Jeffrey Epstein got more than $300 MILLION in tax breaks from US Virgin Islands

JPMorgan Chase said the US Virgin Islands gave Jeffrey Epstein more than $300 million in tax incentives and waived sex offender monitoring requirements, protecting the disgraced late financier as he donated money and gifts to high officials and local police.

In a court filing on Tuesday, the largest US bank described how Epstein allegedly paid law enforcement agencies such as the Virgin Islands Police Department.

The newly unredacted record is part of JPMorgan’s effort to show that the US Virgin Islands, including former first lady Cecile de Jongh, ‘actively facilitated’ Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls.

JPMorgan is defending itself in federal court against the territory’s lawsuit filed in December regarding its relationship with Epstein, a client from 1998 to 2013.

The US Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two neighboring islands, accused JPMorgan of facilitating Epstein’s crimes by providing banking services and allowing him to pay victims.

Police in the US Virgin Islands said they “never received a single complaint” about Epstein’s sex trafficking and would have investigated the complaints. Pictured is Little St. James Island, one of the properties of financier Jeffrey Epstein,

“JPMorgan Chase is the only party to this lawsuit that had real-time knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s human trafficking operation,” Venetia Velazquez, spokeswoman for the U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General, said in a statement.

“The evidence disclosed so far suggests that the bank has chosen to prioritize its profits over the protection of victims.”

U.S. Virgin Islands police say they ‘never received a single complaint’ about Epstein’s sex trafficking and would investigate complaints, a person familiar with Epstein’s enforcement practices has said. the law of the territory. The person had no authority to publicly discuss these practices.

JPMorgan agreed last week to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit filed by dozens of Epstein accusers, pending court approval.

Epstein died by suicide at age 66 in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

JPMorgan had described a “quid pro quo” relationship between Epstein and US Virgin Islands officials such as de Jongh, whose husband John served as governor from 2007 to 2015.

The bank said Cecile de Jongh managed Epstein’s local businesses for eight years and helped secure visas for some victims, in return for Epstein providing salary, bonuses and school tuition for their children.

The Virgin Islands, including former first lady Cecile de Jongh (pictured), ‘actively facilitated’ his sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls, the bank said. The bank said Cecile de Jongh managed Epstein’s local businesses for eight years and helped secure visas for some victims.

Tuesday’s filing describes Epstein’s Financial Trust Co, also known as Southern Trust Co, receiving $219.8 million in US Virgin Islands tax benefits between 1999 and 2012, and $80.6 million between 2013 and 2018.

As for some benefits, the bank said Cécile de Jongh certified in 2009 that Epstein was a ‘bona fide resident’, although he was then serving a 13-month sentence following his plea of guilty in 2008 on a prostitution charge in Florida.

JPMorgan also said the territory has lifted restrictions on Epstein’s ability to travel, despite his sex offender status.

He said the territory’s Justice Department repeatedly failed to notify Epstein’s status under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, “something Epstein even personally raised.” with the USVI DOJ”.

The bank also said “Epstein was often not present” when the territory checked on him at his home.

JPMorgan’s latest revelations followed the US Virgin Islands’ release on Monday of a 22-page document prepared by the bank in late 2019 after Epstein’s death.

The document described Epstein’s ties to former JPMorgan private banking chief Jes Staley, including dozens of personal messages between them and messages implicating other bank officials.

The Virgin Islands said it accused JPMorgan of facilitating Epstein’s crimes by providing banking services and enabling his abuses

The bank denies any wrongdoing but sued Jes Staley – who was friends with Epstein – accusing him of acting on his own to help the sex offender

JPMorgan sued Staley and wants him liable for any damages he may owe in the lawsuits of the accusers and the US Virgin Islands.

Staley left JPMorgan in 2013 and then spent six years as chief executive of Barclays.

He expressed regret for his friendship with Epstein and repeatedly denied knowing about his crimes.

Internal emails show that following Epstein’s July 2019 arrest for sex trafficking, JPMorgan conducted an internal review known as “Project Jeep” investigating the bank’s relationship with Epstein.

The review included emails between Epstein and Staley, a former friend and head of private banking at JPMorgan whom the bank tried to blame for his client relationship with Epstein.

In a July 2019 email, JPMorgan’s Financial Crimes Compliance Officer Peter Neilson wrote that he was working on the review with input from “top of house,” which attorneys for the Virgin Islands, refers to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

“The head of the house asked that we extend our analysis to related parties and that we make slides. Should have in a few days. We are treating it as a project at this stage,’ Neilson wrote in the email.

Epstein had been a client of JPMorgan from 1998 until the bank fired him in 2013, years after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for sex in a Florida state case.

In a May 26 deposition, Dimon said he never met Epstein, did not recall discussing his accounts internally, and barely knew who Epstein was before the July 2019 arrest.

The US Virgin Islands wanted Dimon to sit for a second deposition after additional documents about Epstein and Staley surfaced, including the emails cited in the newly unsealed letter.

However, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who is overseeing the trial, denied that request for a second deposition.

JPMorgan declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com on Tuesday. The bank has previously denied any wrongdoing, but said it regretted taking on Epstein as a client.