Lawyers launch search for Epstein survivors as part of Bank of America’s $72.5m settlement

Lawyers have estimated that as many as 75 women may have a stake in the $72.5 million settlement reached with Bank of America over convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

United States District Judge Jed Rakoff had called on the lawyers to compile a broad list of publications by Friday that could be used to notify Epstein’s victims, who are believed to number in the hundreds.

Rakoff explained he wanted to make sure 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 who went by the pseudonym Jane Doe filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and the other women and girls who were abused by Epstein.

She and her lawyers argued that Bank of America, the second-largest banking institution in the US, had ignored suspicious transactions related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations.

The lawsuit further stated that the 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 claimed that it did not participate in Epstein’s sex crimes.

Rakoff, however, gave his preliminary approval to the settlement on Thursday, though he acknowledged that the gravity of Epstein’s crimes goes beyond a dollar amount.

“While it is perhaps extremely likely that the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s monstrous acts can never be fully compensated, the victims are entitled to receive just compensation from any person or entity that knowingly, recklessly or otherwise unlawfully facilitated his sexual trafficking,” Rakoff said.

The Bank of America settlement is the third such agreement 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 signs of Epstein’s crimes. JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $290 million, while Deutsche Bank settled for $75 million.

Prosecutors believe Epstein had been preying upon girls and young women for decades before his death in a New York City jail in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide, even though he was on a suicide watch at the time.

A wealthy financier, Epstein had also cultivated a social circle inhabited by some of the most powerful figures in politics, arts and business.

They included figures like Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, a member of the United Kingdom’s royal family, and two US presidents, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk