The US Virgin Islands has asked Musk to provide documents related to a lawsuit against JPMorgan bank for allegedly harboring pedophile billionaire Epstein.
Records released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 15 show that the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) sent a subpoena to Elon Musk on April 28, but had difficulty determining the billionaire's address, despite hiring a private investigation firm.
"USVI authorities contacted Elon Musk's counsel via email to determine if he could handle the matter on his behalf, but did not receive a response," according to court documents. The USVI subpoena seeks documents about Musk's communications with JPMorgan and Jeffrey Epstein.
Billionaire Elon Musk in Paris, France on May 15. Photo: AFP
Epstein was an American billionaire who was indicted on charges of soliciting sex with multiple minors in 2019 and committed suicide in prison. The USVI believes that Mr Musk, one of the world's richest people, may have been "mentioning or trying to introduce" to JPMorgan by Epstein.
The subpoena also asks Musk to provide information about payments made to Epstein or JPMorgan, about his accounts or banking relationships, and about any allegations of prostitution by Epstein. The subpoena does not provide a reason for the USVI to request these documents.
The USVI did not seek to question Musk, and their subpoena does not imply the billionaire has done anything wrong.
Mr. Musk, 51, and his attorney Alex Spiro have not commented on the information. The USVI has sent similar subpoenas to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Hyatt Hotels chairman Thomas Pritzke, and US News & World Report owner Mort Zuckerman, according to the Wall Street Journal .
The move is part of two lawsuits filed by USVI and a woman against JPMorgan in late 2022, accusing the bank of tolerating Epstein by ignoring warnings about his abuse of women and continuing to treat the billionaire pedophile as a client until 2013.
JPMorgan denied the allegations and filed a lawsuit against James E. Staley, a former director of the bank from 1979 to 2013. JPMorgan said Staley knew about Epstein's sexual abuse of women but failed to report it to the bank's board.
Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Photo: AP
Epstein, 66, was arrested in July 2019 and charged with soliciting sex from dozens of minors, including girls as young as 14, between 2002 and 2005 at his Manhattan and Florida homes. The girls allegedly received hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and sexual services, and he recruited others to join the scheme.
The American businessman faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted. Epstein denies the charges and is being held in a Manhattan jail. Epstein faced similar charges in 2007 but entered a plea deal with prosecutors in Miami and served just 13 months in prison on a lesser prostitution charge.
Epstein was found hanged in his prison cell in August 2019. US authorities at the time announced that they would not give up the case and were determined to investigate the billionaire's accomplices to the end.
Nhu Tam (According to CNN, AFP )
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