Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $75 million to victims of sexual abuse of Jeffrey Epstein as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed in Manhattan last year, according to the victims’ attorneys.
The settlement, which requires federal judge approval, missed warning signs that Epstein’s accounts were involved in fraudulent activity, allowing the bank to end the sex trafficking of young women by disgraceful financiers. A proposed class action lawsuit, which it claims helped make possible, will be resolved. .
Deutsche Bank spokesman Dylan Riddle declined to comment on the settlement. However, Riddle said in his statement that the bank “has made considerable progress in resolving many of its past issues” while investing in strengthening internal controls.
Lawyers for the women who filed the lawsuit, David Boys and Brad Edwards, said 125 of Epstein’s victims had previously received payments from a compensation fund set up by the foundation after Epstein’s death in 2019. More than $75 million will be provided, he said. .
Boyes and Edwards, who work in separate offices, said in a joint statement: “This landmark settlement is the culmination of more than a decade of investigations by two law firms to hold one of Epstein’s financial banking partners accountable for Epstein’s case,” he said. the role it has played in facilitating human trafficking organizations in “
News of the settlement was previously reported wall street journal.
Epstein’s estate set up a reparations fund months after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial in federal custody on sex trafficking charges.
The fund paid more than $125 million to victims, many of whom were teenage girls who were abused by Epstein. In addition, the Foundation has paid settlements of approximately $20 million to other victims who did not seek reparations from the Reparations Fund.
The interim settlement ends a new chapter in the relationship between Deutsche Bank and Epstein, which began in 2013 and lasted until the end of 2018. In 2020, Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank agreed to pay New York regulators $150 million to settle claims. The bank repeatedly overlooked suspicious transactions involving Epstein and ignored obvious red flags about his activities, the people said.
Deutsche Bank welcomed Epstein as a client after JPMorgan Chase, his flagship bank for about 15 years, stopped doing business with him. Attorneys for the victims have sued JP Morgan, alleging it grossly disregarded Epstein’s red flags and profited financially from sex trafficking operations.
The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a territory where Mr. Epstein operated his business for nearly two decades, sued JP Morgan. Last year, Epstein’s estate set up $100 million in the Virgin Islands as a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the government to reclaim tax benefits granted by the government to one of Epstein’s businesses on St. Thomas. agreed to pay $5 million.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl in Florida and was ordered to register as a sex offender.
But even his guilty plea didn’t stop the rich and famous, including many wealthy men, from continuing to associate with him in Manhattan townhouses and other mansions.
