Sometimes the only way to win is not to play. JPMorgan Chase has learnt the hard way that this advice applies not just to nuclear conflict in the film War Games but also to certain legal fights.

On Tuesday, the US bank halted the scorched-earth litigation over claims that it enabled convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for 15 years to 2013 and profited from his A-list contacts. The bank agreed to pay $75mn to settle claims from the US Virgin Islands that it had helped Epstein’s human-trafficking operation at his home in the territory. It also settled a separate lawsuit where it had sought to claw back more than $80mn in remuneration from Jes Staley, the former top JPMorgan executive who was Epstein’s main contact.

These settlements come on top of the $290mn that the bank has agreed to pay to the dozens of women who claim to have been abused by the convicted sex offender, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting a trial on new charges.