Federal Judge Allows Epstein Survivors’ Claims Against FirstBank to Proceed (9/30/26)

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that FirstBank Puerto Rico and its parent company, First BanCorp, must face most of a lawsuit accusing the bank of helping sustain Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation for more than two decades. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff rejected the bank’s effort to dismiss the central claim brought under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, allowing survivor Julia Molchonova to continue arguing that FirstBank knowingly benefited from participating in Epstein’s trafficking venture. The lawsuit alleges that FirstBank maintained more than 30 accounts tied to Epstein, his companies and associates from at least 1998 through 2020, including a primary Epstein account that remained open until October 2019. It also claims the bank processed at least $21 million in wire transfers involving Epstein accounts between 2013 and his death in 2019, while continuing to provide services even after his 2008 conviction.


Rakoff also allowed a claim under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act to move forward, although he dismissed a separate claim accusing FirstBank of obstructing enforcement of the federal trafficking law. FirstBank has denied the allegations and says it merely provided routine banking services without knowledge of Epstein’s trafficking operation. Molchonova is seeking to turn the case into a class action on behalf of women who say they were sexually abused or trafficked by Epstein or his associates, with a class-certification hearing scheduled for October 15. The ruling puts FirstBank alongside JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America as another major financial institution forced to defend its relationship with Epstein and explain why it continued doing business with him despite his criminal history and the warning signs surrounding his accounts.



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FirstBank Must Face Epstein Survivors’ Sex Trafficking Lawsuit, Judge Rules | Law Commentary