A woman who says Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her at least 100 times is suing Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon over their alleged ties to the convicted predator, accusing the banks of maintaining relationships with him and failing to report suspicious activities until after his 2019 death.
The class-action lawsuits, filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday on behalf of a Jane Doe and other alleged Epstein survivors, claim the sicko couldn’t have run his trafficking operation without special treatment from banks including the defendants.
The complaint against Bank of America, the second biggest bank in the US, graphically describes the sexual violence Epstein allegedly inflicted on the plaintiff.
“From 2011 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 lawsuit stated.
The document also cites previous reports to illustrate the scale of the sicko’s alleged crimes, noting that “Epstein had been sexually abusing three to four young females per day.”
“It was a full-time job for him,” the suit stated.
The plaintiff is going by Jane Doe because of the “sensitive and highly personal nature of this matter” and concerns about possible retaliation, the suit said.
Spokespersons for Bank of America and BNY Mellon had no immediate comment.
The legal action centers on claims the Jane Doe plaintiff opened a Bank of America account in May 2013 at the instructions of Epstein’s accountant, adding that he transferred about $14,000 into it.
Epstein and the accountant continued to use accounts set up for the woman at the bank for years, including one that lasted until 2019 — the year Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell — the suit said.
News of the Bank of America lawsuit, which seeks unspecified financial damages, was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The new cases add to the growing legal fallout over Epstein’s banking relationships.
The latest suits were brought by lawyers including Brad Edwards and David Boies, who have represented many of Epstein’s victims and previously filed similar class-action lawsuits against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank in 2022.
“The other banks responsible for allowing Epstein’s trafficking should have contacted us during the previous litigation to do the right thing for these victims,” Edwards told the Journal.
“It is sad that only through lawsuits and Congress are we able to bring justice to this obvious problem,” he added.
The plaintiffs accused BNY of giving a line of credit to modeling agency MC2. Epstein and French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel allegedly used the agency to traffic victims as BNY processed $378 million in payments to women trafficked by Epstein.
The suits cited the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the main US law targeting sex trafficking. It enables victims to sue not only their traffickers, but anyone who “knowingly benefits” from a sex-trafficking venture, too.
The complaints included related tort claims under New York law, which the federal court has jurisdiction to hear alongside the federal counts.
Previous suits against big banks resulted in settlements.
JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank have said they regret their relationships with Epstein and settled the suits in 2023 without admitting wrongdoing. JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million to victims, while Deutsche Bank paid $75 million.
Epstein’s estate recently provided Congress a list of more than 20 banks that held accounts for the perverted financier and entities related to him. Several banks had accounts for Epstein in his later years, according to the Journal.
Banks are required to monitor and report suspicious activities to avoid enabling money laundering and other criminal activity.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) recently revealed that several banks filed “suspicious activity reports,” or SARs, after Epstein’s 2019 arrest — years after the transactions occurred.
Bank of America filed reports in 2020 covering $158 million in transactions between Epstein and billionaire investor Leon Black, the former CEO of Apollo Global Management.
A review by Apollo’s board found that Black paid Epstein for estate planning and tax services.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) recently sent letters to the CEOs of BNY Mellon, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank asking how Epstein and his associates were able to conduct more than $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions for years without detection.
The House Judiciary Committee has deliberated sending subpoenas to the banks after internal congressional memos showed repeated delays in reporting large transfers tied to Epstein and his network.
Last year, the New York Times revealed that Bank of America processed Epstein-related payments through at least 2018 — despite earlier internal warnings about cash withdrawals and transfers to accounts linked to young women.
Senate investigators have demanded the bank explain how it handled those transactions and whether any of its compliance staff raised concerns internally before Epstein’s death.
In a letter released this month, Wyden said financial institutions must “show the public they are not shielding the powerful and connected from accountability.” He called on the Treasury Department to release all Epstein-related financial records still under seal.
Credit: Source link
