Yahoo Finance JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon to be interviewed under oath in Epstein case
(Reuters) -Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co, will be interviewed under oath over the bank's relationship with late sex offender and former client Jeffrey Epstein, a lawyer involved in the case said on Tuesday.
The deposition is expected in early May, according to Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing women who claim they were sexually abused by Epstein and are suing the largest U.S. bank for allegedly enabling the financier's sex trafficking.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 2000 to 2013 - five years after he pleaded guilty to a Florida prostitution charge.
JPMorgan is defending two lawsuits seeking damages over its dealings with Epstein: a proposed class action by Epstein's accusers and a case brought by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a home.
The bank is also suing Jes Staley, a former private banking chief and later Barclays Plc CEO. He had been friendly with Epstein but expressed regret for the relationship and has denied any involvement in Epstein's illegal activity.
Staley, who resigned from Barclays in November 2021 amid a regulatory inquiry into how he characterised his relationship with Epstein, will be interviewed under oath by JP Morgan lawyers in April, one source familiar with the situation said.
U.S. depositions tend to be held in private.
JPMorgan, which has accused Staley of concealing information about Epstein, seeks to force the return of eight years of compensation and reimbursement for damages the bank might incur in other lawsuits.
The Financial Times earlier reported Dimon's expected deposition.
Citing a person familiar with an internal JPMorgan probe, the newspaper said there was no record found of Dimon being in direct communication with Epstein or included in any discussion over retaining him as a client.
On March 9, a federal judge ordered JPMorgan to give the U.S. Virgin Islands documents concerning Dimon from 2015 to 2019, after Epstein had been dropped as a client, rejecting the bank's claim that the territory was on a "fishing expedition".
Deutsche Bank AG, where Epstein was a client from 2013 to 2018, is also being sued by the financier's accusers.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell at age 66 in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
(Reporting by New York bureau, Jaiveer Shekhawat in Bengaluru and Kirstin Ridley in London; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Sonali Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)
