Bank of America Corp. has agreed 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 agreement in principle 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.
A representative for Bank of America declined to comment. The bank has denied wrongdoing.
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 Inc. 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. Details of the settlement are set to be filed with the court on March 27. A spokesman for Apollo Global Management Inc. co-founder Leon Black declined to comment. Black has consistently denied wrongdoing and was not named as a defendant 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.”
