$500 Million and Counting: The Banks That Bankrolled Epstein Are Paying
Bank of America joins JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank in settlement. Four banks. Over $500 million. Leon Black dodged a deposition by one day. And the reckoning is not finished.
LAST PAGE FIRST · BREAKING NEWS · MARCH 30, 2026
Four banks. Over $500 million. Leon Black dodged his deposition by one day. And the banks that wrote the checks are still calling it ‘routine banking services.’
On March 27, 2026, Bank of America agreed to pay $72.5 million to women who accused the bank of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. The settlement — the fourth by a major financial institution — brings the total recovered from banks in civil court to over $500 million.
Bank of America agreed to pay $72.5 million on March 27, 2026 — the same day Leon Black was scheduled to sit for an eight-hour deposition about his $170 million in payments to Epstein. Photo Credit: Wobbanight
It is not final. Judge Jed Rakoff, who is presiding over the case, must formally approve it at a hearing scheduled for April. Approval is considered likely. But the dollar figure is confirmed, the terms are public, and the implications are already reverberating.
This is what happened this week. This is what it means. And this is why the name Leon Black is at the center of it.
The Four Banks — What They Paid and Why
The Epstein civil litigation against financial institutions has now produced four settlements. Here is the complete scorecard:
Bank/Settlement/Date/Core Allegation
JPMorgan Chase/$290 million/June 2023 (approved Nov. 2023)/Knowingly kept Epstein as a client 1998–2013 despite internal red flags and suspicious activity reports
Deutsche Bank/$75 million/May 2023/Continued banking relationship with Epstein 2013–2018 after JPMorgan cut ties. Admitted ‘error onboarding Epstein.’
Bank of America/$72.5 millionMarch 27, 2026 (pending Rakoff approval)/Processed $170M in payments from Leon Black to Epstein without filing required Suspicious Activity Reports. Did not admit wrongdoing.
Bank of New York Mellon/Pending — lawsuit dismissed Jan. 2026, appeal filed/Appeal ongoing/Victims’ attorneys are appealing Rakoff’s January dismissal of the BNY Mellon case.
The $500 million figure does not include the $75 million JPMorgan paid separately to the government of the US Virgin Islands in 2023, or the $62.5 million Leon Black paid the USVI to obtain criminal immunity from Epstein-related claims. The total civil accountability picture is well above $600 million — and climbing.
What Bank of America Did — and What It Cost
The Bank of America lawsuit, filed in October 2025, accused the nation’s second-largest bank of providing banking services to Epstein and his trafficking network — including accounts used by Ghislaine Maxwell — while ignoring legally required reporting obligations.
At the center of the case was a number: $170 million.
That is the amount Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, transferred to Epstein from Bank of America accounts, purportedly for ‘tax and estate planning advice.’ Victims’ attorneys alleged those transfers were ‘the primary means by which the sex-trafficking venture was funded, for which there was no apparent business or lawful purpose.’ Bank of America, they alleged, processed those transfers without filing mandatory Suspicious Activity Reports — known as SARs — as required by the Bank Secrecy Act.
‘At the heart of the complaint, Lead Plaintiff alleges that Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking venture was facilitated and enabled by Bank of America helping Epstein avoid regulators’ scrutiny — all so Defendant could profit from Epstein and his associates.’ — Court filing, Doe v. Bank of America
Judge Rakoff ruled in January 2026 that the case could proceed, finding the complaint ‘plausibly alleges that Bank of America recklessly disregarded’ information about Epstein’s activities and may have ‘turned a blind eye’ to the trafficking scheme. He set a trial date of May 11, 2026. That trial risk is what drove the settlement.
Bank of America’s statement: ‘While we stand by our prior statements made in the filings in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs.’
The bank does not admit wrongdoing. It is paying $72.5 million anyway.
Leon Black — The ‘Critical Witness’ Who Didn’t Testify
Leon Black was not named as a defendant in the Bank of America lawsuit. But his name was at the center of it — and the timing of the settlement is something every reader should understand.
