Albert Bryan Jr., governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, speaks through the SelectUSA Funding Summit in Nationwide Harbor, Maryland, on Might 2, 2023.
Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands is scheduled to be deposed subsequent month in a civil lawsuit by that territory’s authorities towards JPMorgan Chase over intercourse trafficking by the late predator Jeffrey Epstein, in keeping with a court docket submitting Tuesday.
The submitting seems to be the primary point out of the deliberate June 6 deposition of Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. within the go well with, which is pending in U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan.
The submitting doesn’t point out why Bryan’s testimony underneath oath is being sought within the case. A supply accustomed to the scenario advised CNBC that JPMorgan requested the deposition.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is scheduled to be deposed within the go well with Friday in New York.
Choose Jed Rakoff, who’s presiding over the case, final week licensed the Virgin Islands to serve a subpoena for Tesla CEO Elon Musk on his electrical automobile firm, looking for paperwork that Musk could have displaying any communications involving him, Epstein and JPMorgan.
That subpoena is predicated on suspicion by the territory that Epstein could have referred Musk or tried to refer him to the financial institution as a shopper.
The Virgin Islands go well with alleges that JPMorgan facilitated intercourse trafficking by its longtime banking buyer Epstein and benefited from it. The financial institution denies these allegations.
Epstein, a former buddy of Donald Trump and Invoice Clinton, maintained a house on a personal island within the territory the place he sexually abused many younger ladies through the years. He used cash from his JPMorgan accounts to pay ladies and fly them there.
The lawsuit was filed in late December by then-Virgin Islands Legal professional Common Denise George, who a month earlier had obtained a $105 million settlement from Epstein’s property. Days after she filed that go well with, Bryan fired George, who had been legal professional basic for 4 years.
The governor fired George reportedly as a result of she didn’t alert him that she deliberate to sue JPMorgan, which is the biggest financial institution in america.
Jeffrey Epstein’s former residence on the island of Little St. James within the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Emily Michot | Miami Herald | Getty Photographs
Regardless of George’s firing, the Virgin Islands has continued to aggressively pursue its litigation towards the financial institution.
On Tuesday, there was one other in a sequence of personal phone conferences with Rakoff over the case.
A public docket entry summarized the result of that convention, which included attorneys for the Virgin Islands, JPMorgan, former JPMorgan government Jes Staley and an Epstein accuser who has a separate, comparable lawsuit pending towards the financial institution. JPMorgan is making an attempt to shift any authorized legal responsibility it could have within the go well with to Staley, who was a degree of contact for Epstein on the financial institution.
“The deposition of Albert Bryan, Jr. is ordered to proceed on June 6,” that docket entry says.
The entry additionally says that “all events apart from JP Morgan are ordered to contact former officers and administrators of JP Morgan solely by counsel.”
CNBC requested remark from attorneys for the Virgin Islands and from JPMorgan concerning the convention Tuesday.
Expenses towards Jeffrey Epstein have been introduced on July 8, 2019 in New York Metropolis. Epstein will likely be charged with one depend of intercourse trafficking of minors and one depend of conspiracy to interact in intercourse trafficking of minors.
Stephanie Keith | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, a month after he was arrested and charged in Manhattan federal court docket with youngster intercourse trafficking.
Epstein pleaded responsible in 2008 to a Florida state cost of soliciting intercourse from an underage woman and was sentenced to 13 months in jail.
His prior felony case and stint in jail, which have been identified to JPMorgan on the time, got here in the midst of his tenure as a buyer of the financial institution, the place he maintained accounts from 1998 till the financial institution severed its relationship with him in 2013.
Epstein turned a buyer of Deutsche Financial institution after that.
Deutsche Financial institution final week agreed to settle a Manhattan federal court docket lawsuit filed by one other Epstein accuser who alleged that financial institution enabled and benefited from his intercourse trafficking. Deutsche Financial institution can pay Epstein victims $75 million in that deal.
Deutsche Financial institution in 2020 agreed to pay a $150 million high-quality to New York’s monetary regulator for its dealings with Epstein and different points.
“We acknowledge our error onboarding Epstein in 2013, and the weaknesses in our processes, and have learnt from our errors and our shortcomings,” financial institution spokesman Dylan Riddle mentioned final week.
— CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this report.
Correction: Some earlier headlines for this story have been up to date to mirror the right spelling of Jeffrey Epstein’s identify.
