Bank of America is paying $72.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit claiming it enabled sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The lawsuit claimed Bank of America ignored “obvious red flags” while doing business with Epstein and his associates, according to the New York Post.
The bank, so the lawsuit claimed, could have brought law enforcement down upon Epstein sooner if it had adopted a see-no-evil policy. Epstein died in 2019 in a federal jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Bank of America is the third bank to settle a lawsuit linked to Epstein. JPMorgan Chase ponied up for $290 million. Deutsche Bank settled for $75 million.
In a statement, a Bank of America representative said, “While we stand by our prior statements made in the filings in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex-trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs,” according to The New York Times.
Bank of America became Epstein’s bank after JPMorgan cut ties with him.
The settlement would pay “all women who were sexually abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, or by any person who is connected to or otherwise associated with Jeffrey Epstein or any Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking venture, between June 30, 2008 and July 6, 2019, inclusive,” according to CNBC.
Lawyers estimate “that there are at least 60 women who were victimized by Epstein between” those dates, the filing said.
The lead plaintiff alleged that after meeting Epstein in 2011, and through 2019, “Epstein sexually abused Jane Doe on at least 100 occasions, including but not limited to, forcibly touching her, forcibly raping her, and forcing her to engage in sexual acts with other women for his own depraved sexual gratification.”
The suit says that in May 2013, the woman, known in court papers as Jane Doe opened a bank account at Bank of America at the direction of Epstein’s accountant and an immigration attorney to defraud immigration officials.
Hellbound and Down 