BofA Agrees to Settle Claims It Aided Epstein Sex Crimes

Bank of America Corp. has reached an agreement in principle to settle a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein victims who accused the bank of aiding in the deceased financier’s sex-trafficking, according to a court record.

The tentative agreement was noted Monday in the court docket in the case. Terms of the deal were not immediately available. Any settlement must be approved by US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan.

The same lawyers who previously secured settlements with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG over Epstein ties sued Bank of America in October. While the earlier cases were over Epstein’s own banking relationships, the Bank of America suit mainly focused on accounts allegedly used by “his co-conspirators, associates and victims.”

The timing of the agreement will likely allow Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black to avoid a scheduled March 26 deposition in which he was to sit for eight hours of closed-door testimony in the case.

According to the suit, Black transferred $170 million to Epstein from Bank of America accounts. Lawyers for the victims alleged those transfers were “the primary means by which the sex-trafficking venture was funded and for which there was no apparent business or lawful purpose.”

Bank of America has denied wrongdoing. Black has consistently denied wrongdoing and was not named as a defendant in the case.

In June 2023, JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million to settle Epstein-related suits. Deutsche Bank reached a $75 million pact earlier that year.

Top photo: A Bank of America branch in New York. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg.