The country’s largest bank says the wife of a former US Virgin Islands governor facilitated the alleged criminal activity of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by helping him dodge sex offender surveillance laws, as well as visas for his victims. Coordinated employment and travel.
JPMorgan Chase alleged in a court document filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that Cecile de Jong was Epstein’s “primary vehicle for channeling funds and influence into the USVI government.”
Her husband, John de Jong, served as governor of the US Territories in the Caribbean from 2007 to 2015.
“For two decades, Epstein maintained a reciprocal relationship with the highest-ranking officials of the USVI,” the financial institution said in the court document. “They gave him money, advice, influence and favors. In return, they protected and rewarded him.”
JPMorgan Chase made the allegations in a filing last year as part of its defense in a civil suit brought by the sector against it. In its complaint, the Virgin Islands alleged that the bank was “indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein smuggling enterprise.”
The suit seeks monetary damages. The bank has denied liability.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the islands’ attorney general said, “JP Morgan Chase facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s misconduct, and he must be held accountable for violating the law.” The spokesperson called the allegations against Cecile de Jong “a clear attempt to deflect blame” from JPMorgan Chase, which had a legal responsibility to report evidence of Epstein’s human trafficking, and failed to do so.
Cecil de Jong did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of buying a child for prostitution. He later died by suicide in 2019 at the Manhattan Correctional Center, where he was being held on federal sex trafficking charges.
Epstein owned a small island in the Virgin Islands. Despite Cecile de Jong’s public role and official duties, she managed Epstein’s Virgin Islands-based companies from 2007 to 2015, earning $200,000 in 2007 alone, the court document alleges. According to the document, Epstein also paid for his children’s tuition.
The financial institution alleged that he helped Epstein obtain student visas for three of his victims and assisted in enrolling them in “bespoke classes” at the University of the Virgin Islands. According to the court document, the class was created “to provide cover for their presence in the area – the same year Epstein donated $20,000 to the university through one of his companies”.
Victims had to show their ability to pay for the class via a letter, and “perhaps cognizant of the risk in signing a registered sex offender’s letter,” Cecile de Jong suggested that someone else sign the letter. , the filing said.
Court documents said some of the young women Epstein brought to the island also needed employment, including a woman who was seeking a dental license. Cecile de Jong contacted several government officials regarding dental licensing rules and regulations and “eventually, First Lady de Jong was successful.”
“The young woman eventually established a local dental practice in the USVI and shared an office with Epstein’s companies,” the bank alleged.
Epstein often met with leadership at the Virgin Islands Port Authority, which ran the airport on St. Thomas that ferried the victims to the islands. Epstein also leased hangar space at the airport.
According to the court document, Cecile de Jong asked Epstein – on her husband’s behalf – “if we would support a local legislator’s bid to return to a position with the Port Authority”, adding the legislator was “good for us”. person”. ,
“Based on his government connections, as a registered sex offender with young women while traveling through the USVI’s airport, Epstein attempted to avoid investigation or detection by authorities there,” the court document said. could count on his ‘great relationship’ with.”
In 2011, the islands’ legislature passed a bill that would update its sex offender surveillance laws. At the time, according to the filing, Cecil de Jong emailed Epstein draft language for the proposed bill, which read, “This is suggested language; Will it work for you?”
Epstein objected to several provisions that, as an ex-convict, would require him to report short trips outside US territory, like the neighboring British Virgin Islands. He suggested a change: “We should add more than 7 days out of the country, otherwise I couldn’t leave for a day trip to Tortola at the last minute.”
The bank alleged that Epstein was “disappointed with the final form of the bill”, but Cecil de Jong told him that “all is not lost and we will figure something out with a game plan to overcome these obstacles.”
“In essence, in exchange for Epstein’s cash and gifts, the USVI made life easier for him. The government relieved him of any burden from his sex offender status,” the court document alleged.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is to be ousted in a lawsuit by the Virgin Islands and one filed by Jane Doe against the bank over alleged Epstein ties.
A JP Morgan spokeswoman told NBC News last week, “Jamie Dimon has never met Epstein, never communicated with him, never emailed with him and never engaged in any business with him.”
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