A federal judge instructed District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office to provide JPMorgan with relevant records pertaining to a suit filed by an individual identified as Jane Doe, who says she is a victim of deceased and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The suit accuses the bank of knowingly profiting from its connections to Epstein, and JPMorgan is taking legal action against Staley in an attempt to mitigate its own liability in the case.
In its third-party complaint against Staley, JPMorgan said it believed he committed a sexual assault Doe described in her suit against the bank, which previously only made the attribution to a"powerful financial executive." Doe subsequently confirmed she was referring to Staley but accused the bank of raising the issue to engage in intrusive discovery.
Staley has said he regrets ever associating with Epstein but denies the assault allegation and any knowledge of Epstein's sex crimes. Nevertheless, Doe's proposed class action against the bank argues Staley's knowledge should be attributed to the bank, where he was previously head of private banking. JPMorgan alleges that Staley was complicit in Epstein’s crimes and that he didn’t report them “despite having a fiduciary duty” to do so.
The judge's order falls on the same day JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is sitting for a deposition in Doe's suit and another one filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a large property on a private island in the territory where he housed a number of sex-trafficking victims.Staley was CEO of Barclays until he resigned while under pressure from British regulators about his relationship with Epstein.