German, JPMorgan Chase ‘accomplice’ in Epstein Crimes: Suit

Prosecutors said they found this photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during the 2019 raid on Epstein’s New York townhouse.

Jeffrey Epsteins The victims filed two class action lawsuits to indict them Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase of “complicity” in his crimes and claimed that the megabanks ignored the red flags of the sex trade for their own benefit.

The lawsuits allege that the banks “knowingly received benefits and items of value for assisting, assisting, facilitating and otherwise providing the most vital service to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking organization in the successful rape, sexual abuse and sex trafficking of girls and youth force”. Women.

Submitted by women anonymously as “jane doe‘ the lawsuits were filed in the Southern District of New York — where Epstein and his co-conspirators Gislaine Maxwell were prosecuted on Thursday, the day New York’s Adult Survivors Act went into effect.

This law gave alleged victims of sexual abuse another avenue to bring claims that would otherwise have been barred by the statute of limitations.

The longtime advocate for the Epstein victims Bradley Edwards, who signed the lawsuit, also invokes the Trafficking Victim Protection Act (TVPA) and specifically against Germany the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The federal complaints total around 180 pages.

Other prominent advocates for Epstein victims, including David Boes and Sigrid McCawleyhave attached their names to both complaints.

The complaints are both worded similarly, accusing both banks of intimate knowledge of Epstein’s predatory empire.

“Part of the purpose of the Epstein sex trafficking company was to attract, procure, house and transport the young victims without drawing unwanted attention from law enforcement,” read identical passages. “The company had everything a sex trafficking organization needed — funding, infrastructure, a semblance of legitimacy, and perhaps most importantly, a complicit banking institution. It was by many reports the most powerful and wealthy sex trafficking company ever created.”

“The Epstein sex trafficking company knowingly used means of violence, threats of violence, fraud, coercion (including threats of serious harm or physical restraint), and abuse of law and legal process to induce Jane Doe 1 and many dozens of others to act in a similarly appropriate manner to engage in commercial sexual activity,” they continue.

As brought into focus during the Maxwell trial, victims said Epstein lured or abused them in the United States and internationally, including in New York, New Mexico, Florida, the US Virgin Islands, the United Kingdom and France. The women say the banks should have known around the time of Epstein’s first arrest in Palm Beach, Fla.

“The 2006 criminal investigation uncovered a mountain of evidence that became public, including documents obtained from garbage trucks outside Epstein’s home, documents discovered in a search warrant, and extensive travel records detailing Epstein’s lifestyle, his daily… Activities and the like revealed the unique modus operandi for his sex trafficking business,” the lawsuits read.

Epstein’s plea deal shortly thereafter allowed him to serve a short sentence in a county jail – largely on time off work – on charges of soliciting the prostitution of a minor. Although Florida prosecutors were widely criticized for ending in a sweetheart deal, they also produced a lengthy public record that victims say the banks shouldn’t have overlooked.

“For example, until his arrest in Florida, Jeffrey Epstein was known to sexually abuse three to four young women a day wherever he was at the time; Sexually abusing young girls and women was a full-time job for him, from which he never took any vacation or break,” the complaints said.

The Miami HeraldReporting of the backstory of this sweetheart plea deal and the non-prosecution agreements it contained has been blamed for the reopening of Epstein and Maxwell’s investigations. Authorities likened Epstein’s cycle of abuse to a pyramid scheme where one victim would be paid to bait another, with each victim receiving hush money and a finder’s fee.

The class action lawsuits note that this cycle continued after Epstein’s release in Florida, allegedly fueled by his financial ties to the banks.

“From approximately 2000 to 2013, JP Morgan was the bank complicit in enabling Epstein to abuse countless young women and expand his sex trafficking operation,” the lawsuit against that bank reads.

According to the victims, the role of the Germans came later, after banker JP Morgan Paul Morris became an employee of the German lender in November 2012.

“Shortly after joining Deutsche Bank, Morris proposed to senior management that Epstein was a potential client who could generate millions of dollars in revenue as well as leads to other lucrative Deutsche Bank clients,” the lawsuit against Deutsche Bank reads.

Both level four lawsuits count under the TVPA and the New York Adult Survivors Act. The lawsuit against Deutsche includes an additional RICO counter. Both are demanding damages in an unspecified amount against the banks.

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