U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said he would grant final approval to Bank of America’s $72.5 million class-action settlement with women who accused the second-largest U.S. bank of facilitating their sexual abuse by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. At a Manhattan hearing on Thursday, Rakoff said the agreement would provide many victims with “substantial” compensation and “justice, even if partial.” He rejected objections from three accusers who argued that the deal was overly broad because it required them to waive related claims against Bank of America and other potential defendants without compensation, and that it covered claims materially different from those of lead plaintiff Jane Doe. Doe said Epstein abused her at least 100 times between 2011 and 2019, paid her repeatedly to further his sex trafficking and moved money repeatedly into and out of her Bank of America accounts. The case is among several alleging that Epstein’s banks ignored suspicious transactions because they feared losing his business. Doe’s lawyers also reached settlements with JPMorgan Chase for $290 million and Deutsche Bank for $75 million in 2023. Bank of America said in March that it did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges; New York City’s medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.