More than £45million of the agreement will go toward local charities and assistance for victims. And another £16million will go toward legal fees.
JP Morgan confirmed the deal yesterday, saying it did not admit liability as part of the deal but “deeply regrets” working with Epstein.
The US Virgin Islands, where the financier had an estate, sued JP Morgan in New York last year. Its government claimed their investigation revealed the financial services giant enabled the paedophile’s recruiters to pay victims.
It said the bank was “indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise”.
During the case, the US Virgin Islands revealed numerous emails from Epstein said to show his correspondence with Prince Andrew and conversations he apparently held with bankers about
the Duke of York.
Court papers alleged the royal, 63, met Epstein while the tycoon was still under house arrest at his Florida home for a sex offence. If correct they would contradict Andrew’s 2019 claims on BBC Newsnight that he met Epstein only once, in December 2010, after the latter’s 2008 13-month jail sentence had ended. The Prince told host Emily Maitlis he went to see the financier
in New York purely to break off his friendship with him.
But according to the court papers, the pair allegedly had lunch in June that year while Epstein was under a 12-month house arrest order, and they apparently had kept in touch.
Other emails written by Epstein appeared to show he was touting the prince as a potential investor in 2011 – whereas Andrew claimed he had severed all contact in 2010.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial for underage sex offences.
