staley with business advice and even provided personal assistance through his high-profile connections
JPMorgan insists Staley, 66 – here with Epstein, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Bill Gates – hid such information from the bank. The picture was taken after Epstein was convicted of inciting underage girls into prostitution in 2008
The new information dump represents the latest development in a case filed by the US Virgin Islands that alleges the New York-based bank knew about Epstein’s behavior for years — and even helped by covering its eyes closed the dirty deeds of the sex enemy.
The bank recently settled a similar lawsuit filed by an unnamed woman on behalf of several Epstein victims, siphoning over $290 million in the process.
Evidence presented by both parties was enough to persuade a Manhattan judge to rule that the proceedings could proceed, and in March ordered the firm to turn over all papers on which CEO Jamie Dimon and ex-CEO Staley were involved were involved.
The couple, former close friends who held positions of power during Epstein’s crimes on his island compound, have since waged a legal war against each other, with Dimon, 67, insisting Staley, 66, knowingly withheld information about Epstein’s report.
The unreleased report is the bank’s latest attempt to confirm in court that this is indeed the case as it pursues its own lawsuit against Staley.
Staley is alleged to have misled them about Epstein’s continued actions, while the Virgin Islands continue to claim the senior manager – who left his CEO job at Barclays in 2021 – knew about Epstein’s trafficking of women and teenage girls on their island .
The bank also alleges that Staley was the unnamed manager named in the aforementioned Epstein accuser’s recently settled lawsuit, which accused the banker of being involved in assaults with Epstein.
Staley’s lawyers denied the allegations against him and told the Journal that their client, who left the bank for a brief stint as CEO at Barclays in 2013, regrets his relationship with Epstein.
In the report released Monday, written immediately after Epstein’s second and final arrest, JPMorgan employees reportedly noted that Epstein appeared to have developed relationships with senior executives and officials from various foreign governments before forwarding those numbers to Staley and the bank to discuss possible business deals .
Notable figures cited in the Journal’s report included Dubai’s Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem and British politician Peter Mandelson, both of whom corresponded regularly with Epstein following his arrest in Florida in 2006.
According to JPMorgan, Bin Sulayem, CEO of prominent port operator DP World, paid multiple visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse between 2011 and 2014 — meetings only made possible by an email introduction from Epstein.
Perhaps most startling, however, are notes showing how Epstein invited Staley to meetings with various senior officials from foreign governments, including then British MP Peter Mandelson and Dubai port boss Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem
The developments come at a time when Jamie Dimon, the current chief executive officer of JPMorgan, has been waging a legal war against Staley. Dimon, 67, insisted his former colleagues knowingly withheld information about Epstein’s account
According to the Journal, in a December 2009 message, Epstein told Staley how to approach the Emirati businessman at these meetings, reportedly saying, “The sultan is laying the groundwork for you to establish a serious presence.”
‘[JPMorgan’s] “The reputation in the region is bad,” the financier warned, about a year after Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison for a same-sex ring in Florida.
However, under a secret agreement, US prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Epstein for federal crimes – prompting the disgraced banker to pose for a photo with Epstein, former JPMorgan Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who appears to have celebrated at Epstein’s Manhattan home.
Additionally, Staley spectacularly visited Epstein in prison following his 2019 conviction for prostitution in the US Virgin Islands, which led to him hanging himself before his incarceration.
The 2019 report also reportedly reveals email conversations sent in 2010 between Epstein, Staley and Mandelson – a member of the lower house of parliament and a former cabinet minister. He left office later that year after the Labor Party lost the general election.
According to the Journal, the document in question was JPMorgan’s effort to acquire the Royal Bank of Scotland’s stake in Sempra Energy and a mining deal in Congo.
In a statement to the Journal, the 69-year-old politician said he “greatly regrets ever meeting Epstein” and that he “never had any sort of professional or business relationship with Epstein.”
The report, meanwhile, emphasizes that not only Staley but also the bank’s current head of asset and wealth management, Mary Erdoes, has had “regular communications with”. [Epstein] in connection with certain strategic initiatives and business proposals from 2011 onwards.
The document allegedly alleges that several of those messages were personal in nature, with the lion’s share of the correspondence taking place between Staley and Epstein – who regularly spoke about women and referred to themselves as “family.”
Staley reportedly wrote to Epstein in an email exchange in July 2010, ‘That was fun.’ Say hello to Snow White.’
In response, Epstein reportedly wrote: “[W]Which character do you want next?’; to which Staley replied, “Beauty and the Beast.”
