Internal JPMorgan Report Provides New Details on Bank’s Ties to Jeffrey Epstein

JPMorgan Chase reviewed its ties to Jeffrey Epstein in 2019 and found that he had regularly given business advice to onetime JPMorgan executive Jes Staley and invited him to meetings with senior officials in foreign governments.

Epstein also helped Staley with more personal matters, the review found, such as the application process for Staley’s daughter into a Ph.D. program at Columbia University.

The 22-page internal report, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, was prepared after Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking charges. Epstein died in jail that year before he was tried. JPMorgan declined to comment beyond its earlier statements that it was a mistake to deal with Epstein and that the bank would have never associated with him if it knew about his alleged sex trafficking.

JPMorgan has been fighting a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging the bank ignored red flags about Epstein’s behavior because he was bringing in wealthy clients for the bank. The bank this month agreed to pay $290 million to settle a similar lawsuit brought by an unnamed woman on behalf of herself and other Epstein victims.

The report, showing what the bank knew about its Epstein ties, is now part of the dispute with the U.S. Virgin Islands and could be made public in the legal proceedings.

Epstein was a JPMorgan client before and after he was convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution. He had a close relationship with Staley, who ran its private bank for wealthy clients and later its investment bank, and several other bank officials. Epstein and Staley exchanged hundreds of emails, according to the U.S. Virgin Islands lawsuit. Staley left JPMorgan in 2013 and went on to become CEO of Barclays.

JPMorgan has sued Staley claiming he misled the bank. And it said Staley was the executive who was accused of sexual assault by the Epstein accuser who sued the bank.

Lawyers for Staley, who left Barclays in 2021, have denied the allegations against him. He has said he regrets his relationship with Epstein. Staley’s daughter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The 2019 JPMorgan report said that Epstein had appeared to have forged close relationships with senior executives and government officials, including Dubai’s Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem and British politician Peter Mandelson. Epstein tried to connect these associates to Staley and the bank for business deals and international expansions.

In December 2009, Epstein wrote emails to both bin Sulayem and Staley to set up a meeting between them and advised Staley on how to conduct himself with bin Sulayem and what to expect from him, according to the report. In one email, he told Staley, “sultan is laying the groundwork for you to establish a serious presence. jpm reputation in the region is poor.”

Bin Sulayem, who is CEO of ports operator DP World, had several visits scheduled at Epstein’s townhouse between 2011 and 2014, according to documents reviewed by the Journal.

Bin Sulayem and his representative didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The JPMorgan report shows Epstein involved in email conversations in 2010 with Staley and Mandelson regarding JPMorgan’s efforts to purchase the Royal Bank of Scotland’s stake in Sempra Energy and a mining deal in the Congo.

Mandelson, a member of the House of Lords and former member of cabinet in the U.K. who associated with Epstein, said in a statement to the Journal that he “very much regrets ever having been introduced to Epstein.” Mandelson said his connections to Epstein have been known and that he “never had any kind of professional or business relationship with Epstein in any form.”

In May 2012, the report said, JPMorgan private bankers advised Epstein on how to structure a deal for an unnamed client to buy Edvard Munch’s pastel “The Scream.” That month, Leon Black, the billionaire private-equity founder who was a frequent visitor to Epstein’s home, according to documents reviewed by the Journal, bought the artwork for nearly $120 million.

Black didn’t work with Epstein or JPMorgan on the purchase, a spokesman for Black said. Black has said he paid Epstein for tax and estate advice.

The 2019 report said that Staley and the bank’s current head of asset and wealth management, Mary Erdoes, had “regular communication with Jeffrey Epstein related to certain strategic initiatives and business proposals” starting in 2011 and there are “occasional personal emails between Erdoes and Epstein interspersed.”

Staley communicated with Epstein more than Erdoes did, the report shows, and Staley appeared to share nonpublic information with Epstein. Staley told Epstein about executive changes at JPMorgan ahead of their announcement and discussed deals JPMorgan was trying to execute. The two men discussed women, the report shows, and referred to themselves as “family.”

“That was fun. Say hi to Snow White,” Staley wrote in a July 2010 email to Epstein, according to the report.

Epstein responded: “[W]hat character would you like next?” and Staley replied, “Beauty and the Beast.”

The report said Epstein offered to help one of Staley’s daughters in applying for graduate schools, including Columbia University. Epstein said he would get in touch with various Columbia officials and offered to connect Staley to the university’s president at the Davos World Economic Forum in 2011.

“There was no meeting between the president and Staley. Nor did the president know Epstein, then or later,” a Columbia spokesman said. “There is no factual basis for these assertions.”

In 2011, Staley wrote to Epstein, “You have paid a price for what has been accused,” according to an email in the report. “But we know what u have done for us. And we count you as one of our deepest friends. And most honest of people.”