BREAKING Toddler dies after being struck by recycling truck in Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood
A toddler has died after being struck by a recycling truck in a Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.
The U.S. Virgin Islands said it wants JPMorgan Chase to pay at least US$190 million, and possibly much more, to resolve its lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. bank of ignoring the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking.
In a Friday filing in federal court in Manhattan, the territory said it wants JPMorgan to pay a US$150 million civil fine, and give up at least $40 million from its 15-year relationship with Epstein.
It also wants JPMorgan to pay damages to compensate Epstein's victims, pay punitive damages, separate its business and compliance functions, and hire a compliance consultant.
"Financial penalties, as well as conduct changes, are important to make sure that JPMorgan Chase knows the cost of putting its own profits ahead of public safety," U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Ariel Smith said in a statement.
In a statement, JPMorgan acknowledged efforts to resolve the case, but said the filing "does not reflect the nature of settlement conversations."
The bank also called the U.S. Virgin Islands' arguments for damages "misdirected" and "not well founded."
Friday's filing marks the first time the U.S. Virgin Islands has put a dollar figure on its lawsuit.
The territory wants JPMorgan held liable for providing banking services to Epstein from 1998 to 2013, enabling him to pay his victims, and ignoring internal warnings and other red flags because it valued him as a wealthy client.
It said even the US$40 million amount excludes the "difficult to quantify" value of Epstein allegedly introducing JPMorgan to famous people like Britain's Prince Andrew and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.
Epstein, who died by suicide in August 2019, had owned two neighbouring islands within the territory, including one that authorities said he bought to keep people from spying on him as he sexually abused young women and girls on the other.
A trial is scheduled for Oct. 23.
The lawsuit is the largest unresolved Epstein-related case.
JPMorgan agreed last month to pay US$290 million to settle a lawsuit by dozens of Epstein accusers, while Deutsche Bank, where Epstein was also a client, agreed in May to a $75 million settlement. Both accords await final court approval.
Epstein's estate, meanwhile, has paid out more than US$125 million to the financier's accusers, and more than $105 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The financier's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in Dec. 2021 for aiding in his abuses.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands case, JPMorgan has sought to shift blame.
It accused the territory of "actively facilitating" Epstein by giving him tax incentives and waiving sex offender monitoring requirements, in exchange for cash or gifts to local police and top officials like former first lady Cecile de Jongh.
JPMorgan is separately suing Jes Staley, a former private banking and investment banking chief once close to Epstein, to cover its losses in the two lawsuits it faces.
Staley has expressed regret for his friendship with Epstein and repeatedly denied knowing about his sex trafficking. He left JPMorgan a few months after Epstein, and was British bank Barclays' chief executive from 2015 to 2021.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Nupur Anand and Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Deepa Babington)
A toddler has died after being struck by a recycling truck in a Barrie, Ont. neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.
Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar-nominee who made food and American diets his life's work, famously eating only at McDonald's for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died. He was 53.
Border workers have voted in favour of a strike mandate which could lead to 'significant disruptions' to the flow of goods, services and people through Canadian ports of entry, their union said Friday morning.
Judges at the top United Nations court ordered Israel on Friday to halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in a landmark emergency ruling on South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide.
It began last month with the arrest of a Russian deputy defense minister. Then the head of the ministry’s personnel directorate was hauled into court. This week, two more senior military officials were detained. All face charges of corruption, which they have denied.
As avian flu spreads south of the border, Canadian officials are now testing samples of milk sold in grocery stores across the country.
Kabosu, the dog that launched a thousand 'doge' memes, has died, her owner announced Friday.
Alcohol sales in Ontario will be enhanced in grocery stores and expanded to convenience stores this summer, a year-and-a-half sooner than expected, following a deal that will see the Ontario government provide The Beer Store up to $225 million for the early rollout.
Ontario patients are now visiting emergency departments out of fear of being de-rostered from their doctor’s office – a loophole that results in hospitals dealing with non-urgent cases, and disrupts continuity of care paramount to family medicine, according to health-care experts.
The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.