JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon was questioned under oath by lawyers in two lawsuits in which the bank was accused of knowingly benefiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking, denying any involvement with the financier’s accounts.
Dimon finished his deposition Friday, according to a person familiar with the proceedings, and the deposition will not continue into a second day.
JPMorgan spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said Dimon repeatedly confirmed that he never met or emailed Epstein and was not involved in decisions about his account.
“There are millions and millions of emails and other documents that have been produced in this case and not one comes close to even suggesting that he had any role in decisions about Epstein’s accounts,” Wexler said.
The bank’s lawyers had fought efforts to have Dimon questioned, arguing he had no involvement in Epstein’s 15-year relationship with JPMorgan. Lawyers for Jane Doe and the US Virgin Islands, who are suing the bank separately for aiding Epstein’s sex trafficking, had the option of asking a federal court judge to extend Dimon’s deposition into Saturday.
JPMorgan has denied claims it knew of Epstein’s sex trafficking but decided to keep him on as a client anyway between 1998 and 2013.
It has filed its own lawsuit against former executive Jes Staley, claiming he should be held liable for any damages awarded against the bank as he vouched for Epstein.
The cases are Jane Doe 1 v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10019 and USVI v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10904-UA, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
(Updates with testimony in fourth paragraph.)
Author: Ava Benny-Morrison and Hannah Levitt
