A federal judge in New York approved the preliminary settlement terms for a $72.5 million fund that lawyers say will provide compensation to women who were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, with court oversight focused on whether potential claimants receive notice about the fund. The judge, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, scheduled a final approval hearing for Aug. 27 and directed attorneys to provide by Friday an expanded list of publications that would be used to inform Epstein victims that the settlement fund exists.
At a hearing on Thursday, attorney David Boies said lawyers for the women believed between 60 and 75 women would make claims that could make them eligible for payouts. Boies told the court there “may be more we haven’t identified,” underscoring that the fund’s reach depends on how broadly potential claimants are notified.
Rakoff ordered additional notice efforts as part of the deal’s preliminary approval, saying he wanted to ensure “nobody is left out.” He also addressed the limits of compensation in such cases, stating that “while it’s perhaps extremely likely that the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s monstrous acts can never be fully compensated, the victims are entitled to receive just compensation from any person or entity that knowingly, recklessly or otherwise unlawfully facilitated his sexual trafficking.”
The settlement comes from a lawsuit that lawyers for the women said accused Bank of America of ignoring suspicious financial transactions involving Epstein during the period when they said he was abusing girls and women from June 2008 until his arrest in early July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. Epstein died in August 2019 in a Manhattan federal jail, and the death was ruled a suicide.
In a statement following the judge’s action, Bank of America said it stood by its prior filings in the case that it did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes. The bank said the settlement resolution would allow it “to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs.”