Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit by victims of Jeffrey Epstein
LONDON — Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit contending that it should have seen evidence of sex-trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier.
A woman identified only as Jane Doe sued the German lender in federal district court in New York and sought class-action status to represent other victims of Epstein. The lawsuit asserted that the bank knowingly benefited from Epstein’s sex-trafficking and “chose profit over following the law” to earn millions of dollars from the businessman.
One of the law firms representing victims in the case, Edwards Pottinger, said it believed the sex-trafficking settlement is likely the largest with a bank in U.S. history.
“This groundbreaking settlement is the culmination of two law firms conducting more than a decade-long investigation to hold one of Epstein’s financial banking partners responsible for the role it played in facilitating his trafficking organization,” the firm said in a statement.
Deutsche Bank would not comment on the settlement but noted a 2020 statement from the bank acknowledging its mistake in taking on Epstein as a client, said Frank Hartmann, the German lender’s global head of media relations.
“The Bank has invested more than 4 billion euros [$4.3 billion] to bolster controls, processes and training, and hired more people to fight financial crime,” Hartmann said in a written statement.
Prosecutors said that Ghislaine Maxwell deserved 30 to 55 years in prison for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
The Boies Schiller Flexner law firm, which also represents the plaintiffs, called the settlement an important step for victims’ rights.
“The scope and scale of Epstein’s abuse, and the many years it continued in plain sight, could not have happened without the collaboration and support of many powerful individuals and institutions,” David Boies, the firm’s chairman, said in a statement.
Deutsche Bank had previously joined JPMorgan Chase, which is also facing a lawsuit over its ties to Epstein, in fighting the allegations. Epstein killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting criminal charges.
The German bank said late last year that it had provided “routine banking services” to Epstein from 2013-18 and that the lawsuit “does not come close to adequately alleging that Deutsche Bank ... was part of Epstein’s criminal sex-trafficking ring.”
The U.S. Virgin Islands has reached a settlement of more than $105 million in a sex trafficking case against the estate of financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The lawsuits — which also target the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate — are drawing in some high-profile figures.
A U.S. judge decided last month that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon must face up to two days of questioning by lawyers handling the lawsuits.
The Virgin Islands government also is trying to subpoena billionaire Elon Musk as part of its own litigation against JPMorgan, which accuses the banking giant of enabling Epstein’s recruiters to pay victims and helping conceal his decades of sex abuse.
JPMorgan has denied the allegations and in turn has sued former executive Jes Staley, saying he hid Epstein’s abuse and trafficking to keep the financier as a client. A lawyer for Staley had no comment on the lawsuit when it was filed in March.
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