Judge Rakoff Asks The USVI Why JP Morgan Can't Challenge Their Lawsuit
Judge Rakoff Asks The USVI Why JP Morgan Can't Challenge Their Lawsuit  
Podcast: The Vault: The Epstein Files
Published On: Fri Oct 09 2026
Description: Federal Judge Jed Rakoff pressed the U.S. Virgin Islands to explain more specifically why JPMorgan should not be allowed to pursue certain affirmative defenses in the territory’s lawsuit over the bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The USVI had asked Rakoff to strike defenses raised by JPMorgan, arguing that because the territory was acting in its sovereign capacity to enforce public rights under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the bank should not be able to rely on equitable defenses against the government. Rakoff did not rule immediately on that argument. Instead, he directed the territory to provide more detail about exactly what public interests it was seeking to vindicate and what damages it was claiming, saying those specifics could be important to resolving the legal issues raised by both sides.The underlying lawsuit accused JPMorgan of providing Epstein with the financial infrastructure that allowed him to pay recruiters and victims while failing to report suspicious activity to law enforcement. The USVI argued that JPMorgan had real-time information about Epstein’s transactions that territorial authorities did not have and that the bank had legal obligations to report what it was seeing. JPMorgan, in turn, challenged the territory’s use of the trafficking statute and sought to defend itself by pointing to the conduct and knowledge of the USVI government itself. Rakoff’s order effectively required both sides to sharpen those arguments, giving the territory a deadline to explain why JPMorgan’s defenses should be barred and then allowing the bank to respond.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com