Jeffrey Epstein offered to help former JPMorgan banker get his daughter into Columbia, report says

• A report revealed new details on Jeffrey Epstein’s personal ties with ex-JPMorgan exec Jes Staley.
• Epstein offered to help Staley’s daughter apply to Columbia, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• JPMorgan is in a legal battle with the US Virgin Islands over the bank’s ties to Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein offered to help former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley’s daughter nab an acceptance to one of Columbia University’s doctorate programs, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

JPMorgan reviewed its ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who was a client of the bank for years, in 2019 and produced a 22-page document seen by The Journal. The report shed light on Epstein’s close personal relationship with Staley, who worked at JPMorgan for over 30 years and was head of its private banking arm.

Epstein offered to connect Staley with Columbia University’s president at the Davos World Economic Forum in 2011, the report said, according to The Journal. Epstein also reportedly offered to get in touch with various school officials to help one of his daughters apply to graduate programs.

The report said the two exchanged hundreds of emails over the years of their relationship. It also claimed that Epstein often gave personal and business advice to Staley, including setting up meetings with senior officials in foreign governments.

The report was prepared after Epstein was arrested in 2019 for sex trafficking charges. He died days later in an apparent suicide while in custody and awaiting trial. 

JPMorgan is in an ongoing legal battle over its ties to Epstein. The US Virgin Islands — where Epstein owned Little Saint James Island — is suing the bank, alleging it overlooked red flags in Epstein’s finances that indicated his crimes because he boosted business by bringing high net worth connections as clients.

JPMorgan did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. It told The Journal it would not comment beyond earlier statements expressing regret for working with Epstein. Lawyers for Staley have denied the allegations against him to the Wall Street Journal. Staley’s daughter didn’t respond to a request for comment to The Journal.

In 2011, Staley wrote to Epstein, “You have paid a price for what has been accused,” according to an email in the report seen by The Journal. “But we know what u have done for us. And we count you as one of our deepest friends. And most honest of people.”

Columbia declined to give further comment than what it told The Wall Street Journal, in which a university spokesman said that there “was no meeting between the president and Staley. Nor did the president know Epstein, then or later. There is no factual basis for these assertions.”

The Journal also reported that the 2019 documents said JPMorgan’s current head of asset and wealth management, Mary Erdoes, had “regular communication with Jeffrey Epstein related to certain strategic initiatives and business proposals” starting in 2011 and there are “occasional personal emails between Erdoes and Epstein interspersed.” 

A similar lawsuit between JPMorgan and an unnamed woman was settled earlier this month — the bank agreed to pay $290 million.