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A woman who was trafficked and raped Jeffrey Epstein has sued two major New York City banks, alleging they helped him empire of abuse By failing to take action on suspicious transactions.
In a pair of class action complaints filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, attorneys for “Jane Doe” allege Bank of America and the Bank of New York Mellon (known as BNY) “participated in and financially benefited from” the abuse of “thousands of women and girls”.
“Excessive, [these banks] There was a lot of information regarding Epstein’s sex trafficking operationBut chose profit over the safety of victims,” the complaints state.
,[The banks] Epstein and his co-conspirators knowingly provided financial support and a veil of institutional legitimacy to further their international sex-trafficking organization under the guise of non-criminal business activities.
“And because the bank[s] Failed to timely file a Suspicious Activity Report in respect of any of these transactions, [they] “Failed to alert law enforcement about Epstein’s crimes before it was too late.”
Neither bank has yet responded to those claims in court and both declined to comment when contacted Independent,
This is not the first time banks have been accused of complicity in Epstein’s abuse. In 2023, JPMorgan Chase paid $290 million to settle victims’ lawsuit And $75 million to settle another island off the US Virgin IslandsWithout admitting any mistake.
In the same year, Deutsche Bank paid $75 million to settle a similar lawsuit from victimsAgain did not admit any fault.
Wednesday’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Florida resident, known only as Jane Doe, due to the sensitive nature of her claims and her fear of retaliation from Epstein’s “co-conspirators.”
According to Doe’s lawyers, between 2011 and 2019, Epstein “educated” and “forced” her into a “cult-like life”, where the disgraced financier controlled her “financially, emotionally and psychologically”, raping or sexually assaulting her on “at least 100 occasions”.
In May 2013, Doe opened an account at Bank of America, allegedly on the instructions of Epstein’s longtime accountant,
Epstein then allegedly used this account to pay for Doe’s living expenses and create paperwork to fool immigration authorities into letting her stay in the US.
Doe’s lawyers further alleged that BNY handled the accounts of and loaned money to MC2, a modeling agency founded by Epstein. French fashion scout and alleged serial rapist Jean-Luc Brunel,
Epstein then used MC2 to “recruit new victims from around the world”, allegedly leveraging the BNY account to finance his sex-trafficking operation.
“Epstein could not have expanded his operation to the levels it ultimately reached without the collusion of financial banking institutions that would ignore red flags and assist him in his sex-trafficking scheme,” the complaints allege.
“The essential ingredient that Epstein needed to expand his sexual exploitation and sex trafficking enterprise of young women was a financial institution that would have known – but not cared – that Epstein was sexually exploiting women on a daily basis and paying them millions in hush money.”
US banks are legally required to remain vigilant against money-laundering, verify and monitor their customers, and report signs of criminal activity to the federal government.
The lawsuits claim that both BNY and Bank of America should have known that Epstein required special investigation, not just because of his controversial plea deal in 2008, but due to the drumbeat of public allegations about him and his associates during the last few years of his life.
,[These banks] “They cared about one thing – profits – and showed complete loyalty to Epstein, which included a willingness to violate banking laws, ignore numerous red flags of criminality, and directly participate in sex trafficking to enable Epstein to satisfy his abusive sexual appetite at the expense of countless vulnerable young women,” the complaints allege.