Jeffrey Epstein paid tuition for the kids of the US Virgin Islands’ governor and first girl, together with at New York’s Skidmore Faculty, JPMorgan Chase & Co. mentioned in court docket filings.
Cecile de Jongh, spouse of then-USVI Governor John de Jongh Jr., despatched Epstein an August 2011 e mail with the topic line “Please Approve,” attaching a $25,000 tuition invoice for Skidmore, a personal liberal arts school in Saratoga Springs, New York. The e-mail is amongst dozens of beforehand sealed paperwork the financial institution filed late Wednesday in Manhattan federal court docket.
JPMorgan is combating a lawsuit by the USVI, accusing it of facilitating Epstein’s intercourse trafficking. The financial institution is defending itself partly by alleging the USVI authorities did much more itself to help the crimes of Epstein, who had a personal island retreat, Little Saint James, there.
JPMorgan accused Cecile de Jongh, who labored as an workplace supervisor for Epstein, in a Could submitting of performing as his “main conduit for spreading cash and affect all through the USVI.” However the emails launched on Wednesday present extra particulars underscoring the closeness of their relationship.
The most recent submitting additionally signifies that JPMorgan is constant to vigorously combat the USVI go well with even after saying Monday that it had agreed to settle an identical lawsuit by victims of Epstein’s abuse for $290 million.
The USVI is asking the decide to cease JPMorgan from asserting an “unclean arms” protection, arguing that doctrine doesn’t apply to authorities actors. Neither de Jongh nor a lawyer for the USVI responded to requests for remark Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the USVI lawyer normal’s workplace mentioned final month that JPMorgan, “which had a obligation to report the proof in its possession of Epstein’s human trafficking,” was making an attempt to shift blame to the territory.
In line with JPMorgan, the tutoring Epstein paid for de Jongh’s youngsters pushed her compensation as workplace supervisor to $200,000 in 2009. A yr’s tuition at Skidmore at present prices about $65,000, not together with room and board, based on the varsity’s web site.
The financial institution claims that in return she supplied him entry to the USVI’s political elite, who gave him beneficial tax advantages and even allowed him to take part in debate about legal guidelines that may have an effect on him.
‘Offenders and Predators’
In a Could 2011 e mail trade included within the JPMorgan court docket submitting, Epstein and de Jongh mentioned the USVI’s plans to replace its intercourse offender registration regulation to debate the invoice’s possibe affect on him. Epstein was registered within the US as a intercourse offender following his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Epstein advised that the USVI may revise the regulation to extra narrowly apply to “predators,” a class from which he apparently excluded himself.
“Possibly we should always distinguish between offenders and predators,” Epstein wrote within the e mail to de Jongh. He additionally mentioned {that a} provision for waivers from the regulation’s necessities “must be broader” to keep away from affecting his privateness and his enterprise.
It’s not clear how extensively the e-mail was shared, although de Jongh’s reply requested if Epstein needed to attend for different folks to reply. She later wrote that the matter “must be settled” in just a few days as a result of the lawyer normal wanted to submit one thing by the top of the month.
“Don’t need to e mail forwards and backwards,” she added.
In line with JPMorgan, Epstein wasn’t proud of the regulation that handed in June 2012, and de Jongh promised she would discover methods for him to get across the restrictions. In line with the emails launched Wednesday evening, the 2 expressed frustration {that a} USVI politician recognized solely as “Russell” had betrayed them.
“I do know this was a horrible week and I’m actually sorry about how issues panned out,” de Jongh wrote. “Not having the ability to take somebody at their phrase is extremely irritating.” In a possible reference to her husband, she mentioned Russell had “screwed John” on one other invoice however mentioned they may work with different politicians and officers to provide “the discretion for establishment for you.”
‘Did the Girls Enroll?’
A number of the different emails element de Jongh’s efforts to assist Epstein receive pupil visas for younger girls by arranging their enrollment on the College of the Virgin Islands.
“Did the women enroll?” de Jongh adopted up with Epstein in a June 2013 e mail. “It isn’t too late for the autumn semester? As we mentioned, they should go down and enroll and present the power to pay.”
Epstein was a shopper at JPMorgan between 1998 and 2013, when the financial institution minimize ties with the financier. JPMorgan has highlighted that Epstein’s ties with the USVI authorities continued far longer. One 2017 e mail exhibits Epstein speaking instantly with the USVI’s environmental commissioner concerning the aftermath of a hurricane and the territory’s probably want for cash.
In an October 2019 e mail, just a few months after Epstein was arrested for intercourse trafficking and was subsequently discovered lifeless in his Manhattan jail cell, a bunch of USVI officers communicated about an inquiry from the New York Instances about tax incentives Epstein was given by the territory.
“I personally assume the questions are opening us as much as public scrutiny,” USVI official Margarita Benjamin wrote.
