WILMINGTON, Delaware, May 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Virgin Islands has subpoenaed Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk for documents in the lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) of helping to enable sexual abuse. Before the late sex offenders. Jeffrey Epstein.
The subpoena, which was issued on April 28, appeared Monday in a request for the Virgin Islands to serve Musk by alternative means because they were unable to locate and serve Musk.
American soil did not seek to question Musk under oath, and its attempts to bring him in did not implicate him in any wrongdoing.
According to a court filing Monday in US District Court in Manhattan, Musk, one of the richest people in the world, may have been referred to JPMorgan by Epstein. The Virgin Islands did not provide further explanation of its interest in obtaining documents from Musk.
In a tweet late Monday, Musk said the idea that he would listen to financial advice from Epstein is absurd.
Referring to Epstein, he said, “Those cretins never advised me anything at all.”
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
The US Virgin Islands is accusing JPMorgan of missing red flags over Epstein’s abuse of women on Little St. James Island, a private island he owns there.
The bank denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
In the subpoena, the Virgin Islands demanded any documents Musk possessed about Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and his procurement of girls or women for commercial sex.
In addition, the subpoena requested any communications between the businessman and JPMorgan about Epstein as well as between Musk and Epstein. Documents related to fees Musk paid to Epstein or JPMorgan also fall under the subpoena.
History with the bank
The extent of any relationship between Musk and Epstein was unclear. The New York Times reported that Musk and Tesla vigorously denied speculation in 2019 that Epstein was advising Musk after the Tesla chief ran into trouble with regulators for saying he had raised funding to take Tesla private.
“It would be wrong to say that Epstein advised Elon on anything,” a spokeswoman for Musk told The New York Times at the time.
Musk is the second tech entrepreneur to be touched by the Virgin Islands litigation. US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff said earlier this month that the territory may file legal papers regarding Larry Page, though his ruling did not specify what information is required of the co-founder of Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O). .
In a lawsuit against Tesla shareholders, Musk testified in January that JPMorgan used to have all of Tesla’s commercial banking business, but the relationship soured after the bank did not back Tesla’s car rental line.
That trial stemmed from allegations by Tesla shareholders that a 2018 tweet from Musk stating that he had “secured funding” to take the automaker private misled investors and caused billions of dollars in damages. The jury found Musk irresponsible.
In 2021, JPMorgan sued Tesla for $162 million over the “secured financing” tweet, alleging that it caused a re-pricing of orders to buy Tesla shares. Tesla confronted the bank last year, accusing it of seeking a windfall.
(Reporting by Tom Hales in Wilmington, Delaware Editing by Chris Reese)
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