new york june 7 reuters  the former jpmorgan chase  co jpmn executive accused of shepherding the banks relationship with jeffrey epstein formally denied involvement in the disgraced financiers sex trafficking and blamed jpmorgan for keeping him as a client in wednesday night filings in manhattan federal court jes staley said his dealings with epstein were not the proximate cause of any damages jpmorgan might incur in two lawsuits it faces over its work with epstein a client from 1998 to 2013 staley who has denied wrongdoing and expressed regret for befriending epstein said he did not know epstein would coerce young women and girls into having sex or that anyone under 18 would be pressured into sex he also said jpmorgan had unclean hands for its own faults in dealing with epstein and that the largest us bank waived at least some claims against him by keeping him on the payroll after learning of his alleged misconduct jpmorgan declined to comment on the filings epstein died in a manhattan jail in august 2019 at age 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges new york citys medical examiner called the death a suicide staleys denials were expected and contained in answers to new yorkbased jpmorgans effort to blame him for entangling it with epstein now 66 staley led jpmorgans asset management business from 2001 to 2009 and its investment bank from 2009 to 2013 he was also barclays plcs barcl chief executive from 2015 to 2021 jpmorgan faces a proposed class action by women who accused epstein of sexual abuse led by a former ballet dancer known as jane doe 1 and a lawsuit by the us virgin islands where epstein allegedly abused women on a private island he owned the bank also wants staley to forfeit his pay from 2006 to 2013 estimated in the tens of millions of dollars jane doe 1 has also alleged that one of epsteins friends sexually assaulted her jpmorgan later said staley was that friend staley has called that accusation baseless on may 24 us district judge jed rakoff in manhattan rejected staleys bid to dismiss jpmorgans complaints the judge has yet to explain his reasoning staley is expected to testify under oath in a june 10 deposition in a may 26 deposition jpmorgan chief executive jamie dimon said he had barely heard of epstein before the financiers july 2019 arrest dimon also repeatedly denied having spoken with staley about epstein a trial covering all of the lawsuits is scheduled for oct 23 the cases in the us district court southern district of new york are jane doe 1 v jpmorgan chase  co no 2210019 government of the us virgin islands v jpmorgan chase bank na no 2210904 and jpmorgan chase bank na v staley in nos 2210019 and 2210904