JPMorgan Chase is resisting attempts by lawyers to question Jamie Dimon under oath in litigation over the US bank’s decision to retain Jeffrey Epstein as a client for 15 years, although it has agreed for one of its longtime chief executive’s key lieutenants to be deposed.

In documents filed to a New York court on Tuesday, lawyers for the lender — which faces related lawsuits from an Epstein victim and the US Virgin Islands, where the late sex offender had a home — said they did not believe Dimon was an “appropriate deponent”.

Lawyers for JPMorgan did agree to find a date in March for a deposition of Mary Erdoes, the head of JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management division, where Epstein was a client. Erdoes remains one of the bank’s top executives.