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Elon Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla, meets with French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire on the sidelines of the sixth edition of the “Choose France” summit at Château de Versailles, outside Paris on May 15, 2023.
Ludovic Marin | pool | via Reuters
United State Virgin Islands issued summons to court to Tesla CEO Elon Musk is seeking documents for the government’s lawsuit against her c. B. Morgan Chase about sex trafficking by late longtime bank client Jeffrey Epstein, a lawsuit revealed Monday.
That request said that the Virgin Islands had unsuccessfully attempted to serve Musk the subpoena, which was issued on April 28, over suspicions that Epstein “may have referred or attempted to refer” Musk as a client to JPMorgan.
U.S. Lands asked Manhattan federal court judge Jed Rakoff, in a filing, to allow it to serve Musk with a subpoena for documents with Tesla’s registered agent.
That subpoena required Musk to turn over any documents showing contact with him, JPMorgan, and Epstein, as well as “all documents reflecting or relating to Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and/or procurement of girls or women for consensual sex.”
The Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan for allegedly enabling Epstein to smuggle girls to his private island in the territory and use him to victimize them by himself and others.
JPMorgan denies the government’s allegations, which are reflected in a separate civil lawsuit pending in Manhattan federal court by a woman who says Epstein sexually assaulted her. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is set to be fired in both lawsuits starting May 26.
A May 4 court filing from the Virgin Islands revealed that the government had issued a subpoena similar to documents for Google co-founder Larry Page, and that it, too, was having difficulty locating the page.
The district previously issued subpoenas to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former Disney CEO Michael Ovitz, CEO of the Hyatt Thomas Pritzker Hotel Group, and Mort Zuckerman, a billionaire real estate investor.
In a filing on Monday, the Virgin Islands said: “Based on information and belief, Elon Musk — the CEO of Tesla, Inc., among others — is a high-net-worth individual who Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer to JPMorgan.”
The government said it has hired an investigation firm to try to locate Musk’s address, and has also contacted one of his attorneys.
This attorney waived in previous federal cases the requirement to be presented in person with legal documents, according to the filing.
“The government contacted Mr. Musk’s attorney by email to ask if he would be authorized to accept service on behalf of Mr. Musk in this matter, but has not received a response confirming or denying his authority,” the lawsuit states.
CNBC has reached out to seek comment from Musk. In addition to being the CEO of Tesla, Musk is the chairman of SpaceX and the owner of Twitter.
In 2018, Epstein said New York Times writer James Stewart said he was advising Musk after the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into Musk’s comments about taking the company private.
Video from the NBC archives showing Donald Trump speaking with Jeffrey Epstein at a party that has been held at Mar-a-Lago since 1992.
NBC
When the Times reached out to Tesla for comment, the company adamantly denied the claim, saying, “It would be wrong to say that Epstein advised Elon on anything.” Epstein predicted to Stewart that “everyone at Tesla would deny ever talking to him or being his friend,” according to an article about their encounter.
Epstein, a former friend of Donald Trump’s Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew, was a client of the bank from 1998 until 2013. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a Florida state charge of soliciting sex from an underage girl.
Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan prison in August 2019, a month after he was arrested on charges of child trafficking for sexual purposes.
Additional reporting by CNBC Laura Kolodny
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