Elon Musk has been subpoenaed by the US Virgin Islands in a lawsuit accusing a Wall Street bank of enabling Jeffrey Epstein to sex traffic women.
It calls on the Tesla boss to hand over any documents showing communication between him, JP Morgan Chase bank and Epstein, who died in 2019.
Mr Musk is not accused of any wrongdoing in the case. On Monday, he also reiterated denials of suggestions that Epstein had provided him with financial advice.
Jeffrey Epstein died in jail in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The Virgin Islands is suing JP Morgan Chase for allegedly helping enable Epstein’s alleged crimes.
Its case alleges trafficked women were sexually abused by Epstein and others on Little St. James, his private island in the territory.
The Virgin Islands government has accused the bank of not acting on warning signs about the alleged crimes. The bank has denied the allegations.
As part of the case, a court filing on Monday revealed the territory’s authorities had tried to serve Mr Musk, the multi-billionaire owner of Twitter, with the subpoena but had been unsuccessful.
“The Government [of the US Virgin Islands] contacted Mr. Musk’s counsel via email to ask if he would be authorized to accept service on Mr. Musk’s behalf in this matter, but did not receive a response confirming or denying his authority,” the filing said.
The Virgin Islands also asked a Manhattan federal court judge to allow it to serve Mr Musk with the subpoena with Tesla’s registered agent.
Mr Musk may have been referred to the Wall Street banking giant by Epstein, according to the court filing.
However, the Virgin Islands did not provide further explanation for its interest in obtaining documents from Mr Musk.
Epstein, a financier, had been a client of JP Morgan from 2000 to 2013. Mr Musk was also been a customer – with JP Morgan in charge of Tesla’s commercial banking business for several years.
Mr Musk tweeted on Monday that the suggestion that he taken advice from Epstein was “idiotic” and called the late financier a “dumb crook.”
Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor, moved in social circles that included Prince Andrew and former presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as many key figures of the business world.
Prosecutors in 2019 accused him of running a “vast network” of underage girls for sex.
JP Morgan Chase has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes.
Source: bbc.com
