© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A J.P. Morgan emblem is seen in New York Metropolis, U.S. January 10, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith/File Photograph
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. decide on Thursday will weigh remaining approval of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:)’s $290 million settlement with girls who mentioned Jeffrey Epstein abused them, and that the most important U.S. financial institution turned a blind eye to the late financier’s intercourse trafficking.
At Thursday’s listening to at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) in Manhattan federal court docket, U.S. District Decide Jed Rakoff will think about an objection to the settlement by 16 U.S. states and Washington D.C., which mentioned it may restrict their means to hunt damages arising from intercourse trafficking by Epstein and his associates.
Rakoff had granted preliminary approval in June, calling it a “actually positive settlement.”
The settlement lined greater than 100 girls, led by a former ballet dancer referred to as Jane Doe 1, who mentioned Epstein abused them.
It adopted embarrassing disclosures that JPMorgan ignored inside warnings and ignored crimson flags about Epstein as a result of he had been a useful consumer.
Epstein was a JPMorgan consumer from 1998 to 2013. The financial institution saved him on even after he was arrested in 2006 on prostitution fees and pleaded responsible two years later.
JPMorgan didn’t admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
On the listening to, Rakoff will even hear from certainly one of Epstein’s accusers, Sarah Ransome, who has argued that the settlement is just too small and doesn’t clarify how funds shall be distributed.
JPMorgan in September agreed to pay $75 million to settle associated claims by the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place Epstein owned two islands, pending Rakoff’s approval.
Rakoff on Oct. 20 gave remaining approval to an analogous $75 million settlement between Epstein’s accusers and Deutsche Financial institution, the place Epstein banked after JPMorgan fired him.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at age 66 whereas awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking fees. New York Metropolis’s medical expert dominated the demise a suicide.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime affiliate, is serving a 20-year jail sentence after being convicted in December 2021 of recruiting and grooming teenage ladies for him to abuse. She is interesting her conviction.