Former bank boss Jes Staley has asked a court to dismiss his former employer JPMorgan’s lawsuit blaming him for his decision to do business with Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Staley said the Wall Street giant tried to divert blame from his own mistakes and used him as a “PR shield”.
It comes as JPMorgan is fighting claims that it facilitated the sex trade of Epstein, its client from 1998 to 2013.
The bank declines any liability.
In cases brought by the US Virgin Islands and two women who say they were abused by Epstein, JPMorgan and rival Deutsche Bank have been accused of ignoring “red flags,” including repeated cash withdrawals.
Their legal files revealed an exchange between Epstein and Mr. Staley, who worked for JPMorgan for more than three decades, including one in which he thanked Epstein for his “friendship.”
“I owe you so much,” he wrote.
In a lawsuit filed last month, JPMorgan said if the allegations were true, then Mr Staley – who had served as chief executive of its corporate and investment banking division – had repeatedly put the bank’s interests in his own and him, not the bank’s abandoned , should be held liable for any damage.
It said Mr Staley should be held financially liable if the plaintiffs win their case.
The bank said its decision to withhold information about Epstein was “a direct and proximate cause of [its] Decision to do business with Epstein by 2013”.
In response, Mr Staley said he had no decision-making authority over Epstein’s accounts and the allegations extended beyond his time at the bank.
He also called the allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman “baseless”.
“Whether or not JPMorgan is liable… remains to be seen. What is certain is that the bank cannot treat Mr. Staley as a public relations shield by making claims that lack any basis in law or fact,” his response said.
The lawsuit shows the lingering aftermath of Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 after being accused of running a “huge network” of underage girls for sex.
Convicted in 2008 of inciting underage prostitution, he had moved in social circles that included Prince Andrew and former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as many key figures in the business community.
Mr Staley was chief executive of Barclays after leaving JPMorgan. He resigned from that bench in 2021 after investigating his ties to Epstein.
In a previous filing, his lawyer had called the allegations “defamatory” and the potential damages “astronomical”, writing that Mr Staley had “little more at stake” as he attempts to refute the allegations.
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