A report reveals that law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr resisted an attempt to exclude the company from representing JPMorgan Chase in a suit alleging the bank helped late tycoon Jeffrey Epstein harm women and minors.
In a court filing, attorneys for WilmerHale claimed that their prior work for an anti-sex trafficking organization that helped an alleged victim of Epstein, Courtney Wild, was unrelated to the case against JPMorgan brought by another Epstein accuser in the United States.
JPMorgan denies assisting Epstein.
Last Monday, the plaintiff’s unnamed counsel argued WilmerHale had a conflict of interest and should be dismissed.
In 2021, Wilmer/Hale attorneys wrote a friend-of-the-court brief for ECPAT-USA, requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Wild’s appeal to overturn Epstein and U.S. prosecutors’ 2007 non-prosecution bargain.
The court rejected it.
The Supreme Court of the United States declined in 2009 to overturn a plea agreement the deceased pedophile had reached in secret with Florida prosecutors.
In her case, Courtney Wild said that federal prosecutors in Florida reached a secret plea agreement with Epstein without consulting victims.
The report shows that in exchange for pleading guilty to minor state crimes relating to prostitution, Epstein, who died in a New York prison in 2019, avoided facing major federal accusations.
In a filing made on Monday, the law firm said that it didn’t represent Wild and claimed that its only involvement with ECPAT was to file a brief with the Supreme Court about a matter of law that had nothing to do with the JPMorgan case. The law firm claimed that EPCAT was not a party to Wild’s lawsuit since it was an impartial third party.
Attorneys Wilmer/Hale said the plaintiff was engaging in deception by trying to get JPMorgan’s favored legal firm disqualified.
Bradley Edwards, an attorney for the plaintiff who used to represent Wild, stated in a court declaration that Wilmer/Hale attorneys had discussed legal strategy with Wild’s legal team.
Although Wild is not a named defendant in the New York action, Edwards has claimed that she may be included in the plaintiff class since she was also harmed by Epstein.
