Epstein paid school fees for Virgin Islands governor’s children

According to a court filing updated Thursday by JPMorgan Chase.

These tuition fees, the duration and amounts of which have not been revealed, allowed the government of the time. John de Jongh Jr. “to funnel additional funds 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 indicted in 2015 for using public funds to make security improvements to his home. private residence, according to the record. Those charges were dropped in early 2016 by the Virgin Islands Department of Justice.

JPMorgan alleges that Epstein’s generosity was part of his broader efforts to build influence on the islands.

The filing is part of the bank’s defense against a civil lawsuit brought by the US Virgin Islands alleging that JPMorgan facilitated Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women. Epstein, who was a JPMorgan client between 1998 and 2013, owned two private islands in the territory and abused several young women at his residence on one of those islands.

JPMorgan denies any wrongdoing in this matter.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is due Friday in the Virgin Islands lawsuit, as well as a similar lawsuit filed against the bank by an Epstein accuser.

“So that there is no 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’s political class,” the filing reads.

The document also refers to a time when Cécile de Jongh “asked Epstein what visas the ‘ladies’ had and tried to arrange ESL classes for them.”

Former Governor de Jongh served as governor of the Virgin Islands between 2007 and 2015.

Cécile de Jongh worked for Epstein, managing his businesses in the territory. She made $200,000 in 2007 alone, filing notes.

CNBC has reached out to the de Jonghs for comment through an asset management firm in the Virgin Islands where the former governor is a director.

The filing was first filed on Tuesday with numerous redactions, but it was refiled on Thursday, with some details of former Governor de Jongh and Cécile now visible. Also visible are allegations related to current Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. and his immediate predecessor in that office, Kenneth Mapp.

Bryan, who is due June 6 in the case, suggested which schools Epstein should donate $50,000 to, according to the filing. Bryan also demanded $30,000 from the Virgin Islands Little League, according to the document.

Parts of the file that were visible on Tuesday said the Virgin Islands government was “complicit in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.”

JPMorgan said Epstein — who died of a suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges — gave money, advice and favors to top territory officials as they hijacked the look when he trafficked young women there.

A spokesperson for the Virgin Islands Attorney General’s Office, in an emailed statement in response to the updated filing, said: “JPMorgan Chase facilitated the abuse of Jeffrey Epstein and should be held accountable for violating the law.”

“This is a clear attempt to shift blame away from JPMorgan Chase, which had a legal responsibility to report the evidence in its possession of Epstein’s human trafficking, and failed to do so,” he said. said the spokesperson.

The document calls Cecile de Jongh, who ran Epstein’s businesses there when she was first lady, “a willing partner” to help Epstein transport young women to exploit in the Virgin Islands, where he had a home.

The bank alleged that Cecile de Jongh was “Epstein’s main conduit for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI government”. The filing says she emailed him in 2011 to propose a bill to the Virgin Islands Legislature that would update sex offender supervision laws.

“This is the suggested language; will it work for you?” she asked in that email, according to the record.

The document also says Epstein, who was a registered sex offender due to his conviction in a Florida state court in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor, responded: “We should add out of the country for more than 7 days, otherwise I couldn’t go and get a day trip to Tortola, last minute.”

JPMorgan alleged that Epstein, despite receiving “lucrative tax incentives” and “lax enforcement” of his status as a Virgin Islands sex offender, “still could not freely transport and exploit young women without the assistance from USVI government officials”.

The filing indicates that Cécile de Jongh “arranged for Epstein to meet with an immigration lawyer to help at least one” young woman who needed a visa to travel to the United States.

Cécile de Jongh also “contacted the University of the Virgin Islands … to find out if three young women could enroll there for student visas,” according to the filing.

“Perhaps aware of the risk of having a registered sex offender sign the letter, First Lady de Jongh wrote to Epstein that he should consider whether”[he] should sign [the letter] or any of us,” the document reads.

“Ultimately, UVI structured a bespoke class to enroll victims and cover their presence in the territory – the same year Epstein donated $20,000 to the university through one of his businesses,” the filing said.

“In addition to visas, some of the young women Epstein brought to the island also needed
employment,” the filing said.

The document stated that when one of these women needed a dental license, “The First Lady de Jongh contacted the director of the Office of Professional Licensing and Health Planning at USVI’s Department of Health. about a “new act of practice” that would have “significant effects. changes and reciprocal allowances.'”

“The director wrote to Ms. de Jongh that once the law came to the Senate committee, she would have a ‘clearer idea of ​​what [the young woman’s] the options are moving forward,” he said.

The filing alleged that Cecile de Jongh had also contacted contacts within the attorney general’s office and the solicitor general’s office about the new rules.

“In the end, First Lady de Jongh was successful,” the filing reads. “The young woman ends up settling
open a local dental practice at USVI and share an office with Epstein’s businesses.”

Detailing the claims Cecile advised Epstein on how to use his money to control Virgin Islands politicians, the filing says Epstein, at his suggestion, “explored paying monthly fees to politicians in the Virgin Islands. USVI to ensure their “loyalty and access”.

“First Lady de Jongh suggested Epstein ‘consider putting Celestino [White] on some sort of monthly retainer. This is what will get you his loyalty and access,” the document states.

White was a senator from the Virgin Islands.

The filing also details how Epstein often met with leaders of the Virgin Islands Ports Authority, who rented him a hangar at his airport, where women were brought in for Epstein.

Cécile de Jongh at one point asked Epstein, on behalf of her husband, the governor, “whether he would support” the candidacy of the then senator. Carlton Dowe to return to the Port Authority, according to the filing.

Dowe, according to Cecile’s message, would be a “good fit for us” there, according to the filing.

“Based on his connections to the government, when traveling through the USVI airport accompanied by young women as a registered sex offender, Epstein could count on his ‘great connections’ with the officials there. to avoid examination or detection,” the filing reads.

“In sum, in exchange for Epstein’s money and gifts, the USVI made his life easier,” the JPMorgan filing said.

The added document, “The government eased any burdens of his sex offender status. And he made sure no one asked too many questions about him transporting and keeping young girls on his island.”