Black was scheduled to sit for an eight-hour closed-door deposition on March 26, 2026 — the day the settlement in principle was publicly disclosed. The deposition had been described by victims’ attorney Sigrid McCawley as essential: she called Black a ‘critical witness’ in the case.
On the grounds that the parties were close to settling, Black’s attorney Michael Carlinsky persuaded Judge Rakoff to postpone the deposition for ten days. The settlement was announced March 16. The dollar terms were disclosed March 27. The deposition has not been rescheduled. The settlement, if approved by Rakoff, effectively ends the need for Black’s testimony in this case.
Leon Black was scheduled to testify about $170 million in transfers to a sex trafficker. The settlement was announced the same day. The deposition was postponed. It has not been rescheduled.
Black has consistently denied wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Black declined to comment on the Bank of America settlement. He is not accused of a crime in this proceeding.
What is in the public record:
· The Dechert LLP report — commissioned by Apollo’s own conflicts committee and filed with the SEC in January 2021 — confirmed Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2013 and 2017. Epstein was already a convicted sex offender.
· Senate Finance Committee investigators subsequently found the true figure was $170 million — $12 million more than Apollo’s own investigation identified. Senator Ron Wyden wrote to Black on March 20, 2026 demanding answers.
· Black paid the US Virgin Islands $62.5 million in 2023 to obtain a release from potential criminal liability related to Epstein in that jurisdiction. The USVI settlement explicitly acknowledged that ‘Jeffrey Epstein used the money Black paid him to partially fund his operations in the Virgin Islands.’
· The DOJ Epstein Files (Dataset 12) contain a journal entry from a minor victim — a girl with Down syndrome and autism — that names Leon Black directly. That entry is now part of the public record. Last Page First has published a full analysis of those journals.
Black has not been charged with a crime. He has not admitted wrongdoing. He avoided testifying in the Bank of America case. His name remains central to every investigation that follows the money.
What the Attorneys Said
The legal team that secured all three bank settlements — David Boies and Bradley Edwards, alongside Sigrid McCawley — filed a joint statement describing the Bank of America agreement as representing ‘the best option for their clients, given that many Class Members suffered harm many years ago and are in need of financial relief now.’
‘Today’s resolution of the case against Bank of America is one more step on the road to much deserved justice.’ — Sigrid McCawley, attorney for Epstein victims
McCawley paid tribute to the ‘brave and fearless voices’ of Epstein victims in a statement released when the settlement in principle was first announced in March. The attorneys are seeking 30% of the $72.5 million in legal fees — approximately $21.8 million — consistent with the fee structure approved in the JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank settlements.
The same legal team is also appealing Judge Rakoff’s January 2026 dismissal of a similar lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon. That appeal is ongoing.
The JPMorgan Settlement — What Was Established
The Bank of America settlement must be understood in the context of what JPMorgan established in 2023.
When JPMorgan agreed to pay $290 million in June 2023 — the largest settlement by any financial institution in Epstein-related litigation — Judge Rakoff approved the deal in November 2023 with language that was direct about its meaning:
‘It should not be lost that this case sent a message, through this very substantial settlement, that banking institutions and others as such have a responsibility that perhaps was not fully recognized in the past.’ — Judge Jed Rakoff, November 2023
The JPMorgan settlement covered approximately 200 victims and covered the period from 1998 through 2019. At the time of settlement approval, claims administrator Simone Lelchuk told the court: ‘There are a tremendous amount of people who have been harmed here.’
JPMorgan had filed multiple Suspicious Activity Reports related to Epstein’s accounts as early as 2002. Rakoff had written: ‘Several pieces of evidence suggest that JP Morgan either knew or should have known that Epstein conducted a sex-trafficking venture long before 2006.’ The bank settled without admitting liability. It has been paying victims since early 2024.
Deutsche Bank followed with a $75 million settlement — and notably, unlike JPMorgan, issued a statement acknowledging ‘our error onboarding Epstein in 2013, and the weaknesses in our processes.’
