An alleged victim of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein filed amended complaints against Bank of America and BNY last week, adding to her claims that the banks failed to protect her from Epstein’s sex trafficking venture while knowingly benefiting from it.
Jane Doe, who filed class-action lawsuits against both banks in October, alleged in a new complaint that BofA conducted no due diligence when it opened an account in an Epstein victim’s name, while it had “actual and constructive knowledge” that the account was being used to facilitate his sex trafficking venture.
“Tens of thousands of dollars of Epstein’s money was transferred in and out of that account despite the lack of explanation for why a victim who spoke little English and had no prospect of legitimate employment or personal wealth would be receiving such funds from a sex trafficker,” Doe alleged in the BofA suit.
Doe filed the amended complaints after U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff expressed skepticism about the suits, saying they were “frequently conclusory” and failed to demonstrate the banks’ wrongdoing, Business Insider reported last month. Rakoff said the lawsuits were “a model of high-pitched rhetoric.”
Doe’s complaint does not cite Epstein as a direct client of BofA. However, it alleged the bank transferred millions of dollars from onetime Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black to Epstein and his entities without an apparent lawful and business reason, and that BofA provided a business operating account to Epstein associate Jean-Luc Brunel’s modeling firm MC2, which was accused of luring and exploiting young women.
In a separate amended complaint, Doe alleged BNY processed hundreds of suspicious wire transfers totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to, from, and on behalf of Epstein, his entities and his known associates. BNY also “recklessly disregarded” Epstein’s connections to Brunel, whose own sex crimes were investigated in 1988 by CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Doe asserted.
BofA and BNY failed to file timely suspicious activity reports on these and other transactions, further facilitating Epstein’s crimes, Doe alleged.
In alleging that BofA and BNY “knew, should have known, and recklessly disregarded” Epstein’s crimes, Doe highlighted how well-documented his untoward behavior was, dating back to a 2002 New York Magazine article which “emphasized the need to scrutinize the source of Epstein’s funds.” Further, Doe noted a 2003 Vanity Fair article that “raised serious questions about Epstein’s credibility, sources of wealth, business practices, and associations.”
A criminal investigation into Epstein began in 2006, leading to convictions on charges of prostitution and soliciting a minor in 2008. Doe’s allegations cover 2013 to 2019, when Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise ended with his arrest and death.
BNY continues to “conceal” further details of Epstein-related transactions, Doe asserted. Meanwhile, many details of BofA’s facilitation of Epstein’s crimes remain unknown because the bank has refused to produce data or documents without court orders, Doe alleged.
House lawmakers’ October request for BofA CEO Brian Moynihan to supply more Epstein-related account information has not yet been fulfilled, she alleged.
“Once again, this amended complaint is filled with rhetoric and misrepresentations,” a BofA spokesperson told Banking Dive via email. “We have asked the court to dismiss it and look forward to presenting the facts in court.”
BNY pointed Banking Dive to its motion to dismiss the claims, and declined to comment beyond it.
