EPSTEIN
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==================== DOCUMENT: Court Records__Operating Engineers Construction Industry and Miscellaneous Pension Fund v. Dimon, No. 123-cv-03903 (S.D.N.Y. 2023)__001.txt ====================
METADATA_SOURCE: Court RecordsOperating Engineers Construction Industry and Miscellaneous Pension Fund v. Dimon, No. 123-cv-03903 (S.D.N.Y. 2023)
METADATA_FILENAME: 001.pdf
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
OPERATING ENGINEERS
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND
MISCELLANEOUS
PENSION FUND,
Plaintiff,
v.
JAMES DIMON, ASHLEY BACON,
LINDA B. BAMMANN, JAMES A. BELL,
JOHN H. BIGGS, CRANDALL C.
BOWLES, STEPHEN B. BURKE, TODD A.
COMBS, DAVID M. COTE, JAMES S.
CROWN, MARY C. ERDOES, TIMOTHY
P. FLYNN, ELLEN V. FUTTER,
MELLODY HOBSON, JOHN J. HOGAN,
LABAN P. JACKSON, JR., JOHN W.
KESSLER, ROBERT I. LIPP, RICHARD A.
MANOOGIAN, MICHAEL A. NEAL,
DAVID C. NOVAK, LEE R. RAYMOND,
JAMES E. STALEY, WILLIAM C.
WELDON, and BARRY L. ZUBROW,
Defendants,
and
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.,
Nominal Defendant.
Case Number:
VERIFIED STOCKHOLDER DERIVATIVE COMPLAINT
Operating Engineers Construction Industry and Miscellaneous Pension Fund (“Operating
Engineers” or “Plaintiff”), for the benefit of nominal defendant JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JP
Morgan,” the “Bank,” or the “Company”), brings the following Verified Stockholder Derivative
Complaint against Defendants James Dimon, Ashley Bacon, Linda B. Bammann, James A. Bell,
John H. Biggs, Crandall C. Bowles, Stephen B. Burke, Todd A. Combs, David M. Cote, James S.
Case 1:23-cv-03903-JSR Document 1 Filed 05/09/23 Page 1 of 53
Crown, Mary C. Erdoes, Timothy P. Flynn, Ellen V. Futter, Mellody Hobson, John J. Hogan,
Laban P. Jackson, Jr., John W. Kessler, Robert I. Lipp, Richard A. Manoogian, Michael A. Neal,
David C. Novak, Lee R. Raymond, James E. Staley, William C. Weldon, and Barry L. Zubrow.
The allegations of this Complaint are based on the knowledge of Plaintiff as to itself and the
investigation of counsel, including the review of publicly available information and documents.
NATURE AND SUMMARY OF THE ACTION
1.
Most of the world learned of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific abuses of women and
children in 2019, when Epstein was arrested for orchestrating a wide-ranging human trafficking
enterprise. Others, however—including those that facilitated Epstein’s enterprise—knew of his
abusive behavior for more than a decade earlier. JP Morgan was one such facilitator. JP Morgan
served as Epstein’s primary bank from at least 1998 to 2013, during which time he operated as
many as 55 accounts: some in his own name, some in the name of shell companies and sham non-
profits, and some in the names of his victims, associates, and recruiters.
2.
For nearly fifteen years, Epstein relied on these accounts to abuse women and
children. Epstein used his JP Morgan accounts to transfer money to recruiters that trafficked new
victims and to withdraw vast amounts of cash to pay off his victims. During certain periods,
Epstein reportedly withdrew up to $80,000 in cash multiple times a month; he once withdrew more
than $750,000 in cash in a single year. Epstein is now infamous for using cash to pay his victims,
and his extraordinary cash withdrawals were obviously suspicious even without knowledge of his
abusive conduct.
3.
But JP Morgan knew of Epstein’s abusive conduct many years before his arrest,
and internally held deep concerns about precisely why Epstein was withdrawing vast amounts of
cash and transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars to “modeling” agencies. As early as 2006,
when Epstein was arrested for solicitation of a minor, JP Morgan knew not only that Epstein was
Case 1:23-cv-03903-JSR Document 1 Filed 05/09/23 Page 2 of 53
abusing young women and children, but that he paid his victims in cash—something that one of
JP Morgan’s top executives has admitted. In 2008, in 2010, and multiple times in 2011, JP
Morgan’s employees internally shared reports about Epstein’s abuses and expressed concern about
the Bank’s ongoing relationship with him. In 2011, JP Morgan employees explicitly questioned
whether a previous payment to a “model management” agency was “payment for services as a
procurer.”
4.
Knowledge of Epstein’s abusive conduct extended to the very top of the Company’s
C-suite. Most notoriously, Jes Staley (who, until 2013, served as the chief executive officer
(“CEO”) of JP Morgan’s Investment Bank) shared a deep personal friendship with Epstein.
Although JP Morgan is now attempting to lay all blame for its institutional failures on Staley alone
in an attempt to escape legal and reputational harm, it is clear that Staley could not have sustained
and concealed a 15+ year banking relationship involving tens of millions of dollars without the