The former first lady of the U.S. Virgin Islands helped Jeffrey Epstein’s victims get visas and lined up English-language classes for them, facilitating his alleged sex-trafficking scheme, JPMorgan Chase said in a new court filing.

The bank released emails between Epstein and the former first lady, Cecile de Jongh, who was also an office manager for the convicted sex offender’s businesses in the U.S. territory, as part of a lawsuit between the government and the bank over Epstein’s connections to both. …

“JPMorgan Chase has cherry-picked and mischaracterized Epstein’s interactions with U.S. Virgin Islands officials and residents in an attempt to distract and shift blame away from its role in facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes,” a spokeswoman for the territory’s attorney general said Thursday.

[No doubt JPMC wants to shift the blame, but it does raise some questions about *how* Epstein managed to succeed at trafficking. Someone in the government had to be purposefully averting eyes at his operation at the very least, and it probably would have taken more direct action than passive ignorance for that to work. — Ed]