Judge rules Bank of America must face lawsuit over Jeffrey Epstein ties

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

January 29, 2026 5:19 PM EST Updated 6 mins ago


NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday said Bank of America (BAC.N) must face part of a proposed class action lawsuit accusing it of knowingly aiding Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking by providing banking services to the disgraced late financier. The judge, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan, also dismissed a similar lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon (BK.N).

Rakoff said Epstein's victims may pursue two claims accusing Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, of knowingly benefiting from Epstein's sex trafficking, and of obstructing enforcement of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The judge rejected four other claims in the lawsuit, including that Bank of America participated in and aided Epstein's sex trafficking, and that it negligently failed to protect victims or refrain from "non-routine" banking services.

Bank of New York Mellon, the world's largest custodial bank, won dismissal of the same six claims. Rakoff plans to issue an opinion by February 13 explaining his reasoning. A trial for Bank of America is scheduled for May 11. Bank of America said it was pleased that its case was narrowed, adding: "We look forward to a full review of the facts." BNY said its dismissal "reinforces that BNY had no involvement in Epstein's crimes."

The lawsuits were filed in October by a Florida woman known as Jane Doe on behalf of herself and other Epstein accusers.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/judge-rules-bank-america-must-face-lawsuit-over-jeffrey-epstein-ties-2026-01-29/

[AZJonnie]

1. Cool. I hope there's actually a trial and a verdict. So far there's been one such instance: Maxwell's federal trial

Where she was convicted of trafficking Carolyn A to Jeffrey Epstein.

But most likely BofA just pays them off, like the $290,000,000 that a group of victims settled for from JPMC. In that case, JPMC failed to properly report the regular, large cash withdrawals that Epstein was making to the authorities (that the victims alleged were being used to pay them for their services while minors), and there was a couple of emails found suggesting a high level executive thought Epstein was maybe paying prostitutes and/or buying drugs with it. But since they wanted his millions of dollars kept in their bank/investment vehicles, they didn't report it as legally required.

This case will probably go a similar way, if there's any evidence of similar non-reporting and executives guilty of similar misconduct, B of A will just settle for a few hundred million dollars to make it go away.

But a 2nd, actual trial, with witnesses, judges, jury, etc (that REALLY follows the money iow) would certainly be welcome in my book!

[usonian]

2. Thus begins the public, not DOJ (Defenders of Jeffrey) investigation and downfall.

Senator Ron Wyden is on the money trail.
Al Capone may have died from the effects of syphilis (as will Orangina) but the money trail put him in jail.
(new graphic and song in the works!)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220810679

[littlemissmartypants]

3. I love how you've stayed on top of this usonian. You could publish your own work on it. ❤️