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MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered the unsealing of more than 100 documents from a civil lawsuit brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands against JPMorgan Chase over the finances of disgraced pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, a Bill Clinton appointee in the Southern District of New York, broadly granted a request from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to release sealed exhibits from the summary judgment phase of the case, which was settled in 2023.
Some of the filings purportedly contain “financial settlements from JPMorgan Chase, either for accounts controlled by Epstein or the accounts of victims of Epstein’s crimes,” according to Times journalist Matthew Goldstein, who sought a broad unsealing of “financial documents” from the case.
“I believe that records documenting the flow of money into Epstein’s accounts from persons who may have been involved in his sexual abuse of minors and the flow of money to victims are of particular public interest at this time in light of allegations that the federal government has not been forthcoming in providing records from the Epstein investigation, despite promises to do so,” Goldstein wrote in a letter to the judge from August.
None of the parties opposed unsealing a significant majority of the documents sought by the Times and the Journal, according to the judge’s order. But certain redactions, even in those filings, must remain.
“All the parties agree that, because Epstein’s victims have strong interests in their privacy, the victims’ identifying information should remain sealed,” Rakoff wrote in a 17-page ruling, which was dated for Friday but docketed on Monday morning.
JPMorgan Chase objected to unsealing 36 of the exhibits sought by the newspapers.
The bank claims some of those documents contain personal and financial information of other customers unrelated to Epstein. Rakoff noted several of these exhibits contain “internal JPMC correspondence concerning individuals and entities whose activities could pose various forms of financial and/or reputational risk to JMPC.”
That information should remain sealed, the judge ruled, finding that those entities’ privacy interests merit protection.
Other information the judge ruled should stay private was a pair of redactions in an email exchange among the bank’s executives, which were designed to “protect the identity of an individual who is identified in the exhibit as gay.” Since the individual purportedly had “no connection to Epstein,” those redactions will stay.
Other documents, JPMorgan Chase claims, should stay sealed on the basis of the Bank Secrecy Act. But the judge was broadly unmoved by this argument, finding the confidentiality obligations stemming from that law “are distinct from the right of access to judicial documents.”
Rakoff ordered most documents to be released to the newspapers by Thursday. For exhibits that need new or changed redactions, those proposed changes need to be submitted to the court on the same day.
The underlying case is a 2022 civil claim against the international bank brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands, the longtime home of Epstein’s infamous private island residence. According to the complaint, JPMorgan Chase knew about and recklessly disregarded Epstein’s sex trafficking venture, which lawyers say brought $1 billion into the bank between 2003 and 2019, when Epstein died in a Manhattan prison.
In 2023, JPMorgan Chase agreed to settle the suit for $75 million and agreed to implement anti-trafficking measures. The bank did not have to admit liability. Earlier that year, JPMorgan Chase reached a private $290 million settlement with Epstein’s victims.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges following years of lurid accusations against him. President Donald Trump’s second administration has renewed the public’s interest in the case, as the two were reportedly close friends and associates.
Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from the disgraced financier and has expressed annoyance that the story has once again picked up steam. He continues to face criticism as his Justice Department denies releasing files related to Epstein’s investigation.
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