A US judge has granted preliminary approval to JPMorgan Chase's $290m settlement with women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of abuse, claiming the bank ignored his sex trafficking. The approval was issued by District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan federal court, who described the accord as 'very large' but noted it could not fully compensate for the abuses suffered.
The settlement, along with a similar $75m agreement with Deutsche Bank approved earlier this month, will be distributed to victims. Epstein was a JPMorgan client from 1998 to 2013, and victims led by a former ballet dancer known as Jane Doe 1 argued the bank missed red flags and maintained contact with Epstein after his official departure.
Lawyers for the victims said the all-cash settlement was 'fair, adequate, reasonable' given litigation risks and JPMorgan's denial of involvement. JPMorgan stated any association with Epstein 'was a mistake and we regret it'. Epstein remained a client for five years after his 2008 guilty plea to a Florida prostitution charge.
Judge Rakoff questioned why the JPMorgan settlement lacked a minimum distribution per victim, unlike the Deutsche Bank deal which guaranteed at least $75,000 each. Lawyer David Boies explained that many Deutsche Bank victims were from Russia or eastern Europe and hard to contact, necessitating the incentive. Rakoff appointed Simone Lelchuk to administer claims and payouts for both cases.
JPMorgan also faces a lawsuit from the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two islands, with a trial scheduled for 23 October. Epstein died at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges; the medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.
