A woman suing JPMorgan Chase & Co. for facilitating her sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein is claiming Jes Staley “personally observed” that abuse when he was the bank’s head of private wealth.
The woman, who is suing as Jane Doe 1 in a proposed class action against the largest U.S. bank, made new allegations about Staley’s knowledge of Epstein’s abuse in an amended complaint filed late Friday in Manhattan federal court.
According to the complaint, Staley frequently visited Epstein’s properties, including his New York townhouse massage room, a “stash house” apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and his U.S. Virgin Islands estate. The then-JPMorgan executive allegedly met many of Epstein’s trafficking victims and “personally observed the sexual abuse of young women, including Jane Doe 1.”
JPMorgan on Tuesday declined to comment on the amended complaint.
Staley, who is not named as a defendant in the suit, has consistently denied knowledge of Epstein’s abuse. A lawyer for Staley declined to comment on Tuesday.
The new allegations seek to bolster the argument that JPMorgan was aware of Epstein’s conduct but nonetheless turned a blind eye. The bank has moved to dismiss the suit in part by arguing that it fails to show the bank knew about Epstein’s abuse.
“As a result of Staley’s direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture, JP Morgan had direct and actual knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture,” the amended complaint alleges.
Staley left JPMorgan in 2013 and joined Barclays Plc as chief executive officer a few years later. He stepped down from that role in 2021 following a U.K. regulatory probe into his relationship with Epstein.
Lawsuits against both JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank were filed separately in November over their Epstein ties. The suits claim the banks knowingly benefited and received things of value for assisting and supporting Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme.
Like JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank has also sought dismissal of the claims. In addition to denying knowledge of Epstein’s conduct, both banks also argue the claims, which relate to events from 1998 to 2013, are barred by the statute of limitations. The plaintiffs are suing under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily lifts the time limit for sexual assault claims, but both banks say the law does not apply to them.
Epstein was found dead in his U.S. jail cell in 2019, after being charged with sex-trafficking. His connections to U.S. and British elites led to career downfalls for a number of prominent Wall Street names.
