The former first lady of the US Virgin Islands admitted to staying at an apartment owned by Jeffrey Epstein during her visit to New York for surgery, court documents show.
Cecile de Jongh said she had to stay at the pedophile’s property and not at her daughter’s, who also lived in New York, because his building had an elevator.
She also claimed that Epstein’s apartment is much more convenient because it’s six blocks from the hospital.
In testimony unsealed as part of a sex trafficking case brought by the USVI government against JPMorgan, de Jongh defended Epstein’s practice of giving a turkey to anyone who worked in customs in St. Thomas, the territory’s capital.
Documents obtained by show former USVI first lady Cecile de Jongh was staying at a New York apartment owned by Jeffrey Epstein in 2017
The apartment is unidentified, but Epstein and his brother owned a building on the Upper East Side that was described in his Black Book as a “model apartment.”
Epstein seemed to flatter himself with officials who’d seen him arrive with young women, but de Jongh said it was more like giving a doorman a “gift”.
Her comments came in an affidavit on the case in which the USVI alleges JPMorgan turned a blind eye to Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
Epstein, who was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013, owned two private islands in the area and abused several underage women there.
The USVI is seeking a refund of more than $190 million from the bank. This denies the allegations and accuses the USVI government of its own blindness in relation to Epstein.
JPMorgan’s claims already include that de Jongh managed Epstein’s operations for several years, including when her husband, John de John, was Governor of the USVI.
The bank said that de Jongh received $200,000 in salary and bonuses in 2007, the year her husband took office.
In the affidavit, de Jongh said she would have a knee replacement in 2017 and spoke to Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, about staying at one of his properties.
Although the apartment is unidentified, Epstein and his brother owned a building on the Upper East Side where his friends and some victims lived, which was described in his infamous “Black Book” of contacts as a “apartment for models.”
As of 2017, Epstein had been out of prison for almost a decade after serving 15 months in prison for recruiting minors into prostitution.
Under the terms of his release, he had to be registered as a sex offender, including with the USVI.
The facilities on Little St. James Island, one of financier Jeffrey Epstein’s estates, are seen in an aerial view near Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
De Jongh said, “So I asked Mr. Epstein if I could stay there because I needed to stay there for my initial rehab and post-op.”
“And I could have stayed with my daughter, but she was staying in a room on the fifth floor with no elevator. When I spoke to my doctor, he said it wouldn’t work. I needed a place with an elevator.
“Plus, the apartment was about six blocks from the hospital where the surgery was going to take place.” So I flew up. I was with my daughter for the first time and had my check-up done. Then I went to the apartment, had the operation and stayed there.
“I had some heart complications. So I was there a little longer than usual.
In its response, the USVI said that de Jongh was no longer First Lady when she stayed with Epstein and that the issue was not “material” to the case.
De Jongh claimed she “vaguely” remembered Epstein giving turkeys to all customs officials at the USVI.
It would have been crucial for Epstein to be in the good ranks of these officials as he transported sex slaves in and out of the USVI on an almost weekly basis.
When asked if she thought such gifts were okay, de Jongh replied, “Yes.”
She said, “Well down here people usually give gifts to people in Treasury, they do, you know, they give gifts to people that they usually interact with on a regular basis.”
“You know, it’s kind of like when my brother-in-law lives in a building where everyone gives the bouncer a present, you know? So I thought, ‘I had no reason to believe anything unusual was happening.’
The attorney who asked the questions to JPMorgan replied, “Sure.” But you would realize that customs officers aren’t like the bouncer in your building. Those are police officers, right?’
De Jongh’s response was not included in the excerpt of the statement.
Cecile de Jongh is pictured with her husband John, who was the territory’s governor from 2007 to 2015
In earlier files in the case, JPMorgan alleged that Epstein paid for de Jongh’s children’s tuition in order to ingratiate himself with her and her husband.
The bank claimed it “explicitly advised Epstein on how to buy control of the political class (USVI)”.
According to court documents, she also helped him get visas to “bring victims to his island.”
De Jongh was a “willing partner” who helped Epstein “transport and exploit young women freely,” it said.
A USVI spokeswoman said these allegations “misrepresented” Epstein’s interactions with the territory to “detract from and shift blame from his role in abetting Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes.”
JPMorgan has already settled a similar lawsuit filed by an unnamed woman named Jane Doe for $290 million.
Deutsche Bank has also settled its own Epstein sex trafficking lawsuit for $90 million.
The USVI case is scheduled to go to trial in New York in October.