Bank of America to Pay $72.5 Million to Settle Jeffrey Epstein Sex-Trafficking Lawsuit

Bank of America agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by hundreds of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse victims, according to court documents filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The settlement resolves allegations that the bank facilitated Epstein's sex-trafficking ring by overlooking suspicious financial transactions linked to his accounts. Bank of America denied wrongdoing but said the resolution allows the institution to move past the matter. The deal requires approval from U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who was set to consider the terms on Thursday.

Third major bank to settle with Epstein victims The Bank of America agreement is the third major bank settlement arising from the same team of victims' lawyers pursuing financial institutions that provided services to Epstein. JPMorgan Chase previously agreed to pay $290 million, and Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $75 million, to resolve similar claims by the same group. An agreement in principle between Bank of America and the victims had been announced earlier in March, but the specific financial terms were not disclosed until Friday's court filing. The settlement covers victims whom Epstein abused between 2008 and 2019, entitling many of them to monetary compensation. Lawyers for the victims, including David Boies and Bradley Edwards, may seek up to 30 percent of the settlement amount in fees.

JPMorgan Chase: 290, Deutsche Bank: 75, Bank of America: 72.5 72.5 (million USD) — Bank of America settlement with Epstein victims

Lawsuit details a pattern of ignored red flags The lawsuit, filed in October 2025, alleged that Bank of America financially benefited from its relationship with Epstein and ignored an "abundance" of information about his crimes. Transactions to and from accomplices, associates, and victims of Epstein passed through accounts the bank managed, according to the complaint. The lead plaintiff, an unidentified woman who came to the United States from Russia in 2011 at approximately 20 years of age, said Epstein sexually abused her at least 100 times and coerced her into a life of total dependence on him. In 2013, Bank of America opened an account for the woman at the direction of Epstein's employees, even though she spoke little English and had no job or discernible source of income — factors the lawsuit described as potential red flags for sex trafficking. Most of Bank of America's involvement with Epstein began after JPMorgan stopped doing business with him, and by that period his main victims were young women, many of them would-be models from Russia and Ukraine. A Bank of America spokesman stated the bank stood by its prior filings in the case.

„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.” — Bank of America spokesman via The New York Times

Epstein's criminal history stretched across two decades Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to a charge of soliciting prostitution from an underage teenage girl and was sentenced to 18 months in a county jail, serving 13 months before release. He was required to register as a sex offender following that conviction. Concern that his sentence was too lenient prompted federal authorities in New York to open a new investigation, and in 2019 they charged him with sex trafficking of underage girls. JPMorgan provided banking services to Epstein for roughly 15 years, from approximately 1998 to 2013, a period that prosecutors said coincided with his abuse of dozens of teenage girls and young women. Deutsche Bank managed Epstein's accounts for approximately five years before also cutting ties with him.

Epstein died in August 2019 while in federal custody awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and the civil litigation against financial institutions that served him has continued in the years since. The Bank of America lawsuit was filed in October 2025 in the Southern District of New York, the same court that handled the earlier cases against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank. The victims' legal team, led by David Boies and Bradley Edwards, has pursued a strategy of holding class-action claims against banks that provided financial infrastructure to Epstein's network. The settlement still requires judicial approval, and Judge Rakoff's review will determine whether the terms are fair and adequate for the hundreds of victims represented in the case. The three bank settlements together total more than $437 million paid to Epstein's victims through civil litigation against financial institutions.