Elon Musk was issued a subpoena by the US Virgin Islands in its lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase & Co. of knowingly benefiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking.
The U.S. territory said in court papers it had reason to believe Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer Musk to JPMorgan as a client. Several other billionaires, including the Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have also been issued subpoenas by the USVI.
Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro didn’t respond to questions about the subpoena via email, but the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer addressed the issue on Twitter in a response to a posted article, calling it “idiotic.”
This is idiotic on so many levels:
1. That cretin never advised me on anything whatsoever.
2. The notion that I would need or listen to financial advice from a dumb crook is absurd.
3. JPM let Tesla down ten years ago, despite having Tesla’s global commercial banking…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2023
The USVI on Monday asked the judge overseeing the case to authorize alternative means of serving the April 28 subpoena on Musk. The territory said it made good-faith efforts to obtain an address for Musk, including hiring private investigators, but had been unable to locate one.
The territory said it also tried to serve Musk at Tesla’s offices. The USVI asked for permission to serve the subpoena on Tesla itself.
The USVI subpoena seeks documents reflecting communications or meetings between Musk and JPMorgan or Musk and Epstein relating to the two men’s accounts at the bank. It also seeks from Musk any documents “regarding Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking” or concerning fees the Tesla CEO paid to Epstein or JPMorgan in connection with his accounts at the bank. The case is Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., 22-cv-10904, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
—With assistance from Dana Hull.
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