The U.S. Virgin Islands has subpoenaed Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk for papers in its lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) for enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual assaults.
After failing to locate him, the Virgin Islands requested alternate service for Musk’s April 28 subpoena on Monday.
The U.S. territory did not subpoena Musk under oath and did not accuse him of wrongdoing.
According to the Monday lawsuit filing in Manhattan’s U.S. District lawsuit, Epstein may have introduced Musk, one of the world’s richest people, to JPMorgan. The Virgin Islands didn’t explain its Musk document request.
Musk tweeted late Monday that Epstein’s financial advice was ludicrous. He remarked of Epstein, “That cretin never advised me on anything whatsoever.”
Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
The U.S. Virgin Islands accuses JPMorgan of ignoring Epstein’s mistreatment of women on Little St. James, his private island. The bank denies Epstein’s misdeeds.
The Virgin Islands subpoenaed Musk’s records on Epstein’s human trafficking and commercial sex.
The subpoena also requested Musk-Epstein contacts and JPMorgan entrepreneur communications about Epstein. Musk’s Epstein and JPMorgan fees are also subpoenaed.
Musk-Epstein connections were uncertain. In 2019, Musk and Tesla disputed that Epstein was coaching Musk after the Tesla CEO got into difficulty with authorities for suggesting he had the cash to take Tesla private, the New York Times reported.
A Musk representative informed the New York Times that Epstein never advised Elon.
Musk is the second Virgin Islands-afflicted tech entrepreneur. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled earlier this month that the territory may serve legal documents on Larry Page, the co-founder of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O)-owned Google.
In January, Musk testified in a Tesla shareholder lawsuit that JPMorgan had all of Tesla’s commercial banking business. Still, the relationship soured after the bank did not support Tesla’s car leasing line.
Tesla shareholder claims that Musk’s 2018 tweet indicating he had “funding secured” to take the carmaker private misled investors and cost them billions of dollars, led to that trial. The jury acquitted Musk.
JPMorgan sued Tesla for $162 million in 2021, claiming the “funding secured” tweet repriced Tesla stock warrants. Last year, Tesla countersued the bank for pursuing a windfall.
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