Reuters/Peter Nicholls
A sufferer of Jeffrey Epstein is asking a federal decide to take away former JPMorgan government Jes Staley from her lawsuit in opposition to the financial institution, arguing its “true purpose” for dragging Staley into the litigation was to “harass and intimidate” her and different survivors.
Final November, Jane Doe sued JPMorgan, alleging the monetary large facilitated Epstein’s trafficking enterprise whereas conserving him as a consumer for practically 15 years. In her grievance, Doe mentioned a “highly effective monetary government” who was pals with Epstein had sexually assaulted her however she declined to call him “out of concern.”
However final month, JPMorgan filed a third-party grievance in opposition to Staley, saying he needs to be liable if Doe wins her lawsuit in opposition to the financial institution—and outed him as her alleged attacker. (For his half, Staley denies being a participant in Epstein’s intercourse ring.)
Now each Doe and Staley have filed letters in Manhattan federal courtroom asking a decide to strive JPMorgan’s third-party claims in opposition to him individually from Doe’s lawsuit.
In a letter filed on Thursday, Doe’s legal professional Brad Edwards states Doe believes JPMorgan introduced Staley into the authorized battle to intimidate her and different victims of Epstein who're members of the potential class-action swimsuit.
“The impact of including him to the swimsuit is to pressure her to share personal medical information and her most intimate communications with one in every of her abusers,” Edwards wrote. “It additionally sends a message to different victims that JPM will exploit all vulnerabilities of every sufferer who dares come ahead to carry the financial institution accountable.”
“Accordingly, Jane Doe 1 seeks severance of her sexual abuser from her lawsuit in order that JPM can't pressure Staley again into her life.”
Edwards’ letter seems to be the primary time Doe acknowledges that Staley is the “monetary government” she accused of abuse. “In response to the insistence of JPM,” Edwards wrote, “she revealed that this government was Jes Staley.”
The submitting additionally suggests a second girl may have info on Staley.
JPMorgan is conscious of one other nameless sufferer within the case, the letter states, “and has already insisted on being offered her identify, once more to allow them to share it with Staley and carry ahead this sufferer intimidation mission.”
“This technique of litigation-by-intimidation shouldn't be permitted,” Edwards wrote.
In accordance with the courtroom submitting, JPMorgan “has sought invasive discovery into Jane Doe” together with a “evaluate of each electronic mail account, textual content message, and different communication machine that Jane Doe has ever owned.” The financial institution deposed Doe for a full day and is searching for an extra day the place she—and a member of the family—can be questioned by Staley, the letter states.
Edwards’ letter calls such questioning “one other maneuver designed primarily to intimidate Jane Doe 1 somewhat than make clear essential information on this case.”
“Not solely is that this intimidating to Jane Doe 1 nevertheless it sends a message to potential class members (dozens and dozens of Epstein intercourse abuse victims) that the identical factor will occur to them in the event that they elect to affix the category,” Edwards continued.
Reached by The Each day Beast, Edwards mentioned, “To us there gave the impression to be no legitimate purpose to deliver Staley into the case, and it’s fairly telling that they’re extra eager about Staley being part of this motion than they're with the primary occasion.”
“It truly is letting the tail wag the canine,” he added.
Edwards mentioned the case’s “well-oiled deposition schedule” has now been “thrown into chaos” by JPMorgan’s maneuver to make Staley a third-party defendant.
In a letter filed on Thursday, Staley’s lawyer Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr. famous that the disgraced government solely grew to become a celebration to the lawsuits lower than a month in the past.
“The allegations in opposition to him are baseless however critical: Mr. Staley is accused of aiding and abetting Jeffrey Epstein, one of the vital infamous criminals in current American historical past,” Sullivan wrote, including that JPMorgan “seeks to carry Mr. Staley answerable for everything of any judgment entered in not one however two circumstances. It additionally seeks to disgorge a number of years of compensation.
“All that's to say: the stakes may hardly be larger for Mr. Staley,” Sullivan added. “Disproving these false and highly-publicized allegations is of paramount significance to him.”
JPMorgan's swimsuit in opposition to Staley argues the banking honcho—who in 2021 stepped down as Barclays’ CEO due to his ties to Epstein—“breached his fiduciary responsibility by participating in inappropriate conduct in his private dealings with Epstein outdoors the scope of his employment that was dangerous to JPMC’s fame and that posed a battle of curiosity.” The financial institution is searching for damages, attorneys’ charges, and to recoup Staley’s JPMorgan compensation.
As a part of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ case in opposition to JPMorgan, Staley’s creepy and cryptic emails with Epstein have been referenced in courtroom information. In a single change, Epstein and Staley use the names of Disney Princesses when referring to girls within the trafficker’s orbit.
Staley has additionally requested the decide within the U.S. territory's lawsuit to take away JPMorgan’s third-party claims in opposition to him from the case.
Sullivan requested the courtroom to sever the third-party claims in opposition to Staley and have a separate trial from Doe’s case in opposition to JPMorgan. He additionally requested the courtroom enable Staley “to take 7-hour, in-person depositions of all witnesses,” vacate the case’s discovery deadlines, and set a brand new trial date for March 2024, somewhat than the scheduled date of October 2023.
“The invention on this case—which JPMorgan didn't start sending till March 21—has been voluminous,” Sullivan wrote. “Mr. Staley has, thus far, acquired nicely over 45,000 paperwork, spanning 240,000 pages. We estimate that it will take over 900 hours of legal professional time to evaluate that quantity (assuming a 50 doc per hour tempo). It seems that JPMorgan and the opposite events are persevering with to make rolling productions, which means that the quantity of paperwork will solely proceed to develop.”
Sullivan argued Staley “is severely prejudiced” by the courtroom’s discovery schedule and is left with “grossly inadequate time to mount a protection.”
“The plaintiffs help severance,” he added. “And JPMorgan shouldn't be heard to complain on condition that it has probably the most to achieve from the unfairness to Mr. Staley.”