JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon to testify on bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein: Reports

Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan joins the Live show to discuss reports that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will testify on the bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

影片文字轉錄稿

JULIE HYMAN: Various media reports suggest that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is set to give testimony on his bank's ties to former client Jeffrey Epstein. The investment bank is facing two civil lawsuits over the bank's relationship with the disgraced former financier. For more on what we can expect, let's get to Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan.

These cases just keep going and going and they're just tendrils seemingly everywhere.

ALEXIS KEENAN: Yeah, and I think we can expect that they will continue to go on for quite some time. This is not a fast moving matter. And there are two of them. So there's multiple lawsuits that we're talking about here.

And I think what we can expect is that Jamie Dimon is possibly confident that there's no paper trail or digital trail connecting him to knowledge of Epstein's alleged wrongdoing. Now, remember, that he before his suspected suicide in a New York jail was accused of running a sex trafficking ring for decades, for years involving minors. And so the "Financial Times" is the media outlet that's coming out with this report today, saying that Dimon has agreed to be deposed in both of these cases. He will give testimony under oath, they say, in May.

And the two cases, one is brought by the US Virgin Islands. They allege sex trafficking law violations, as well as some fraud allegations that they're bringing the bank into. And the other case is brought as a purported class action by women who say that Epstein abused them in the course of his wrongdoing.

Now, what's interesting about the Virgin Islands case is that the judge in that case has already ordered JPMorgan to turn over documents belonging to Jamie Dimon. And those are for communications that are after the time when Epstein was a client of the bank. And also included in this case more recently is a third party complaint that JPMorgan has brought against one of its former wealth managers, Jeff Staley, who JPMorgan is pointing the finger at Staley saying he's the wealth manager who had the direct relationship with Epstein and we did not know about his activities.

In a statement, the bank has said that at no point did Staley disclose to JPMorgan, nor did JPMorgan know about Staley's personal activities. In a separate statement to "Yahoo Finance" the bank said we could not have imagined any of our employees would engage in the type of conduct alleged in these two cases.

BRAD SMITH: And so within this as well, Jamie Dimon, one executive that allegedly has some ties to Epstein. And there have been other executives photographed with Epstein before. We just showed former president Donald Trump. We also have seen photographs of Bill Gates, even, with Jeffrey Epstein in the past. Is there expected to be any type of testimony that comes forward from those figures in the future as well?

ALEXIS KEENAN: So these cases that are still in discovery, meaning the parties are still asking for information to be exchanged between them, and certainly we'll be looking out for those filings to see what names pop up. But in this case, the plaintiffs, they are going after the pockets they consider to be very deep. And that is JPMorgan. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see others brought in here.

These cases have a long way to go. But certainly the wheels of justice are at least turning because Jamie Dimon is stepping up here reportedly and facing these plaintiffs to say I will testify here. But it definitely shows perhaps some confidence by the bank, by Dimon that there is no direct connection, right? Because that's how these cases turn.

It's did you know about this alleged wrongdoing? And if so, why didn't you do anything about it? Employers can be held liable for the actions of their employees. In this case, Staley perhaps, maybe others. If those employees are acting within the scope of their employment, JPMorgan has a strong code of conduct that its employees sign to say that they need to bring forward any relationship and other conflicts that could damage the bank.

So one would expect that also JP Morgan's third party complaint going after Staley and any other allegedly involved employees would be quite strong because they did sign on the dotted line to say we would bring those things to light if there's wrongdoing that we suspect going on.

JULIE HYMAN: Interesting. All right, well thanks for covering it for us and continuing to track it. Appreciate it.