JPMorgan reaches settlement with Epstein victims

JPMorgan Chase has reached a tentative $290 million settlement in a class action lawsuit with victims of Jeffrey Epstein.

“We all now understand that Epstein’s behavior was monstrous, and we believe this settlement is in the best interest of all parties, especially the survivors, who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of this man,” JPMorgan Chase said in a statement on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court last year, the victims accused JPMorgan of providing Epstein loans and allowing cash withdrawals when he was a client of the bank despite knowing about his sex trafficking activities. The proposed settlement still needs to be approved by the judge in the case.

A judge on Monday also ruled in favor of making the suit, brought by an anonymous Jane Doe, into a class-action lawsuit.

Epstein, who was accused of decades of abuse against young women and girls, died in prison after he was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. His longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was found guilty and sentenced for grooming young girls for Epstein to abuse, some as young as 14 years old when the abuse began.

JPMorgan has denied wrongdoing. The bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, testified last month he never heard of Epstein and his crimes until Epstein’s 2019 arrest.

A related lawsuit has been brought against JPMorgan by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, which alleges the bank enabled the trafficking of minors for Epstein to abuse and knowingly benefitted from the financier’s sex trafficking. That lawsuit is pending.

Last month, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit from Epstein victims.

The Associated Press contributed. Updated at 12:35 p.m.