In 2011, an exchange appeared to have erupted between the two relating to Epstein’s 2008 Florida conviction, with Staley telling his celebrity client, “You paid a price for the accused.” But we know what you did[sic] have done for us.
“We count you among our closest friends. And the most honest people.’
The report allegedly also included correspondence suggesting that Staley had shared non-public information with Epstein, such as potential senior management changes before they were officially announced and ongoing deals.
The report went on to claim that Epstein even offered to help one of Staley’s daughters, Alexa, apply to several graduate schools, including Columbia University.
Epstein reportedly assured Staley that he would be in touch with various officials at Columbia University and put Staley in touch with the university’s president.
In response to these claims, a spokesman for New York’s Ivy League institution stated, “There was no meeting between the President and Staley.” The President did not know Epstein then or later. There is no factual basis for these claims.”
has reached out to Alexa Staley – who graduated from Columbia University four years later with a PhD in Physics – for comment.
The report, which is said to show what the bank knew about its ties to Epstein, is now being used by the bank as it continues to deal with the US Virgin Islands government in court and could be released soon as the case continues.
Epstein had a home on the island and is said to have molested dozens of girls.
Last November, Jane Doe sued JPMorgan, claiming the bank secretly ran Epstein’s trading empire on the island and kept him as a client for 14 years.
In her complaint, Doe said a “powerful financial executive” who was a friend of Epstein’s had sexually abused her, but she declined to provide his name “out of fear.”
In the US Virgin Islands’ lawsuit, the Caribbean territory has claimed that at least one JPMorgan executive was aware of Epstein’s trafficking in teenage women and girls.
JPMorgan alleges that Staley – who has nearly four decades of banking and finance experience – withheld such information from the bank.
As in the case of the victims, the US Virgin Islands is demanding an undisclosed amount of money from the bank to keep Epstein as a client and lacks warnings about his more than decade-long wrongdoing.
The U.S. Territory called Dimon a “probable source of relevant and unique information” about why JPMorgan kept Epstein as a client even after he was arrested in 2006 and later indicted by a grand jury for involvement in a child prostitution ring in Palm Beach, Florida.
Commenting on the recent settlement, a US Virgin Islands government spokesman said: “We are pleased to hear of the settlement, which offers victims of Jeffrey Epstein some compensation for JPMorgan Chase’s role in abetting Epstein’s crimes against them .”
“The U.S. Virgin Islands will continue enforcement efforts to ensure full accountability for JPMorgan’s violations of the law and to prevent the bank from supporting and profiting from human trafficking in the future.”
“The US Virgin Islands is committed to protecting women and girls who might otherwise be victims.”
Epstein was a customer of the bank between 1998 and 2013 – seven years after he was arrested and convicted in Palm Beach, Fla., of employing underage prostitutes.
Bank officials were concerned about Epstein’s large cash withdrawals, some of which paid for underage girls to have sex in return, but he was allowed to remain a customer for years.
According to testimonies included in the lawsuit, he regularly withdraws between $40,000 and $80,000 a month.
The withdrawals raised alarms among compliance officials, but he explained them as fuel and landing fees for his private plane.
Epstein conducted much of his criminal activity from his estate on Little St. James Island, private property he owned offshore that falls under the jurisdiction of the Virgin Islands. The territory has claimed that at least one JPMorgan executive was aware of Epstein’s dealings on their island
“The parties believe this settlement is in the best interests of all parties, particularly the survivors who were victims of Epstein’s horrific abuse,” said a statement released Monday by JP Morgan
Epstein conducted much of his criminal activity from his estate on Little St. James Island, private property he owned offshore that falls under the jurisdiction of the Virgin Islands.
After the full extent of Epstein’s crimes became known in 2019, Staley initially claimed that he and Epstein were little more than business acquaintances.
He later admitted to having a close professional relationship, which he developed while leading JPMorgan’s private banking and wealth management division from 2000 to 2009.
Staley became CEO of Barclay’s in 2015 but later resigned amid investigations into whether he had concealed the extent of his relationship with Epstein.
A senior JPMorgan executive, Staley visited Epstein in prison following his 2008 conviction for prostitution.
The bank has denied that Staley actually went to jail, claiming Epstein instead visited Staley at his office during a work layoff for his 18-month sentence.
Epstein died in custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
In his absence, Ghislaine Maxwell is the only person to have been prosecuted for his crimes.
She is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of being an accessory to abuse.
has reached out to JPMorgan for comment.