Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein paid school tuition for the kids of the then-governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, whose wife made efforts to secure student visas and a piece license for young women connected to Epstein, in line with an updated court filing Thursday by JPMorgan Chase.
Those tuition payments — whose duration and amounts weren’t revealed — allowed then-Gov. John de Jongh Jr. “to funnel additional money to his political campaigns,” JPMorgan said within the filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Epstein also “offered to fund Governor de Jongh’s defense within the Governor’s criminal case,” where the then-former governor was charged in 2015 in reference to using public funds to make security improvements at his private residence, in line with the filing. Those charges were dropped in early 2016 by the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.
JPMorgan alleges Epstein’s generosity was a part of his broader effort to construct sway on the islands.
The filing is a component 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 from 1998 to 2013, owned two private islands within the territory and abused multiple young women at his residence on considered one of those islands.
JPMorgan denies wrongdoing within the case.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is resulting from be deposed Friday for the Virgin Islands’ lawsuit, in addition to for the same one filed against the bank by an accuser of Epstein.
“Lest there be doubt that Epstein’s goal was to realize influence, First Lady [Cecile] de Jongh explicitly advised Epstein on buy control of the USVI political class,” the filing says.
The document also refers to at least one time when Cecile de Jongh was “asking Epstein what visas the ‘ladies’ have and attempting to arrange English as a Second Language classes for them.”
John de Jongh served as Virgin Islands governor from 2007 through 2015.
Cecile de Jongh worked for Epstein, managing his corporations within the territory. She made $200,000 in 2007 alone, the filing notes.
CNBC has reached out to the de Jonghs for comment through an asset management firm within the Virgin Islands where John de Jongh is a director.
The filing was first docketed on Tuesday with extensive redactions.
But on Thursday, it was refiled, with some details about former Gov. de Jongh and Cecile now visible. Also visible are allegations related to current Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and his immediate predecessor in that office, Kenneth Mapp.
Bryan, who’s resulting from be deposed June 6 within the case, suggested schools to which Epstein should donate $50,000, the filing said. Bryan also asked that $30,000 go to the Virgin Islands Little League, in line with the document.
Portions of the filing that were visible Tuesday said that the federal government of the Virgin Islands was “complicit within the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.”
JPMorgan said that Epstein — who died in 2019 by a jailhouse suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges — gave top officials within the territory money, advice and favors as they looked the opposite way when he trafficked young women there.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands, in an emailed statement responding to the updated filing, said, “JPMorgan Chase facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, and ought to be held accountable for violating the law.”
“That is an obvious try to shift blame away from JPMorgan Chase, which had a obligation to report the evidence in its possession of Epstein’s human trafficking, and didn’t accomplish that,” the spokesperson said.
The document calls Cecile de Jongh, who managed Epstein’s corporations there when she was first lady, “a ready partner” in helping Epstein transport young women to use within the Virgin Islands, where he maintained a house.
The bank alleged Cecile de Jongh was “Epstein’s primary conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI government.” The filing said she emailed him in 2011 proposed language for a bill within the Virgin Islands legislature that may update sex offender monitoring laws.
“That is the suggested language; will it give you the results you want?” she asked in that email, in line with the filing.
The document also said that Epstein, who was a registered sex offender resulting from his conviction in Florida state court in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor, replied: “We should always add out of country for greater than 7 days, otherwise I couldn’t go for a day trip to Tortola, on the last minute.”
JPMorgan alleged that Epstein, despite receiving “lucrative tax incentives” and “lax enforcement” of his sex offender status from the Virgin Islands, “still couldn’t freely transport and exploit young women without assistance from USVI government officials.”
The filing said Cecile de Jongh “arranged for Epstein to satisfy with a neighborhood immigration lawyer to help at the least one” young woman who needed a visa to go to the American territory.
Cecile de Jongh also “contacted the University of the Virgin Islands … to seek out out whether three young women could enroll there to acquire student visas,” in line with the filing.
“Perhaps cognizant of the chance in having a registered sex offender sign the letter, First Lady de Jongh wrote to Epstein that he should take into consideration whether ‘[he] should sign [the letter] or considered one of us,'” the document said.
“Ultimately UVI structured a bespoke class to enroll victims and supply cover for his or her presence within the territory — the identical yr Epstein donated $20,000 to the university through considered one of his corporations,” the filing said.
“Along with visas, a number of the young women Epstein delivered to the island also needed
employment,” the filing noted.
The document said that when considered one of those women needed a dental license, “First Lady de Jongh reached out to the Director for the Office of Skilled Licensure and Health Planning on the USVI Department of Health regarding a ‘latest practice act’ that may have ‘significant changes and allowances for reciprocity.'”
“The Director wrote to Ms. de Jongh that when the act went before the Senate Committee she would have a ‘clearer idea on what [the young woman’s] options are moving forward,'” it said.
The filing alleged Cecile de Jongh also reached out to contacts within the attorney general’s office and solicitor general’s office in regards to the latest rules.
“Ultimately, First Lady de Jongh was successful,” the filing said. “The young woman eventually set
up a neighborhood dental practice within the USVI and shared an office with Epstein’s corporations.”
In detailing claims that Cecile advised Epstein on use his money to regulate politicians within the USVI, the filing says that Epstein, at her suggestion, “explored paying monthly retainers to USVI politicians to make sure their ‘loyalty and access.'”
“First Lady de Jongh suggested that Epstein “consider putting Celestino [White] on some kind of monthly retainer. That’s what’s going to get you his loyalty and access,'” said the document.
White was a USVI senator.
The filing also details how Epstein met often with the leadership of the USVI Port Authority, which leased hangar space to him at its airport, where women were brought in for Epstein.
Cecile de Jongh at one point asked Epstein, on behalf of her husband, the governor, “if he would support” the bid by then-USVI Sen. Carlton Dowe to return to the Port Authority, the filing said.
Dowe, in line with the message from Cecile, could be a “good person for us” there, the filing said.
“Based on his government connections, when traveling through the USVI’s airport accompanied by young women as a registered sex offender, Epstein could count on his ‘great relationship’ with the officials there to avoid scrutiny or detection,” the filing said.
“In sum, in exchange for Epstein’s money and gifts, USVI made life easy for him,” JPMorgan’s filing said.
The document added: “The federal government mitigated any burdens from his sex offender status. And it made sure that nobody asked too many questions on his transport and keeping of young girls on his island.”
