Paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein arranged talks between Prince Andrew and a major US bank at Buckingham Palace THREE years after Duke claimed to have broken off their friendship, court documents suggest
- Epstein set up talks between Andrew and Jamie Dimon, court documents claim
- Pair allegedly enjoyed performances by the philharmonic and ballet at a dinner
Jeffrey Epstein arranged a meeting between the head of a major US bank and Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace, court documents have suggested.
The legal papers appear to allege the paedophile set up the dinner between Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, and the Duke of York in 2013.
The two men enjoyed performances by the Royal Philharmonic and the English National Ballet at a dinner which sparked concerns over commercialisation of Buckingham Palace.
At the time Epstein was a registered sex offender and had served 15 months in jail for soliciting underage girls for sex, completing his house arrest in July 2010.
The new messages revealed in the court action raise further questions over Andrew’s ties to Epstein – the duke claimed to have broken off their friendship in 2010.
The court filings were revealed as part of a case brought against Epstein by the government of the US Virgin Islands, where he maintained a private island.
Jeffrey Epstein arranged a meeting between the head of a major US bank and Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace, court documents have suggested. Prince Andrew and Epstein are pictured taking a stroll in New York’s Central Park in December 2010
The legal papers appear to allege the paedophile set up the dinner between Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, and the Duke of York in 2013. Mr Dimon is pictured with his wife Judith at the White House State Dinner for China in January 2011
The USVI alleges that JPMorgan ignored red flags about the financier and enabled his sex trafficking operation – allegations the bank denies. The documents claim: ‘Epstein facilitated meetings between JPMorgan employees and Prince Andrew’.
The file includes messages between Epstein and Andrew about meeting Jes Staley, the former boss of JPMorgan, in April 2010.
The Palace previously said that the dinner with Mr Dimon in October 2013 was a chance for Andrew to ‘engage’ with international chief executives about what Britain has to offer.
JPMorgan said it had made charitable donations to the orchestra and ballet company. When reports about the event emerged and sparked a row about the use of the Palace, it led to frustration among the bank’s executives.
The documents show head of international public affairs Richard Kaye wrote in an email: ‘The fact is that the duke and palace officials went into this entirely with their eyes open.
‘Our name was deliberately not used in respect of the event or invitations and we suggested the involvement of organisations of which the duke is a patron.’
A source at JPMorgan said that a Financial Times report from the time said an organiser of the event was a veteran City of London dealmaker who is a friend of Andrew.
The court filings were revealed as part of a case brought against Jeffrey Epstein (pictured in 2017) by the government of the US Virgin Islands, where he maintained a private island
Buckingham Palace previously said that the dinner with Mr Dimon in October 2013 was a chance for Andrew to ‘engage’ with international chief executives about what Britain has to offer (Stock photo of Buckingham Palace)
JPMorgan exec Jes Staley ‘knew about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking’, lawsuit claims: READ MORE
Jes Staley, 66, led JPMorgan’s asset management business from 2001 to 2009, and its corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013
Speaking to the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in 2019, Andrew, 63, said he cut contact with Epstein after visiting him only once after his jail release in New York in December 2010.
Asked: ‘Did you see him or speak to him again?’ The Duke said: ‘No.’
But court documents last week revealed that in an email sent on June 14 that year, Epstein told Mr Staley, then CEO of JPMorgan, that he had lunch with the royal and they had kept in touch, adding: ‘Andrew just sat next to me at dinner.’
The court papers state: ‘On April 15, 2010, Epstein wrote to Prince Andrew the Duke of York [redacted word] “jes staley will be in London on Thurs the 22. I think you should meet if you are in town”.
‘Prince Andrew replies that he is unavailable but will look to visit New York in the near future,’ according to reports.
It comes as last month a message written by the billionaire paedophile and released as part of a court case in the US showed he was presenting Andrew as a potential investor in 2011.
Epstein’s victims then called on the duke to speak to the FBI, which he has so far refused to do.
It is not known if Andrew knew Epstein had mentioned him in the email exchange.
Pictured left to right: Unknown man with black top hat, Prince Andrew, Ghislaine Maxwell (in green dress), unknown lady (in pink dress) and Jeffrey Epstein (black top hat) at the Royal Ascot in Berkshire, UK in June 2000
The bombshell new court filing alleges that Epstein was a source of ‘many other ultra-wealthy clients and connections’ for JPMorgan, including Bill Gates, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the sultan of Dubai, and billionaire hedge funder Glenn Dubin, among others. Pictured left to right: Former JPMorgan exec Jes Staley, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Gates and Gate’s trusted lieutenant Boris Nikolic
The victims’ representative, US attorney Spencer Kuvin, told the Mirror that if the emails revealed in the court case are correct: ‘It appears that either Epstein was highly overselling his relationship with Prince Andrew or that the duke may not have been entirely truthful about when his friendship ended.’
