(Ken Silva, Headline USA) U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan has fired the territory’s attorney general, Denise George, days after she filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for allegedly helping deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein finance his human trafficking network.
Bryan’s move also comes on the heels of a President Joe Biden’s visit to the U.S. territory over the holidays.
There are no reports of a meeting between Bryan and Biden, but some observers noted that the USVI governor has been pushing for increased federal funding for his territory–suggesting that George’s firing may have been a quid-pro-quo between the two politicians.
“The federal government appears to have plenty of leverage for a request from the USVI,” wrote investigative journalist Jordan Schachtel.
“President Biden is no amateur when it comes to firing prosecutors. When he was serving as Vice President in the Obama Administration, Biden infamously forced out a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating his family’s business enterprises,” Schachtel added.
The USVI governor’s office did not issue a statement explaining his decision, instead telling local media on Sunday that he “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,” Bryan Jr. reportedly said. “Assistant Attorney General Carol Thomas–Jacobs will serve as acting attorney general.”
In the lawsuit filed against JPMorgan Chase on Dec. 27, the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands alleged the company “knowingly facilitated, sustained, and concealed the human trafficking network operated by Jeffrey Epstein from his home and base in the Virgin Islands, and financially benefited from this participation, directly or indirectly, by failing to comply with federal banking regulations.”
It also alleged that the company concealed wire and cash transactions.
“Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JP Morgan,” the lawsuit reads. “JP Morgan turned a blind eye to evidence of human trafficking over more than a decade because of Epstein’s own financial footprint, and because of the deals and clients that Epstein brought and promised to bring to the bank.”
The lawsuit that George filed against JPMorgan Chase came after Epstein’s estate reached the $105 million settlement with the U.S. Virgin Island’s government in late November.
Epstein killed himself at a federal jail in New York in August 2019 while awaiting trial. He had pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually abusing dozens of girls, some as young as 14 years old.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.
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