JPMorgan’s Epstein Troubles Don't End With $290 Million Settlement

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay as much as $290 million to victims of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein under the terms of a proposed settlement agreed Monday. But this payout is far from the end of the bank’s reckoning over a relationship it now says it deeply regrets.

This is a big settlement, and an unusual one in that, in effect, it makes JPMorgan accountable for the crimes of a client, although the bank will not admit or deny liability as part of the settlement, according to a person familiar with the wording who didn’t want to be named because the full terms aren’t yet public. Banks are regularly fined for not doing enough to ensure they don’t work with dodgy customers, or having weak defenses against money laundering, but it is extremely rare for any to be punished for the drug dealing, terrorism or other felonies of bad actors.