A Bank of America branch in New York, US on Saturday, October 11, 2025.
Michael Nagel | Bloomberg | getty images
Bank of America Victims of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the bank helped his sex trafficking operation, a filed in New York federal court Showed on Friday evening.
The settlement, in which BOA did not admit wrongdoing, is the fourth settlement by a major bank over legal claims by Epstein victims or a government entity alleging they effectively facilitated his trafficking when he was a client. The agreement with BOA must be approved by Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan; Such approval is generally granted.
According to the filing, the settlement will pay “all women who were sexually abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein between June 30, 2008, and July 6, 2019, or by anyone associated with or otherwise associated with Jeffrey Epstein or any Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking enterprise.”
The filing said lawyers in the case “are aware that there are at least 60 women who were victimized by Epstein between those dates”.
A Bank of America spokesperson said in a statement, “While we stand by our prior statements made in 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 resolution for the plaintiffs.”
CNBC has requested comment from Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Henderson, the two law firms representing victims in the lawsuit filed in October 2025.
pre bank settlement
However, Deutsche Bank said at the time of its settlement, “We acknowledge our mistakes in engaging Epstein in 2013 and the weaknesses in our processes, and we have learned from our mistakes and our shortcomings.”
Those three prior lawsuits, like the current lawsuit against BOA, were filed in Manhattan federal court.
What was alleged in the lawsuit
The lead plaintiff in the Bank of America case, who filed under the pseudonym Jane Doe, is a native of Russia who met Epstein in 2011.
The complaint against the BOA states that from that year to 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 depraved sexual gratification.”
The lawsuit says that in May 2013, Jane Doe opened a bank account at Bank of America at the direction of Epstein’s accountant, Richard Kahn, and an immigration attorney as part of a scheme to defraud immigration authorities.
“Recent investigations into Epstein’s crimes have revealed that billionaire Wall Street financier Leon Black made payments to Epstein, including $170 million, from his Bank of America account for alleged ‘tax and estate planning advice,'” the lawsuit says.
Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2023, and in exchange, the government released him from any potential legal claims related to Epstein.
“At the core of the amended complaint, lead plaintiffs allege that Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise was facilitated by (Bank of America) and helped Epstein avoid regulators’ investigations and provided withdrawal and wire services to Epstein so that defendants could profit from Epstein and his associates,” the filing about the settlement says.
“Lead Plaintiff further alleges that Defendants’ assistance to Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise prevented authorities from discovering his illegal scheme and increased the size and scale of Epstein’s access to and control over victims, causing harm to Class Members,” the filing says.
The bank “categorically denies, and continues to deny, that it in any way participated in the Epstein sex-trafficking enterprise or otherwise aided, supported or facilitated or that it engaged in hindering.”
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a federal prison in Manhattan in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on child sex trafficking charges.
He had previously pleaded guilty in a Florida state court in 2008 to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and was sentenced to 13 months in prison.