Jess Staley’s lawyers criticize JPMorgan’s ‘absent’ claims on Jeffrey Epstein ties

Jess Staley’s attorneys attack JPMorgan Chase’s attempt to hold its former executive liable for damages caused by providing bank services to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that the case is “completely devoid of concrete claims”. was absent.

“They had months of searching to see Mr. Staley’s emails. , , To get your best shot,” Staley’s attorney Stephen Wohlgemuth told a New York federal court on Friday in an effort to get the case dismissed. “They have to make allegations. , , They have to say what is true and what is not.

JPMorgan sued Staley, who spent more than 30 years at the bank, in March alleging that he violated his fiduciary duties and acted in bad faith by concealing his true relationship with Epstein, including Several visits to the properties and emails of the disgraced financier were allegedly involved. In which photographs of young women were exchanged.

The bank is seeking to hold the 66-year-old liable for any damages awarded in two cases brought by an unnamed Epstein accuser last year against JPMorgan and the US 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 JP Morgan in 2013, has been accused by Epstein himself of being a rape victim and a witness to Epstein’s crimes — claims he strongly denies. The bank has said that it first came to know about these claims in the last few months.

Leonard Gale, a lawyer for JPMorgan, reiterated the bank’s argument that Epstein was retained because “Staley had made promises (to him) within the bank” and that the former executive should be liable because “all damages or injury which the plaintiff alleges (Epstein) being a client”.

However, while JP Morgan was seeking to hold Staley accountable for assurances it allegedly made to the bank regarding Epstein, it was failing to explain how and when they were made, Wollgemuth said. The US Virgin Islands’ complaint against JP Morgan 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 failed to confirm that. Had this incident actually happened, he said.

“This alleged vouching . . . would have been made for JPMorgan employees,” Wolgemuth said. “What did the bank say? Was there vouching? What did Mr. Staley actually say. . . To whom did he say this and why did he trust it?”

Wolgemuth said, “It’s their burden, and they haven’t even tried to fulfill it.”

Judge Jed Rakoff said he would rule on the motion to dismiss by the end of this month. Staley – who went on to become chief executive of UK bank Barclays but resigned following an investigation into the way he portrayed his relationship with Epstein – is set to be ousted next month by JPMorgan’s lawyers.