According to reports, Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $150 million to settle claims that it broke compliance rules in its dealings with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, New York state announced on Tuesday.
The penalty was announced in a release by Superintendent of Financial Services Linda A Lacewell.
“Despite knowing Mr Epstein’s terrible criminal history, the Bank inexcusably failed to detect or prevent millions of dollars of suspicious transactions,”Lacewell said.
According to the release, the agreement marked the first enforcement action by a regulator against a financial institution for dealings with the financier.
Epstein killed himself last August in a Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His ex-girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was arrested last week and brought to New York City to face charges she recruited girls for Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s. In civil lawsuits, she has denied involvement. Her Manhattan federal court arraignment is likely next week.
In a statement, the German bank said the settlement with New York state “reflects our unreserved and transparent cooperation with our regulator.”
The bank said it had invested almost $1 billion to improve its training and controls and had boosted its staff overseeing the work to more than 1,500 employees “to continue enhancing our anti-financial crime capabilities.”
In a statement, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said the bank failed to prevent millions of dollars in suspicious transactions.
Lacewell said the bank failed to properly monitor Epstein’s account activity despite publicly available information about Epstein’s crimes.