Epstein victims get $72.5M from Bank of America settlement

Financial institution of America has agreed to pay victims of infamous intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein $72.5 million to settle a category motion lawsuit alleging that the financial institution facilitated his intercourse trafficking operation, a New York federal courtroom submitting confirmed Friday night.

The settlement, wherein BoA didn’t admit wrongdoing, is the fourth settlement by a significant financial institution of authorized claims by Epstein victims or a authorities entity alleging they successfully abetted his trafficking whereas he was a buyer. The settlement with BoA should be accepted by U.S. District Courtroom in Manhattan Choose Jed Rakoff; such approval is often granted.

The settlement would pay “all girls who had been sexually abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, or by any one that is related to or in any other case related to Jeffrey Epstein or any Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking enterprise, between June 30, 2008 and July 6, 2019, inclusive,” in line with the submitting.

Legal professionals within the case are “conscious that there are at the least 60 girls who had been victimized by Epstein between” these dates, the submitting stated.

A Financial institution of America spokesman, in a press release, stated, “Whereas we stand by our prior ​statements made within the filings on this case, together with that Financial institution of America didn’t facilitate ⁠intercourse trafficking crimes, this decision permits us to place this matter behind us and offers additional closure for the plaintiffs.”

CNBC has requested remark from the 2 legislation corporations that represented the victims within the go well with filed in October 2025, Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Henderson.

Deutsche Financial institution, nevertheless, on the time of its settlement, stated, “We acknowledge our error onboarding Epstein in 2013, and the weaknesses in our processes, and have learnt from our errors and our shortcomings.”

These three prior lawsuits, like the present one in opposition to BoA, had been filed in Manhattan federal courtroom.

The lead plaintiff within the Financial institution of America case, who filed below the pseudonym Jane Doe, is a local of Russia who met Epstein in 2011.

The criticism in opposition to BoA stated that from that yr, by way of 2019, “Epstein sexually abused Jane Doe on at the least 100 events, together with however not restricted to, forcibly touching her, forcibly raping her, and forcing her to interact in sexual acts with different girls for his personal wicked sexual gratification.”

The go well with says that in Could 2013, Jane Doe opened a checking account at Financial institution of America on the path of Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn and an immigration legal professional as a part of a plan to defraud immigration officers.

The lawsuit stated a “latest investigation into Epstein’s crimes has revealed that billionaire Wall Avenue financier Leon Black paid Epstein together with $170 million for purported ‘tax and property planning recommendation’ from his Financial institution of America account.”

Black in 2023 agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands $62.5 million, and in return, that authorities launched him from any potential authorized claims associated to Epstein.

“On the coronary heart of the Amended Grievance, Lead Plaintiff alleges that Jeffrey Epstein’s intercourse trafficking enterprise was facilitated and enabled by [Bank of America] serving to Epstein keep away from regulators’ scrutiny and offering Epstein with withdrawal and wire companies, all so Defendant may revenue from Epstein and his associates,” the submitting in regards to the settlement says.

“Lead Plaintiff additional alleges that Defendant’s help to Epstein’s intercourse trafficking enterprise prevented the authorities from discovering his unlawful scheme and elevated the scale and scale of Epstein’s entry to and management of victims, inflicting harm to members of the Class,” the submitting stated.

The financial institution “has expressly denied, and continues to disclaim, that it participated in or in any other case assisted, supported, or facilitated the Epstein sex-trafficking enterprise in any approach or that it engaged in obstruction.”

Epstein, 66, killed himself in a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on youngster intercourse trafficking prices.

He beforehand had pleaded responsible to soliciting an underage woman for prostitution in Florida state courtroom in 2008, and ended up serving 13 months in jail.