(Reuters) – Several women filed suit on Thursday against the banks Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan in the United States, accusing them of having financially benefited from the sex trafficking set up by the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in prison there three years old.
The women, whose identities are not revealed in court documents, cite US federal laws against sex trafficking and are seeking class action status, according to two separate complaints filed in a New York court.
“We believe this claim is unfounded and will present our case in court,” Deutsche Bank said in a statement, while JPMorgan declined to comment.
Jeffrey Epstein, a former hedge fund manager, was arrested in July 2019 at an airfield in New Jersey returning from France on counts of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, charges punishable by 45 years in prison. He committed suicide a month later in his cell.
Ghislaine Maxwell, suspected of having been the accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, was sentenced in June by a New York court to a 20-year sentence for helping him sexually abuse underage girls.
The plaintiffs accuse Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan of having “provided the necessary financial support for the continuation of the activities of the international sex trafficking organization of (Jeffrey) Epstein”, in violation of a United States federal law on organized crime.
“(Jeffrey) Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise would not have been possible without the aid and complicity of a financial institution – more specifically, a banking institution – which gave his operation the appearance of legitimacy and a special treatment to the sex trafficking business, thereby ensuring the continuation of its activities, the sexual abuse and trafficking of young women and girls,” the attorneys for the plaintiffs said.
(Megan Davies and Susan Heavey; French version Laetitia Volga, editing by Sophie Louet)
click here for restrictions
©2022 Reuters