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who has overseen the Epstein civil litigation, approved the JPMorgan $290 million settlement in November 2023 and must now approve the Bank of America $72.5 million settlement. A hearing is scheduled for April 2026. Photo Source: JENNIFER CARTER PHOTOGRAPHY
What Comes Next
The Bank of America settlement requires formal approval from Judge Rakoff at an April hearing. That approval is expected but not guaranteed.
The BNY Mellon appeal
Victims’ attorneys are appealing Rakoff’s January 2026 dismissal of a similar lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon. Epstein moved hundreds of millions through BNY accounts. Senate Finance Committee investigators documented 4,725 wire transfers totaling over $1 billion through Epstein’s JPMorgan accounts alone in the decade after 2003.
Leon Black’s open exposure
The Senate Finance Committee’s March 20, 2026 letter to Black demands answers about the $170 million, surveillance of women, and potentially defective tax structures. The response deadline is April 13, 2026. Black has not publicly responded.
The DOJ files
Datasets 1 through 12 continue to be analyzed by journalists, attorneys, and investigators. More connections, more names, more documents will emerge.
Criminal accountability
No individual has been criminally charged in connection with enabling Epstein’s trafficking network through financial institutions. That remains the gap between the civil record and justice.
The Reckoning Is Not Finished
The four bank settlements represent over $500 million in civil accountability for the financial infrastructure of Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking operation. Not a single bank has admitted criminal wrongdoing. Not a single individual who enabled Epstein through those institutions has been criminally charged.
What the civil record has established is this: the banks knew. They filed Suspicious Activity Reports and kept Epstein as a client. They processed $170 million from Leon Black to a convicted sex offender without flagging it as suspicious. They provided the financial infrastructure through which the trafficking network operated for decades.
They are paying for it now. In installments. Without admitting they did anything wrong.
The question that will not go away: if civil courts have extracted over $500 million from financial institutions for enabling Epstein’s network, why has no one been criminally charged for building it?
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Sources
· CNBC — Epstein victims to get $72.5M from Bank of America settlement, March 27, 2026 — Primary source for settlement terms
· CBS News — Bank of America reaches $72.5 million settlement in Epstein lawsuit — Leon Black deposition postponement; McCawley quote
· NBC News — Bank of America agrees to pay $72.5 million to settle Epstein survivors suit — Black as ‘critical witness’; Rakoff April hearing
· Bloomberg Law / Claims Journal — BofA to Pay $72.5 Million to Settle Epstein Victim Lawsuit — Settlement allowed Black to avoid March 26 deposition
· American Banker — Bank of America settles with Epstein victims for $72.5 million, March 30, 2026 — Rakoff ‘reckless disregard’ finding; May 11 trial date
· Reuters / The Daily Record — Bank of America agrees to pay $72.5 million to settle Epstein accusers’ lawsuit — Boies and Edwards joint statement on settlement
· Boston Globe — Bank of America settles claims over lawsuits by Jeffrey Epstein victims, March 17, 2026 — McCawley ‘brave and fearless voices’ quote; deposition postponement
· NPR — JPMorgan Chase and Epstein survivor Jane Doe 1 reach $290 million settlement, June 2023 — JPMorgan settlement background; Rakoff class certification ruling
· Boies Schiller Flexner — US District Judge grants final settlement approval for Jeffrey Epstein survivors, November 2023 — Rakoff November 2023 approval quote; ‘in my 27 years on the bench’
· InvestmentNews — JPMorgan $290M for Epstein victims sends signal to industry, November 2023 — Rakoff quote on ‘message to banking institutions’; 200 victims; Lelchuk quote
· Senate Finance Committee — Wyden questions Leon Black over new revelations, March 23, 2026 — $170M figure; Senate investigation; April 13 response deadline
· Senate Finance Committee — Wyden releases new information on Black / Epstein financing, March 12, 2025 — $170M confirmed vs $158M Dechert figure; USVI settlement
· Dechert LLP Report — Exhibit 99.1, Apollo Global Management Form 8-K, January 22, 2021 (SEC) — $158M payment figure; Epstein conviction known to Black