Virgin Islands Says Epstein $$ Will Pay for New Anti-Trafficking Plan
The U.S. Virgin Islands says that it’s using proceeds from legal settlements related to Jeffrey Epstein to fund anti-trafficking initiatives—marking the latest turn in the territory’s months-long campaign against JPMorgan, which it is suing for at least $190 million.
On Thursday, government officials held a press conference announcing the Victims of Human Trafficking Prevention Act, with Gov. Albert Bryan thanking Epstein victims for coming forward “to help drive awareness” on the “horrendous cycle of abuse” involved in such sex crimes. The legislation would fund programs via the sale of Epstein’s island, Little St. James, and payouts from litigation including $105 million from Epstein’s estate.
In May, a private equity billionaire announced he’d purchased Little St. James and a second island owned by Epstein, Great St. James, for $60 million.
Should the USVI win its suit against JPMorgan, damages would also go to the island’s efforts.
“Since we learned of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes in the territory, and his death, the Virgin Islands Department of Justice has worked tirelessly to hold accountable those who facilitated Epstein’s heinous sex trafficking schemes,” Attorney General Ariel Smith said, adding that the island froze the assets of Epstein’s estate to preserve funds for survivors.
Smith then took aim at JPMorgan in what has become a familiar refrain during the courtroom drama, which has exposed a host of power players in Epstein’s orbit. “Currently, we’re seeking to hold JPMorgan accountable for violating the law, because bank executives enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme in return for bank profits and bigger bonuses,” Smith said.
“Through the court process,” she added, “we’re seeking to require that JPMorgan make institutional changes to deter, to better detect, report and to stop human trafficking.”
Officials said the USVI bill would create new training for law enforcement and mandated reporting requirements for human trafficking similar to those for child abuse. Separately, Albert is launching a council on trafficking that will boost victims’ services.
The Daily Beast has reached out to JPMorgan for comment. In legal filings, the financial behemoth has pointed a finger back at the USVI, claiming the island was the one that “created a haven for Epstein’s criminal activity” in exchange for political favors.
“This is not a case about Jeffrey Epstein’s victims,” the bank’s lawyers said in a motion filed Monday. “This is a case in which a complicit governmental actor … knowingly used its sovereign powers to enable Epstein’s sex crimes, including by soliciting his input on its own sex offender legislation, waiving sex offender monitoring requirements for him, facilitating the provision of ESL classes and visas that allowed him to bring victims to USVI, and actively looking the other way whenever he arrived at USVI airports accompanied by young women and girls.”
In one June pleading, JPMorgan alleged Gov. Bryan “facilitated donations by Epstein to USVI’s schools and little leagues” in 2018. The bank also claimed that “Epstein’s primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout” the territory was former First Lady Cecile de Jongh, who was on Epstein’s payroll when her husband, John, was governor.
According to JPMorgan, Cecile de Jongh suggested Epstein pay monthly retainers to local politicians including former Senator Celestino White to gain their “loyalty and access.”
The USVI, in a recent legal filing, said the “First Lady was largely a ceremonial position that entailed giving speeches and attending social events” and that she “vigorously denied knowing about or facilitating Epstein’s crimes.”
Demonstrators hold signs protesting Jeffrey Epstein, as the money man awaited arraignment in the Southern District of New York on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors in July 2019.
Throughout the litigation, the USVI uncovered evidence that JPMorgan compliance officials repeatedly raised red flags about Epstein’s suspicious cash withdrawals and media reports of his abuse of underage girls. At the same time, the bank was opening accounts for “two teenagers” and facilitating thousands in payments to women in his circle and others in Eastern Europe.
“Internal emails also questioned who Epstein’s clients were,” a second amended complaint alleges. “Indeed, Epstein’s behavior was so widely known at JPMorgan that senior executives joked about Epstein’s interest in young girls.” (Mary Erdoes, CEO of the bank’s Asset & Wealth Management division, received an email asking if Epstein was at an event with a girl referred to as “Miley Cyrus.” Cyrus, it should be noted, was 15 at the time.)
Such concerns were apparently cast aside as Epstein was considered a top revenue producer for JPMorgan’s private bank, referring wealthy clients including billionaire Leon Black and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. According to a legal memorandum filed by the USVI on Monday, bank executives including Erdoes and Jes Staley used Epstein as “a personal resource” for high-powered connections and advice.
Meanwhile, Maria Farmer and Sarah Ransome, two victims of Epstein, held a virtual press conference of their own on Thursday as they prepare a $600 million class-action lawsuit against the FBI for failing to investigate him as early as 1996.
“We need to get the FBI. We need to hold them accountable. Please, help us,” said Farmer, who contacted the feds about Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell after they allegedly assaulted her at billionaire Les Wexner’s Ohio mansion.
Ransome, who was trafficked by Epstein in 2006 and 2007, said victims still don’t have answers on why Epstein got a free pass from the feds with a lenient plea deal in 2008.
“Why has there only been one arrest in a sex-trafficking ring that lasted three decades?” Ransome said. “Two hundred victims have come forward.” (In July 2019, Epstein was arrested for trafficking minors but died in jail a month later. Maxwell was convicted for child sex-trafficking in December 2021. She is serving 20 years behind bars.)
Ransome later pointed out that the FBI has offices in the U.S. Virgin Islands. “How on earth were all these girls trafficked?” she asked, adding that she was constantly sent to Epstein’s private “Pedophile Island,” as it’s been called in the press.
“All of us want an investigation into why the FBI failed us.”
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