Women abused by Jeffrey Epstein sued Bank of America in Manhattan on Wednesday, alleging its executives violated banking laws and ignored red flags out of “absolute loyalty” to the deceased financier and disregard for victims of his child sex trafficking ring.
The Manhattan federal court suit, filed on behalf of an individual Jane Doe who alleges Epstein abused her from 2011 through 2019 and a proposed class of victims, alleges Bank of America ignored “a plethora” of evidence that Epstein, for years, trafficked teenage girls and young women, but chose to profit over protecting them.
“Bank of America cared about one thing—profit—and showed absolute loyalty to Epstein,” the suit reads.
“Epstein only offered his business to Bank of America because it was knowingly aiding Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and the concealment thereof. Bank of America knew that if it stopped aiding the operation, it would lose the Epstein-related accounts and the financial benefits attached to handling those accounts.”
Bank of America declined to comment.
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AP This March 28, 2017 image provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein.
Wednesday’s lawsuit cites Treasury Department records showing Epstein and his associates made 4,725 wire transfers totaling more than $1 billion between 2003 and 2019, highlighted in an ongoing probe by the House Judiciary Committee.
It alleges that at least one account Epstein asked Jane Doe to open at Bank of America in 2013 was used by the well-connected wealth manager and his accountant, Richard Kahn, until Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019, “for activities unknown and unexplained to Jane Doe.”
“[E]veryone knew or should have known at least after 2006 that Epstein was running a sex-trafficking scheme paying many victims with enormous amounts of cash as well as suspicions wire transfers, and that he was using loyal employees to do so,” the suit reads.
“To the extent Bank of America could publicly feign plausible deniability before Epstein’s arrest in 2006, thereafter its ability to play dumb was eviscerated, as the details of his daily sexual abuse of young females came to public light and when he ultimately was required to register as a sex offender.”
The allegations mirror those brought in similar actions against JPMorgan Chase, which agreed to pay $290 million to at least 100 victims of Epstein in a settlement reached in June 2023, and Deutsche Bank, which agreed to settle for $75 million the same year.
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