To resolve a lawsuit alleging that Deutsche Bank allowed the late Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring, the lender has agreed to pay $75 million (£60 million) to the victim.
An unnamed woman filed the case and alleged that the big bank continued to do business with Epstein while knowing that his accounts were being used to facilitate the abuses. She further claimed that Epstein abused her and trafficked her to his friends. When contacted by BBC, Deutsche Bank refused to comment on the case.
The lady, who is identified as “Jane Doe” in court documents, brought the class-action complaint in New York last November against the late American businessman on behalf of herself and other women who had allegedly been assaulted by him.
She claimed that because Deutsche Bank knew it would “earn millions of dollars from facilitating Epstein’s sex trafficking,” it “chose profit over upholding the law.” The woman also claimed that Epstein had sexually assaulted her and that she had been his friend’s slave for about 15 years, receiving payment in cash for her services.
Dozens of women are anticipated to get money from the settlement.
The unnamed woman was represented by one legal firm, Edwards Pottinger, who told the BBC that the verdict was “likely the largest sex-trafficking settlement involving a banking institution in the history of the US.” The business continued, “The settlement will enable scores of Jeffrey Epstein survivors to finally try to regain their trust in our system knowing that all people and organizations that enabled Epstein’s sex-trafficking organization will finally be held accountable.
Deutsche Bank earlier asked to have the lawsuit dismissed. On Thursday, the bank’s Dylan Riddle declined to comment on the settlement but noted that it had “made considerable progress in resolving several prior issues.”
Riddle said that the bank has spent more than €4bn ($4.3bn; £3.5bn) to enhance its training, controls, and operational procedures, and grown its staff dedicated to counter financial crime.
Epstein passed away on 10 August 2019 in a New York prison cell as he awaited his sex trafficking trial. It came after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was listed as a sex offender, more than ten years prior.