One victim, who was awarded compensation under the Epstein victims’ compensation program, said: ‘The emails raise serious questions. Why would Jeffrey be lauding him as an investor if he was no longer in contact?’
An email written by Epstein to JP Morgan on August 31, 2011, that was included in the court documents, suggested Andrew as a possible investment partner because ‘he is now allowed to make money’.
Among the other revelations in the new documents was the claim that Epstein introduced Mr Staley to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 2011. By that year Epstein became the ‘biggest revenue producer’ for JPMorgan’s private bank, the documents state.
They also claim that, in the eyes of JPMorgan, Epstein was ‘too big to fail’ so continued working with him despite major concerns about his pursuit of underage girls.
The bank also held accounts for all of Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators including Ghislaine Maxwell. Mr Staley has denied any wrongdoing. Andrew’s lawyer did not return requests for comment.
A spokesman for JPMorgan cited one of its own legal filings which said: ‘USVI blames a third-party bank that did not have USVI’s authority to enforce any law, nor USVI’s knowledge of Epstein’s crimes in USVI’s territory.’
Andrew pictured waving goodbye to a friend at Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home in 2010
The USVI claims that Epstein in July 2006 confessed to Mr Staley that he’d had sex with multiple young women for money, only denying the ‘ages’ of the women in question.
The filing states that Mr Staley communicated the exchange to another senior JPMorgan executive the following day, saying: ‘I went and saw him last night. I’ve never seen him so shaken. He also adamantly denies the ages.’
Emails say Prince Andrew met Jeffrey Epstein while the financier was still under house arrest: READ MORE HERE
‘Many e-mails over JPMorgan e-mail between Mr Staley and Epstein demonstrate that Staley had personal knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking,’ the filing claims.
Mr Staley, 66, led JPMorgan’s asset management business from 2001 to 2009, and its corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. He later spent six years as Barclays Plc’s chief executive.
JPMorgan is separately suing Mr Staley to cover its losses in the lawsuits filed by the USVI and Epstein’s victims, claiming he concealed what he knew about the disgraced financier and internally vouched for him.
Mr Staley has acknowledged being friendly with Epstein, but denied knowing about his sex trafficking, accusing JPMorgan of using him as a ‘public relations shield’ to deflect blame for its own failures in working with Epstein.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 until the bank terminated him in 2013, years after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for sex in the Florida state case.
He died of an apparent suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking dozens of girls as young 14.
The bombshell new filing also alleges that Epstein was a source of ‘many other ultra-wealthy clients and connections’ for JPMorgan, including Bill Gates, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the sultan of Dubai, and billionaire hedge funder Glenn Dubin, among others.
Mr Gates has previously said he never did business with JPMorgan, and that he regrets ever meeting with Epstein. He and others mentioned in the filing could not be immediately reached for comment.
Epstein made $25million (approx. £19.3M) in transfers to Ghislaine Maxwell, including $7million (approx. £5.4M) for the purchase of a helicopter, the filing says. The pair are pictured together
In its own court filing, JPMorgan countered that the USVI itself was to blame for Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls, saying the territory used its powers to enable these crimes.
The bank accused the territory of facilitating visas that allowed Epstein to bring victims, and of ‘looking the other way’ whenever Epstein arrived at local airports accompanied by young women and girls.
Both sets of accusations were made in duelling Monday night filings in Manhattan federal court.
Ahead of a scheduled October 23 trial, the USVI is seeking a court ruling that JPMorgan participated in Epstein’s sex trafficking and obstructed law enforcement.
The USVI also alleged that Epstein was the largest revenue generator at JPMorgan’s private bank.
On the other side, JPMorgan wants the judge to declare that the US Virgin Islands should not be able to seek monetary relief, and that the territory’s claim the bank obstructed law enforcement be denied.
Epstein had owned two private islands within the US Virgin islands, including Little St. James (above) where he infamously brought many young women and girls
JPMorgan countered that the US Virgin Islands itself was to blame for Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls, saying the territory used its powers to enable these crimes
The bank has already faulted the USVI for having a cosy relationship with Epstein, alleging top officials there gave him tax breaks and waived sex-offender monitoring requirements in exchange for cash and gifts.
Epstein had owned two private islands within the territory, and allegedly bought the second to keep people from spying on his sexual abuses on the first.
The USVI has already received more than $105million (approximately £81.3million) from Epstein’s estate, and reached a settlement with billionaire Leon Black, a former Epstein friend.
JPMorgan agreed last month to pay $290million (approximately £224.8million) to settle a separate lawsuit by dozens of Epstein accusers.
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