A federal judge in New York announced on Thursday that he would give final approval to Bank of America’s $72.5 million class-action settlement with women who accused the bank of enabling sexual abuse by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. The ruling was delivered by US District Judge Jed Rakoff during a hearing in Manhattan.
Judge Rakoff emphasized that the settlement would offer many victims meaningful compensation and a measure of justice, even if it was not complete. He dismissed objections from three accusers who argued that the agreement was overly broad, as it required them to relinquish related claims against the bank and other potential defendants without receiving additional compensation.
The judge also rejected the claim that the settlement should exclude allegations that differed significantly from those of the lead plaintiff, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe. Doe, a Florida resident, testified that she was living in Russia when she met Epstein and was sexually abused by him at least 100 times between 2011 and 2019. She stated that Epstein repeatedly paid her to assist in his sex trafficking operations, with his funds frequently wired into and out of her Bank of America accounts.
This lawsuit is among several accusing Epstein’s financial institutions of ignoring suspicious transactions linked to his activities, allegedly to avoid losing his business. Many of these transactions took place after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida state prostitution charge and was registered as a sex offender.
Doe’s legal team previously secured settlements totaling $290 million from JPMorgan Chase and $75 million from Deutsche Bank in 2023 on behalf of Epstein’s accusers. When Bank of America agreed to settle in March, it denied facilitating any sex trafficking crimes.
Jeffrey Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The New York City medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.
