Banks, Epstein cohorts pay $1B to sweep sex trafficking empire under the rug

The total amount paid by financial institutions, royals, and close associates of Jeffrey Epstein to keep their involvement in his international sex trafficking empire out of civil court has now surpassed $1 billion. At the same time, the Trump administration continues to insist there is no evidence to warrant any criminal investigation.

This week, Bank of America  began the process of paying $72.5 million to roughly 75 women abused by Epstein, as part of a March 2026 settlement. Like other institutions, it admitted no wrongdoing. The settlement follows similar agreements by competitors JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, both accused of ignoring Epstein’s blatantly illegal activity because it benefited them financially.

“Rather than merely providing routine banking services to Epstein, Bank of America went far beyond what a non-complicit bank would have done and instead assisted Epstein in setting up the necessary financial structure to operate his sex-trafficking venture,” the lawsuit alleged. “Instead of behaving as an ordinary provider of routine banking services, Bank of America instead assisted Epstein in covering up his past crimes and committing new ones.”

Suspicious Activity Reports filed by banks accused of enabling Epstein’s money laundering and human trafficking are riddled with the names of his alleged accomplices — Darren Indyke, Richard Kahn, Harry Beller, and Lesley Groff, among others. To date, the investigation into Epstein’s multi-billion dollar enterprise has resulted in just two arrests and one conviction.

“So the big misconception is that the Department of Justice or me has ever said ‘case closed,’” acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News. “What we have said is that from the information that we have within the Epstein files, we do not have a case against anybody.”

While the DOJ does have an Epstein-related investigation underway, Blanche’s characterization of his department’s inquiry appears to be intentionally misleading. In reality, the DOJ closed its full investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operation in July 2025, and opened a narrower one five months later focused on finding ties between Epstein and Trump’s political opponents.

Omitted from the Trump administration’s current investigation are many of the individuals and institutions tied to Epstein’s operation who have collectively paid more than $1 billion to insist they were unaware of his well-documented and highly publicized illicit activity. In each lawsuit, as soon as trial dates were set, defendants moved quickly to instead settle for a hefty sum.

Litigation against major banks snowballed over time, after the $150 million fine given to Deutsche Bank in 2020 set the precedent for a successful case. Since then, victims have pursued cases one by one, securing settlements from Deutsche Bank in 2023, JPMorgan in 2024, and Bank of America in 2026. A separate lawsuit filed in October 2025 against Bank of New York Mellon, another longtime financial institution of Epstein’s, is ongoing.

Here are some key settlements tied to Epstein’s sex trafficking operation:

British Royal Family: $16 Million

Giuffre v. Prince Andrew: Virginia Giuffre, groomed by Epstein as a minor at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2000, received an estimated $16 million in 2022 from disgraced former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and his family. Giuffre filed her lawsuit in 2019, after New York passed a law allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue in civil court over criminal acts even after the statute of limitations had expired.

Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000. (Photo by Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)

Deutsche Bank: $251 Million

New York State Department of Financial Services v. Deutsche Bank: Settled in July 2020 for $150 million over failure to comply with anti-money laundering practices. The bank insisted that the settlement agreement “does not come close to adequately alleging that Deutsche Bank … was part of Epstein’s criminal sex trafficking ring.”

Karimi v. Deutsche Bank: Settled in September 2022 for $26.5 million with US shareholders over accusations of lax oversight while doing business with high-risk, ultra-rich clients, including Epstein and various Russian oligarchs.

Doe 1 v. Deutsche Bank: Settled in May 2023 for $75 million to avoid a class-action lawsuit over allegations that the bank “knowingly benefited and received things of value for assisting, supporting, facilitating, and otherwise providing the most critical tool for the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking organization to successfully rape, sexually assault, and coercively sex traffic.”

JPMorgan: $365 Million

Doe 1 v. JP Morgan: Settled in June 2023 for $290 million, the same day a federal judge granted class-action status after ruling there could be more than 100 potential plaintiffs.

USVI v. JPMorgan: Settled in September 2023 for $75 million under highly unusual circumstances. After the $190 million suit was filed by then-US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George, JPMorgan threatened to prove in court that the USVI government was equally complicit. George was immediately fired by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., and her replacement quickly agreed to a significantly smaller settlement.

Despite the agreement, however, the judge refused to dismiss a number of claims: “that defendants obstructed enforcement of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act; that defendants negligently failed to exercise reasonable care to prevent physical harm; and the claim that defendants negligently failed to exercise reasonable care as a banking institution providing non-routine banking.”

Leon Black: $62.5 Million

US Virgin Islands v. Black: Settled in January 2023 for $62.5 million. Black admitted no wrongdoing, but admitted that the $158 million he paid to Epstein’s company, Southern Trust, was used by Epstein to “partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands.”

Doe v. Black: An ongoing lawsuit filed in 2023 by a victim who claims Epstein trafficked her to Black when she was 16 years old. Doe says that she was sexually abused by Black, as well as by Epstein employees Ghislane Maxwell, Sarah Kellen, and two women identified only as Elizabeth and Nadia.

Bank of America: $72.5 Million

Doe v. Bank of America: Settled in March 2026 for $72.5 million, just days before Leon Black was scheduled to appear for a deposition.

Epstein Estate: $335 Million

US Virgin Islands v. Epstein Estate: Settled in December 2022 for $105 million in cash, plus half of the profit from the $60 million sale of Epstein’s island. USVI Attorney General Denise George charged Epstein and his two close associates, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, under the territory’s RICO statutes. The suit alleged that the “Epstein Enterprise” fraudulently abused USVI tax laws to hide wrongdoing and subsidize its criminal operations.

George’s investigation also led to the creation of the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, created by the Estate as a way to circumvent civil suits and expedite payments to victims. However, as a condition of accepting money from the fund, victims had to agree not to pursue legal action against Indyke, Kahn, or any of Epstein’s former employees. The compensation fund closed in August 2021 and paid out $121 million to 150 victims.

The Estate also says it paid an estimated $49 million to settle disputes prior to the fund’s creation, though there is no court documentation available to confirm that the payments were handled through legal avenues.

Bensky, Doe 3 v. Kahn, Indyke: Settled in February 2026 for $35 million. The class-action lawsuit alleged that Kahn and Indyke  facilitated the financial operations of Epstein’s criminal enterprise, structuring his assets in a way that concealed decades of money laundering and sex trafficking.