Bank of America has reached a proposed, non-binding settlement in a lawsuit that alleged the bank helped facilitate Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s trafficking operation, according to court records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The proposed class-action complaint<\/a>, filed in October 2025, alleged that Bank of America \u201cknowingly provided the financial support and the veneer of institutional legitimacy\u201d to Epstein and ignored suspicious transactions by the late disgraced financier.\u00a0<\/p>\n A notice<\/a> on the case\u2019s docket said that lawyers for the bank and the victims \u201creached a settlement in principle.\u201d The terms of the settlement were not immediately disclosed and would need to be approved by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff had previously scheduled the case to go to trial on May 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n Undated photograph of Jeffrey Epstein in an unidentified location released by the US Justice Department, December 19, 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Handout\/US Department of Justice\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A court hearing to consider the settlement proposal is scheduled for April 2 in federal court in New York, according to the docket.<\/p>\n Bank of America declined to comment on the proposed settlement to ABC News. An attorney for the victims called the proposed settlement \u201cone more step on the road to much-deserved justice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe women entrapped and abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell started a monumental reckoning with their brave voices and fearlessness. The road to justice for these women has been long and trying,\u201d attorney Sigrid McCawley said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the terms of the settlement are unknown, a proposed resolution of the case would likely scuttle an upcoming deposition of Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black<\/a>, who was scheduled to sit for questioning on March 26.\u00a0 Black resigned from his role at Apollo in 2021 after an inquiry into his relationship with Epstein, which found that Black paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement from January, Black\u2019s attorney said that his client \u201chad no awareness of Epstein\u2019s criminal activities\u201d and that there is \u201cabsolutely no truth to any of the allegations against Mr. Black.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit against Bank of America alleged that those payments from Black and other transactions by Epstein should have raised concern by the bank, which \u201cfailed to alert law enforcement as to Epstein\u2019s crimes before it was far too late.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEpstein committed these crimes by means of not only his own extraordinary wealth and power, but through access to funding and financial support from both individuals and institutions, including Bank of America. Egregiously, Bank of America had a plethora of information regarding Epstein\u2019s sex trafficking operation but chose profit over protecting the victims,\u201d the lawsuit<\/u><\/a>\u00a0alleged.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bank of America had unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the court to dismiss the case by arguing that the suit was “based on nothing more than allegations that it provided routine services to customers who at the time had no known connection to Epstein\u2019s sex trafficking.”<\/p>\n \u201cBank of America opposes trafficking in all its forms. But this suit attempts to radically expand liability for banks, holding them liable for providing ordinary banking services to individuals one or more steps removed from a trafficker,\u201d a November 2025 filing<\/u><\/a>\u00a0from the bank\u2019s lawyers said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"America\"](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/c3564e8f-e84e-431e-b97f-df9f0a2510c2\/epstein-1-gty-gmh-260316_1773693617529_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"America\\"")
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