The attorney general for the United States Virgin Islands has been fired, without explanation, after she sued the multinational investment bank JPMorgan Chase, accusing the company of having “facilitated, sustained, and concealed” Jeffrey Epstein’s international sex trafficking operation and network.
U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George, who served as the territory’s principal legal officer for four years, was relieved of her duties by USVI Governor Albert Bryan Jr. last weekend after she filed 30-page, heavily redacted lawsuit against JPMorgan on Tuesday, December 27th, 2022, The Virgin Islands Consortium reports.
In the lawsuit, George claims that JPMorgan Chase violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the Virgin Islands Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and the Virgin Islands Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. The lawsuit alleged:
JPMorgan turned a blind eye to evidence of human trafficking over more than a decade because of Epstein’s own financial footprint, and because of the deals and clients that Epstein brought and promised to bring to the bank.
These decisions were advocated and approved at the senior levels of JP Morgan, including by the former chief executive of its asset management division and investment bank, whose inappropriate relationship with Epstein should have been evident to the bank. Indeed, it was only after Epstein’s death that JP Morgan belatedly complied with federal banking regulations regarding Epstein’s accounts.
According to local news outlets, the attorney general failed to inform the Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan about the lawsuit. “People familiar with the situation said Mr. Bryan had been frustrated with Ms. George for sometime and that her action against the bank was the final straw.”
In a statement released on New Year’s Eve, Governor Bryan announced George’s dismissal, saying: “I relieved Denise George of her duties as attorney general this weekend.”
“I thank her for her service to the people of the Territory during the past four years as Attorney General and wish her the best in her future endeavors,” he added.
George will be replaced by Assistant Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs, who will now serve as the Virgin Islands acting attorney general
The news comes after AG George, in November, reached a settlement of over $105 million in a sex trafficking case against the estate of Epstein, who owned the notorious private island on the territory which he used to abuse underage girls.
JPMorgan Chase originally maintained Epstein as a client from 1998 to 2013, when it finally cut ties with the convicted sex offender.
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in August 2019 in his jail cell in Manhattan, New York in what was officially ruled a ‘suicide’ while he awaited trial on charges of sexually abusing dozens of girls, some as young as 14-years-old.
