Tesla electric car CEO Elon Musk meets with French Minister for the Economy and Finances Bruno Le Maire on the sidelines of the 6th edition of the “Choose France” Summit at Chateau de Versailles, outside Paris on May 15 , 2023.
Ludovic Marin | Pool | Via Reuters
The United States Virgin Islands released a subpoena in Tesla CEO Elon Musk is seeking documents for that government’s case against the JPMorgan Chase over the sex trafficking of late longtime bank customer Jeffrey Epstein, a court filing revealed Monday.
That filing said the Virgin Islands unsuccessfully tried to serve Musk on the subpoena, which was issued on April 28, on suspicion that Epstein “may have referred or attempted to refer” Musk as a client to JPMorgan.
The US territory asked Manhattan federal court Judge Jed Rakoff in the filing to allow it to serve Musk with a subpoena for documents on Tesla’s registered agent.
That subpoena asks Musk to turn over any documents showing communications involving him, JPMorgan and Epstein, as well as “all Documents reflecting or relating to Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and/or his taking women or girls for consensual sex.”
The Virgin Islands sued JPMorgan for allegedly enabling and profiting from Epstein’s trafficking of young women to his private island territory for him and others to abuse.
JPMorgan has denied the government’s claims, which are mirrored in a separate civil lawsuit pending in Manhattan federal court by a woman who claims Epstein sexually abused her. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is due to be fired for both charges starting May 26.
A May 4 court filing by the Virgin Islands revealed that the government had issued a similar subpoena for documents on Google co-founder Larry Page, and that it was also struggling to locate Page.
And the territory has previously issued subpoenas to Page’s fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former Disney executive Michael Ovitz, Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker and Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire investor in real estate.
In Monday’s filing, the Virgin Islands said, “On information and belief, Elon Musk — the CEO of Tesla, Inc., among other companies — is a high-net-worth individual who may have been identified or attempted by Epstein. to refer to JPMorgan.”
The government said it has hired an investigative firm to try to find an address from Musk, and has also contacted one of his lawyers.
That attorney in previous federal cases has waived the need to personally serve him legal documents, according to the filing.
“The Government 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 statement said. confrontation.
CNBC has reached out to request comment from Musk. In addition to being the CEO of Tesla, Musk is the head of SpaceX and owner of Twitter.
In 2018, Epstein said The New York Times writer James Stewart said he advised Musk after the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into Musk’s comments about taking the company private.
A video still from the NBC archives showing Donald Trump talking to Jeffrey Epstein at a Mar-A-Lago party from 1992.
NBC
When the Times reached Tesla for comment, the company vehemently denied that claim, saying, “It is incorrect to say that Epstein advised Elon on anything.” Epstein predicted to Stewart that “everyone at Tesla would refuse to talk to him or be friends with him,” according to an article about their interview.
Epstein, a former friend of Donald Trump Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew, was a customer of the bank from 1998 to 2013. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a Florida state charge of soliciting sex from a minor. old woman
Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, a month after being arrested on child sex trafficking charges.
— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Lora Kolodny
