Jes Staley’s lawyers dispute JPMorgan’s ‘missing’ claims about Jeffrey Epstein’s connections

Jes Staley’s lawyers have attacked JPMorgan Chase’s attempt to hold its former chief liable for damages caused by banking services provided to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, arguing the case was “completely lacking” in specific allegations.

“It took them several months to discover Mr. Staley’s emails. . . to make the best of it,” Staley’s attorney, Stephen Wohlgemuth, told a New York federal court on Friday in an attempt to have the case dismissed. “They have to have the charges. . . they must tell us what is true and what is not.”

JPMorgan sued Staley, who spent more than 30 years at the bank, in March, alleging that he breached his fiduciary duties and acted in bad faith by concealing his true relationship with Epstein, which allegedly included multiple visits to the disgraced financier’s properties and e- emails. which photographs of young women were exchanged.

The bank wants to hold the 66-year-old responsible for all damages it filed against JPMorgan last year in two lawsuits filed by an unnamed Epstein accuser and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home. Those lawsuits accuse JPMorgan of profiting from human trafficking by keeping Epstein as a client for 15 years, despite numerous red flags.

Staley, who was fired by JPMorgan in 2013, has been accused by an Epstein victim herself of rape and of witnessing Epstein’s crimes, claims she has vehemently denied. The bank said it first became aware of these claims in recent months.

Leonard Gail, a lawyer for JPMorgan, repeated the bank’s claim that Epstein was being held because “Staley stood surety [him] within the bank,” and that the former executive should be liable because “any damage or injury that the plaintiffs allege arises from it. [Epstein] to be a customer”.

But as JPMorgan sought to hold Staley accountable for the assurances it allegedly gave the bank about Epstein, it failed to say how and when they were made, Wohlgemuth said. The U.S. Virgin Islands complaint against JPMorgan cites an internal meeting in January 2011 after which Staley was asked for his opinion on Epstein and allegedly vouched for him, but the bank could not confirm whether that actually happened, he added.

“This is the alleged guarantee. . . it would have been for JPMorgan employees,” Wohlgemuth said. “What does the bank say? Was there a credit? What Mr. Staley Really Said. . . Who did he tell and why did they rely on him?” – asked.

“That’s their burden, and they haven’t even tried to meet it,” Wohlgemuth said.

Judge Jed Rakoff said he would rule on the motion to dismiss by the end of the month. Staley – who went on to become chief executive of British bank Barclays but resigned after scrutiny of how he described his relationship with Epstein – will be ousted by JPMorgan lawyers next month.