The attorney general of the US Virgin Islands has been fired by the territory’s governor just days after filing a lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase of ‘turning a blind eye’ to Jeffrey Epstein’s prolific sex crimes.
USVI Governor Albert Bryan Jr confirmed in a statement on Sunday that he had ‘relieved Denise George of her duties as attorney general this weekend’ without offering further details.
George, who had served as the territory’s attorney general for four years, on Tuesday filed a massive lawsuit against JPMorgan, accusing the bank of ‘knowingly providing and pulling the levers through which [Epstein’s] recruiters and victims were paid.’
She did not warn Bryan of her intent to file the lawsuit, and the incident was the final straw in the governor’s increasingly frustrated relationship with her, the Virgin Islands Consortium reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Bryan’s spokesman told DailyMail.com that press reports citing the JPMorgan suit as the reason for George’s dismissal were ‘not entirely accurate.’
The governor’s spokesman, Richard Motta Jr, declined to comment further, saying in a statement, ‘I am not at liberty to discuss details on personnel matters.’
George did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday morning.
Governor Bryan, who is elected by residents of the territory, announced George’s removal in a statement on New Year’s Day, saying, ‘I relieved Denise George of her duties as attorney general this weekend.’
‘I thank her for her service to the people of the Territory during the past four years as Attorney General and wish her the best in her future endeavors,’ added Bryan.
The governor said that Assistant Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs will serve as acting attorney general.
In November, George reached a settlement of more than $105 million in a sex trafficking case against the estate of Epstein, who owned a private island in the territory where he abused underage girls.
Last week, George had filed a lawsuit in Manhattan District Court alleging that JPMorgan ignored the truth surrounding Epstein, such as his 2008 conviction in Florida for procuring a child for prostitution, in order to keep him as a client.
The bank kept Epstein as a client between 1998 and 2013 before finally cutting ties.
The bank has not yet responded to the allegations in the suit, and a spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment on the suit when reached by DailyMail.com on Monday.
In court filings on Friday responding to a separate lawsuit, JPMorgan said it did not participate in or benefit from sex trafficking by its former client Epstein.
For years, the secretive financier was based out of his private island, Little St. James in the Virgin Islands.
He was found dead in August 2019 in his jail cell in Manhattan in what was ruled a suicide, while awaiting trial on sexual abuse of minors and trafficking charges.
In June, Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years prison for trafficking minors for sex.
Epstein first became a client at Chase in 1998. There have been numerous reports since his death that the bank’s executives sought to keep Epstein as a client due to his connections with some of the richest people in the world.
One section of the lawsuit reads: ‘Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan.’
AG George said that the suit was part of an ‘outgoing effort’ to bring accountability to those who helped facilitate Epstein’s actions.
The complaint goes on to accuse Chase of concealing ‘wire and cash transactions that raised suspicion of a criminal enterprise whose currency was the sexual servitude’ of young girls.
