Epstein Victims Seek Access to Sealed Documents in Legal Battle Against USVI Government

The women suing the Government of the Virgin Islands over its alleged culpability in facilitating Jeffery Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes want to be granted complete access to documents filed in the lawsuit between the government and JPMorgan Chase, which was settled last year.

The six victims of Epstein say those sealed records are needed to help prove their case against the government and several former officials.

Attorney Jordan Merson, representing the six women, said in his motion to intervene in the closed JPMorgan matter that the plaintiffs in the suit against the government were “seeking essentially a de facto consolidation of their case” with the JPMorgan lawsuit, which would mean that they would be entitled to access all the discovery material generated in that matter. “The USVI is in possession of all the filings in this case and so can hardly oppose an order which places Proposed Intervenors on the same footing as them,” Mr. Merson wrote in his memorandum supporting the motion.

The lawsuits by various “Jane Doe” plaintiffs against Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan, which were later consolidated, were covered by a Protective Order which shielded “the vast majority of discovery from public disclosure,” Mr. Merson said, claiming that the lack of information in the public domain means that his clients “are now hamstrung by their ability to prosecute their claims” against the government.