Google co-founder Larry Page subpoenaed in civil proceedings over JPMorgan’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein
A federal judge in Manhattan has ruled in favor of the US Virgin Islands’ request to subpoena Google co-founder Larry Page amid a civil lawsuit stemming from JPMorgan Chase’s alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trade.
In a lawsuit filed in December, the USVI alleged that JP Morgan facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking ring by processing his payments to recruiters and victims. Prosecutors said JPMorgan serviced approximately 55 Epstein accounts between 1998 and 2013 – years after the pedophile was first arrested in Florida for soliciting minors.
According to court documents checked by Thursday (May 4). The Independent, prosecutors believe Epstein may have referred or attempted to transfer Mr Page, who stepped down as CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet in 2019, to JPMorgan. The USVI government claimed it had been trying unsuccessfully to serve Mr Page’s subpoena the traditional way since April, after hiring an investigative firm to locate the billionaire, but all addresses listed for him “were invalid”.
Prosecutors petitioned Judge Jed Rakoff to facilitate alternate service with a subpoena for Mr. Page to produce unspecified documents, which was granted on Friday (May 5). The ruling comes just weeks before JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is set to be fired later this month.
Mr. Page is now required to provide any communications between him and Epstein regarding JPMorgan dating back to 2002. He was also asked to disclose potential fees he paid to Epstein and vice versa, in connection with his JPMorgan accounts, as well as “any documents reflecting Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and/or his sourcing of girls or women for commercial sex or regarding.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Page for comment.
USVI prosecutors have previously subpoenaed former JPMorgan chief executive Jes Staley, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former Disney exec Michael Ovitz, among others. The Territory alleges that JPMorgan was complicit in Epstein’s crimes given “the business opportunity mentioned.” [it] by Epstein and his co-conspirators in exchange for their well-known relief and implied involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking venture.”
Judge Rakoff admitted a number of allegations last week to move forward in the lawsuit, including allegations by one of Epstein’s victims that Mr Staley allegedly raped her while Epstein was present New York Post reported. Mr Staley has previously denied any knowledge of Epstein’s sex ring – The Independent has turned to him with the new claims against him.
According to February filings, Mr. Staley, then head of private banking at JPMorgan, exchanged more than 1,000 emails from his work account with Epstein, of Staley, between 2008 and 2012 while he was visiting London.
The Virgin Islands government claims the men used the names of Disney princesses as code for the women Epstein trafficked – with Epstein also emailing Mr Staley “photographs of young women in seductive poses”. In one of the emails, Epstein asked Mr Staley if he “needed anything” in England’s capital, to which Mr Staley reportedly replied yes.
Mr Staley later replied, “That was fun,” and “Say hello to Snow White,” prosecutors said in the documents.
When Epstein asked: “[W]Which character would you like next?” Mr. Staley reportedly replied, “Beauty and the Beast.”
JPMorgan has denied knowledge of any wrongdoing by Epstein and Mr Staley, who left the company in 2013. The bank has also argued that it cannot be held liable for Mr Staley’s alleged knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
If you are reached by The Independent Earlier this year, the bank referenced its legal filing on February 1.
“…USVI at that time had access to the same information, allegations and rumors about Epstein that JPMC should have acted on,” the statement said. “Indeed, as a law enforcement agency, USVI had access to much more, along with the investigative advantage of physical proximity to Epstein’s crimes.”
According to a comprehensive report by The Wall Street Journal As released last week, the circle of global leaders who continued to meet with Epstein after his first sex conviction was far larger than previously revealed.
Using source documents, including Epstein’s timetables, the paper identified meetings between the disgraced financier and figures including the current director of the CIA, a former White House counsel, a college president and a member of an international banking dynasty following his conviction of a sex crime in 2008 involving a teenage girl. However, none of these names appeared to be in Epstein’s “Black Book” Little St. James.
Epstein, who once counted Prince Andrew and Bill Gates among his friends and associates, was found dead in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges, allegations he denied. He had previously served a year in prison for sex offenses after a plea deal in Florida.
His partner Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and conspiracy in 2021 for helping him procure girls and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
