* Bank of America ( BAC ) settles Epstein accusers' lawsuit,

avoiding trial

* Judge Rakoff ruled BofA must face claims of benefiting

from Epstein's trafficking

* Doe's lawyers settled with JPMorgan ( JPM ), Deutsche Bank for

$290M, $75M respectively

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) - Bank of America ( BAC )

has settled a civil lawsuit brought by women who accused the

bank of facilitating their sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein,

court records showed on Monday.

The proposed class action, filed in October by a woman using the

pseudonym Jane Doe, accused the nation's second-largest bank of

ignoring suspicious financial transactions related to Epstein

despite a "plethora" of information about his crimes because it

valued profit over protecting victims.

Bank of America ( BAC ) has said Doe alleged merely that it provided

routine services to people who at the time had no known links to

Epstein, and that any suggestion that it was more deeply

involved was "threadbare and meritless."

Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled in January

that Bank of America ( BAC ) must face Doe's claims that it knowingly

benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking and obstructed

enforcement of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection

Act. Rakoff must still approve the settlement.

Among the transactions Doe flagged were payments to Epstein by

Apollo Global Management's ( APO ) 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.

He has denied wrongdoing and said he was unaware of

Epstein's criminal conduct.

Black had been scheduled on March 26 to be questioned under

oath by lawyers for Doe and Bank of America ( BAC ).

The deposition is not expected to go forward because of the

settlement. A scheduled May 11 trial will also not take place if

Rakoff approves the settlement.

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 ( JPM ) and $75 million with

Deutsche Bank on behalf of his accusers.

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.