JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s JPM ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ran deeper than the bank has acknowledged and extended beyond the closing of his accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Mary Erdoes, head of the bank’s asset & wealth management business and a close lieutenant of Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, made two visits to Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse, in 2011 and 2013, when he was still one of the banks’ clients. She also exchanged dozens of emails with him relating to a charitable fund the bank was considering, the people said. Erdoes has previously said through a JPMorgan spokesman that the only time she remembered meeting Epstein was the day she fired him as a client, said the paper. Erdoes declined to comment for the article. The bank has said it closed his account in 2013. John Duffy, who ran the U.S. private bank, went to the townhouse for a meeting in April 2013. A month later, the private bank renewed an authorization for Epstein to borrow against his account, even though the bank’s compliance department had warned about his unusual banking practices, which including making large cash withdrawals. Epstein has been accused of using cash to pay off girls who came to his house. And Justin Nelson, one of Epstein’s JPMorgan bankers, had about a half dozen meetings at the townhouse between 2014 and 2018 and also traveled to Epstein’s New Mexico ranch in 2016. The bank has blamed a former executive Jes Staley for misleading it about Epstein’s character and behavior and has sued Staley, who denies the allegations. MarketWatch has reached out to JPMorgan for comment.
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