BofA, BNY Sued Over Alleged Ties to Epstein Sex-Trafficking

Bank of America Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. were hit by proposed class-action lawsuits accusing them of aiding in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme.

The same lawyers who previously secured settlements with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG over Epstein ties on Wednesday accused Bank of New York of processing $387 million in payments to women trafficked by the financier. In a separate suit, the lawyers said Bank of America knowingly facilitated payments that were part of Epstein’s sex-trafficking.

Spokespeople for Bank of America and Bank of New York both declined to comment on the suits, which were filed on behalf of Epstein victims.

The complaint against Bank of America doesn’t allege Epstein was a client but focuses instead on accounts at the bank allegedly used by “his co-conspirators, associates and victims,” including Ghislaine Maxwell. According to the suit, Bank of America was aware these accounts were being used for crimes.

“Bank of America had a plethora of information regarding Epstein’s sex trafficking operation but chose profit over protecting the victims,” lawyer David Boies said in the suit.

Wednesday’s suits both extensively cite a July letter by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking Democrat on the finance committee, urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to subpoena payment and transfer records from several banks. The suit noted Wyden’s suspicion about $170 million Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black allegedly sent Epstein from Bank of America accounts, supposedly for tax and estate planning advice.

Wyden has said his investigators have documented more than 4,700 transfers of funds in and out of Epstein’s accounts before his 2019 death by suicide in prison. The transfers were detailed by banks in so-called suspicious activity reports that are supposed to serve as an early-warning system to investigators about possible criminal activity. Some of the banks did not file the reports until years later.

In June 2023, JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million to settle suits by Epstein victims represented by Boies, Sigrid McCawley and Bradley Edwards. Deutsche Bank reached a $75 million pact earlier that year.

The case are Doe v. Bank of America NA, 25-cv-8520, US District Court, Southern District of New York, and Doe v. Bank of New York Mellon Corp., 25-cv-8525, US District Court, Southern District of New York.

--With assistance from Katherine Doherty.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Lin at alin364@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg

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