JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he regretted his bank’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein ahead of a deposition linked to litigation accusing the bank of knowingly benefiting from the disgraced financier’s sex-trafficking.
“I am so sad that we had any relation to that man whatsoever,” Dimon said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. He said the bank would have done things “differently” if it had known the full scope of Epstein’s actions and behavior.
A Jane Doe Epstein victim and the US Virgin Islands are both suing JPMorgan over its ties to Epstein, who was a client of the bank from 1998 to 2013. Lawyers for New York-based JPMorgan initially fought efforts to have Dimon deposed, arguing he had no involvement in decisions about Epstein’s accounts.
Dimon said he has “deep respect” for women harmed by Epstein and that his heart goes out to them, but that doesn’t mean JPMorgan is liable for the actions of its former client.
