By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge granted preliminary approval on Thursday to Bank of America's $72.5 million settlement with women who accused the bank of facilitating their sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan scheduled an August 27 hearing to consider final approval.
The proposed class action, filed in October by a woman using the pseudonym Jane Doe, accused the second-largest U.S. bank of ignoring suspicious financial transactions related
to Epstein despite a "plethora" of information about his crimes because it valued profit over protecting victims.
Rakoff ruled in January that Bank of America must face Doe's claims that it knowingly benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking and obstructed enforcement of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide by New York City's medical examiner.
In agreeing to settle the civil lawsuit in March, Bank of America said it did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes. It said the resolution would allow it to move on and provide closure for the accusers.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, David Boies and Bradley Edwards, said the settlement was the best option for their clients because they suffered harm many years ago and need financial relief now.
The plaintiffs' lawyers may seek up to 30% of the settlement, or about $21.8 million, for legal fees.
Among the transactions Doe flagged were payments to Epstein by Apollo Global Management's billionaire co-founder, Leon Black.
Black stepped down as Apollo's chief executive in 2021 after a review by an outside law firm found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.
Black has denied wrongdoing and said he was unaware of Epstein's criminal conduct.
Doe's lawyers have also sued other alleged enablers of Epstein's sex trafficking, and in 2023 reached settlements of $290 million with JPMorgan Chase and $75 million with Deutsche Bank on behalf of his accusers.
The lawyers are also appealing Rakoff's dismissal in January of a similar lawsuit they brought against Bank of New York Mellon.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
