Elizabeth Warren asks Jamie Dimon if he was advised to ‘mildly threaten’ UK chancellor over tax on bankers’ bonuses
A leading Democratic senator has written to the boss of JP Morgan to request clarification on the bank’s contact with the child sex offenderJeffrey Epstein.
Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the senate banking committee, wrote to Jamie Dimon last week to ask if he took advice from Epstein while lobbying against a UK tax on banker bonuses, in a letterpublished by the committeeon Monday.
“It is critical that Congress and the American public fully understand the extent of any interactions the bank and you had with Epstein,” the senator wrote.
Dimon, who has been chair and chief executive of the largest US bank for two decades, told a court in 2023he had never met Epstein and had not heard the late sex offender’s nameuntil his 2019 arrest.
But a cache of documents released by the US Department of Justice this year has piled pressure on Dimon, one of the most powerful figures on Wall Street, and raised fresh questions about his links with Epstein.
A 2009 email emerged this year as part of the Epstein files, which appeared to show the disgraced financier asking the former Labour minister Peter Mandelson if Dimon should lobby the UK chancellor,Alistair Darling, in an attempt to dissuade him from introducing a tax on banker bonuses.
Mandelson replied thatDimon should “mildly threaten” the chancellor– and the banker is reported to have subsequently spoken to Darling. Dimon allegedly pointed out that JP Morgan was a big UK employer and purchaser of government bonds, and threatened to cancel investment in new London headquarters.
Mandelson wassacked as US ambassadorlast September because of revelations about his close friendship with Epstein.
Sign up toBusiness Today
Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning
after newsletter promotion
“These resurfaced emails and related reporting raise serious questions regarding the extent of the bank’s relationship with Epstein, and your knowledge of these ties,” Warren said in her letter, which was first reported by the Financial Times.
The former JP Morgan executive and ex-Barclays boss Jes Staleyhas previously alleged that he communicated with Dimon about the bank’s relationship with Epstein. A spokesperson for JP Morgan said: “No such conversation ever occurred. Further, a UK tribunal has already called Staley’s testimony evasive and unreliable.”
The bank, whichsued Staley, claims he hid Epstein’s crimes from colleagues to keep him as a client. The parties were subsequently reported to havereached a confidential settlement.
