Judge greenlights JPMorgan lawsuit blaming ex-executive in Epstein scandal

A federal judge said Wednesday that he won't block JPMorgan's legal efforts to blame a former executive of hiding Jeffrey Epstein's decades-long sex abuse to keep the financier as a client.

Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan denied requests by lawyers for the executive, Jes Staley, to toss out claims the bank made against Staley after it was sued last year by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein maintained a residence, and a woman who identified herself as one of Epstein's victims.

The judge said he'll explain his reasoning later in a written decision.

Staley's lawyers had asked in court papers for dismissal of JPMorgan's claims, saying the bank was using Staley as a "public relations shield" by asserting claims with no legal basis.

They said Staley had no decision-making authority over Epstein's accounts and was not alleged to have seen any of the suspicious account activity that other JPMorgan employees ignored.

Epstein was 66 when he apparently killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail cell where he was awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial after his application for bail was denied. He had pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually abused dozens of girls, some as young as 14.

Staley, who worked at JPMorgan from 1979 until January 2013, reported to Jamie Dimon, the bank's president and chairman, after he became chief executive officer for JPMorgan's Corporate and Investment Banking division in 2009, his lawyers said. Dimon is scheduled to be deposed this week in the Epstein-related litigation.

Staley left JPMorgan to become CEO of London-based bank Barclays, though he resigned last year after British regulators reported his past links to Epstein.

Staley's lawyers did not immediately return a request...

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