JPMorgan Chase sues former senior banker with ties to Jeffrey Epstein

cnbc.com:

JPMorgan Chase sued its former investment banking chief Jes Staley over his ties to disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein, alleging that Staley is to blame for any legal fallout from a pair of lawsuits against the bank.

The company on Wednesday filed a suit against Staley that sought to claw back his last eight years of pay at JPMorgan and make him responsible for potential payouts in lawsuits faced by the New York-based bank. The compensation alone amounts to more than $80 million.

The legal maneuver is the latest twist in cases that have embroiled the biggest U.S. bank by assets. Late last year, the U.S. Virgin Islands and a group of alleged Epstein victims sued the bank, accusing it of facilitating the sex offender's crimes. JPMorgan kept Epstein as a private wealth client until 2013, in part because Staley vouched for him, despite internal concerns after Epstein's 2008 conviction on sex crimes.

As pressure on the bank increased, JPMorgan went from defending its former executive in recent weeks to shifting the blame for any Epstein fallout to him.

One of the internal emails released in the recent lawsuits mentioned a review of the Epstein account expected to be done by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon; the bank said it hadn't seen evidence the review happened. Plaintiffs have sought to question Dimon on the case, an effort the bank is resisting.

«To the extent that Staley knew of, participated in, or witnessed sexual abuse associated with Epstein and did not report it to, or actively concealed it from JPMorgan,» it is Staley, and not the bank, who is responsible for injuries Epstein caused, JPMorgan said in its Wednesday filing.

JPMorgan also identified Staley as the «powerful financial executive» accused of sexually