Lawyers have estimated that up to 75 women who were victims of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein may have a stake in the $72.5 million settlement reached with Bank of America. United States District Judge Jed Rakoff called on the lawyers to compile a broad list of publications by Friday to notify Epstein’s victims, who are believed to number in the hundreds. Rakoff explained he wanted to ensure that “nobody is left out” of the settlement. A final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for August 27.
The settlement was first announced in court filings on March 27, after a proposed class action lawsuit against Bank of America was allowed to proceed. In October, a woman using the pseudonym Jane Doe filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and other women and girls who allege they were abused by Epstein. She and her lawyers argued that Bank of America, the second-largest banking institution in the US, ignored suspicious transactions related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations. The lawsuit further alleged that Bank of America knowingly benefited from its relationship with Epstein and obstructed enforcement of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a federal law designed to prosecute sex trafficking.
As part of the settlement, Bank of America reiterated its position that it did not participate in Epstein’s sex crimes. In a statement, the bank said: “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.” Rakoff gave his preliminary approval to the settlement, though he acknowledged that the gravity of Epstein’s crimes goes beyond a dollar amount.
The Bank of America deal is the third such settlement with a major banking institution. In 2023, two other financial organizations, JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, also agreed to settle with victims over accusations that they overlooked telltale signs of Epstein’s crimes. JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million, while Deutsche Bank settled for $75 million. However, in January, Rakoff dismissed a lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon, a decision that lawyers for Doe are appealing. Rakoff has argued that, while it is fair to seek compensation from those who facilitated Epstein’s crimes, not everyone associated with the convicted sex offender should be held liable.
Prosecutors believe Epstein had been preying upon girls and young women for decades before his death in a New York City jail in 2019, which was ruled a suicide. One of the lawyers representing Doe, David Boies, said he believes there are at least 60 to 75 women who may be eligible to participate in the Bank of America settlement. He added: “There may be more we haven’t identified.” Epstein, a wealthy financier, also cultivated a social circle that included influential figures in politics, arts, and business, such as the disgraced former UK prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and two US presidents, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, which critics have long argued helped shield him from accountability during his lifetime.
Source: www.aljazeera.com