Mary Callahan Erdoes, managing director of wealth management at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | beautiful pictures
JPMorgan Chase operating Mary Callahan Erdoes sought advice on a $600 million tax matter from disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2005, alleged legal filings.
Erdoes, a veteran JPMorgan executive who became head of the bank’s wealth and wealth management division in 2009, “personally sought” help from Epstein to resolve a major tax problem, according to court documents filed by the US Virgin Islands overnight.
The request from Erdoes was on behalf of someone else, but that information has been redacted on file.
“It was simply a request for a referral and it is a good thing before Epstein is arrested or formally charged with any crime,” a JPMorgan spokesman said Tuesday in a statement.
The new allegations about the bank’s longtime relationship with Epstein come as part of a US territorial lawsuit that accuses JPMorgan of facilitating the sex-trafficking of the notorious former money manager. Epstein committed suicide in August 2019 while in prison in Manhattan for child sex trafficking.
The USVI in court filings on Monday night asked the court to issue a partial summary judgment in its favor. JPMorgan also filed a partial summary judgment request overnight.
Territory alleges that Epstein was a “personal resource” for Erdoes and her former boss at JPMorgan, Jes Staleyand that two bankers decided to keep Epstein as a client for years after he was accused of paying to bring underage girls to his home. In an affidavit this year, Erdoes admit that JPMorgan learned of the charges against Epstein in 2006.
Bank took many years to decide to cut Epstein, doing so only in 2013. JPMorgan agreed to pay 290 million USD to settle a lawsuit from Epstein’s victims, but the USVI lawsuit continues.
In 2008, after Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme was uncovered, Erdoes allegedly asked Staley to contact Epstein “to get the scoop from below,” according to the latest USVI court filings.
About that, JPMorgan stated this: “Jeffrey Epstein is in Florida, where many of Madoff’s victims live. If she made any calls, it would be outreach. [to] Jes to see if Epstein has any more insight into what’s going on there.”
