A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors in the US Virgin Islands can serve Elon Musk through Tesla, compelling him to hand over documents in connection with a lawsuit seeking to hold JPMorgan Chase liable for Jeffrey Epstein‘s sex trafficking crimes.
US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Wednesday granted prosecutors’ request to serve the subpoena on Musk through Tesla, after they said they were unable to locate the billionaire or his registered agent.
Musk has never been publicly accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, who died behind bars in an apparent suicide in 2019, as he awaited sex trafficking charges in a federal jail in Manhattan.
But the US Virgin Islands has said in a court filing that it believes Epstein may have referred or tried to refer Musk to JPMorgan as a potential client, and the government subpoena seeks any documentation of potential communications with Epstein.
For his part, Musk has slammed the subpoena as ‘idiotic on so many levels’ and insisted: ‘That cretin never advised me on anything whatsoever.’
A federal judge has ruled that prosecutors in the US Virgin Islands can serve Elon Musk through Tesla, compelling him to hand over documents in an Epstein-related suit
Musk has never been publicly accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, but the sex predator encouraged rumors that he was advising Musk prior to this 2019 death
The Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate on a private island, sued JPMorgan last year, alleging the bank turned a blind eye to Epstein’s crimes.
The suit alleges that the banking giant enabled Epstein’s recruiters to pay victims and was ‘indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise.’
In court filings, JPMorgan has slammed the allegations as legally meritless, insisting the bank had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
The bank has also moved to pin any blame on former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley, who had close ties with Epstein and once referred to their friendship as ‘profound,’ according to court filings.
Staley, 66, led JPMorgan’s asset management business from 2001 to 2009, and its corporate and investment bank from 2009 to 2013. He later spent six years as Barclays Plc’s chief executive.
JPMorgan is separately suing Staley to cover its losses in the two lawsuits it faces, and forfeit eight years of pay.
Staley has denied any wrongdoing, and asked Judge Rakoff to dismiss the bank’s case, accusing JPMorgan of using him as a ‘public relations shield’ to deflect blame for its own failures in working with Epstein.
JPMorgan has attempted to to pin any blame on former executive Jes Staley, who had close ties with Epstein and once referred to their friendship as ‘profound,’ according to court filings
JPMorgan CEO Jaime Dimon is set to be deposed in the lawsuit on May 26. The bank has slammed the lawsuit as legally meritless and denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 at age 66, in what the medical examiner ruled a suicide, as he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges
In the subpoena of Musk, the Virgin Islands demanded any documents Musk has about Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and his procurement of girls or women for commercial sex.
Additionally, the subpoena sought any communications between the entrepreneur and JPMorgan about Epstein, as well as between Musk and Epstein. Documents regarding fees paid by Musk to Epstein or JPMorgan also fall under the subpoena.
In addition to Musk, Virgin Islands prosecutors have also subpoenaed Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, former Disney executive Michael Ovitz and billionaire hotelier Thomas Pritzker.
JPMorgan CEO Jaime Dimon is also set to be deposed in the lawsuit on May 26.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 at age 66, in what the medical examiner ruled a suicide, as he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
His accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in June 2022, and is currently serving her sentence at Florida’s FCI Tallahassee prison.
In 2020, Musk denied knowing Ghislaine Maxwell after a 2014 photo of them together surfaced
Musk and Maxwell were seen together at a 2014 Vanity Fair party. But Musk denied knowing Maxwell and said she had ‘photobombed’ him at the event.
‘Don’t know Ghislaine. Real question is why did VF invite her?” he tweeted in July 2020.
Maxwell was overheard asking Musk if there ‘were a way to remove oneself from the internet,’ according to the New York Times, citing a witness to the exchange.
She then, supposedly, encouraged Musk to ‘destroy the internet.’ Musk allegedly demurred.
