Epstein’s victims sue Chase, Deutsche Bank for ‘facilitating his sex-trafficking operation’

The class action lawsuits allege that the financial institutions ignored the multitude of red flags associated with Epstein, putting potential profit over the welfare of those he harmed.

According to the Daily Mail, the unnamed woman listed in the lawsuit against Deutsche Bank said that she had been trafficked by Epstein between 2003 and 2018, during which time she was paid for sex acts in cash that could have been provided by the bank.

"Deutsche Bank also engaged in repeated acts of racketeering activity to support the Epstein organization," the lawsuit alleges. "Knowing that they would earn millions of dollars from facilitating Epstein's sex trafficking, and from its relationship with Epstein, Deutsche Bank chose profit over following the law."

The bank was also accused of turning a blind eye to the fact that Epstein "would use means of force, threats of force, fraud, abuse of legal process, exploitation of power disparity, and a variety of other forms of coercion" to get women and girls to engage in sex acts.

As the Daily Mail reports, Deutsche Bank was fined $150 million by regulators in 2020 for failing to responsibly monitor the account of a registered sex offender after it was discovered that the bank had not intervened when Epstein paid off women's tuition and sent "suspicious" payments to Russian models.

The lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase lists an unnamed former ballet dancer who said she had been trafficked by Epstein between 2006 and 2013 and paid in cash, which she claimed was withdrawn from accounts at the financial institution.

"JP Morgan knowingly and intentionally benefited and received things of value for assisting, supporting, facilitating, and otherwise providing the most critical service for the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking organization," the lawsuit alleges, adding that the bank "chose profits over following the law."

Epstein was found dead in his cell in 2019, and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to twenty years in prison in June, however for the hundreds of victims, there has been little in the way of closure.