Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein paid school tuition for the children of then-governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, whose wife made efforts to secure student visas and a work license for young women connected to Epstein, according to an updated court filing Thursday by JPMorgan Chase.
Those tuition payments, whose duration and amounts were not revealed, allowed then-Gov. John de Jongh Jr. “to funnel additional money to his political campaigns,” JPMorgan said in the filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Epstein also “offered to fund Governor de Jongh’s defense in the Governor’s criminal case,” where the then-governor was charged in 2015 in connection with the use of public funds to make security improvements at his private residence, according to the filing. Those charges were dropped in early 2016 by the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.
JPMorgan alleges Epstein’s generosity was part of his broader effort to build sway on the islands.
The filing is part of the bank’s defense of a civil lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging JPMorgan facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women. Epstein, who was a JPMorgan customer between 1998 and 2013, owned two private islands in the territory and abused multiple young women at his residence on one of those islands.
JPMorgan denies wrongdoing in the case.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is due to be deposed Friday for the Virgin Islands’ lawsuit, as well as for a similar one filed against the bank by an accuser of Epstein.
“Lest there be doubt that Epstein’s goal was to gain influence, First Lady [Cecile] de Jongh explicitly advised Epstein on how to buy control of the USVI political class,” the filing says.
The document also refers to one time when Cecile de Jongh was “asking Epstein what visas the ‘ladies’ have and trying to arrange English as a Second Language classes for them.”
Former Gov. de Jongh served as Virgin Islands governor between 2007 and 2015.
Cecile de Jongh worked for Epstein, managing his companies in the…
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