FILE PHOTO: U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon asked a federal judge on Thursday to dismiss lawsuits accusing them of knowingly aiding Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking by providing banking services to the disgraced late financier.

The proposed class actions filed on October 15 by one of Epstein's victims, a Florida woman known as Jane Doe, said the banks knowingly ignored a "plethora" of information about Epstein's crimes because they valued profit over protecting victims.

Both lawsuits said the banks should have filed suspicious activity reports with the U.S. Treasury Department, which could have helped law enforcement stop Epstein sooner.

But in a filing in Manhattan federal court, Bank of America said Doe alleged merely that it provided routine services to people who at the time had no known links to Epstein, and any suggestion it was more deeply involved was "threadbare and meritless."

BNY Mellon, meanwhile, in a separate filing called Doe's allegations "razor-thin," and included no claims that Epstein was ever a customer or dealt with anyone in particular.

The banks also said it was not reasonably foreseeable their activities would cause harm to Doe, dooming her negligence claims.

Doe's lawyers, including David Boies, did not immediately respond to requests for comment after market hours.

The 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.

Neither bank admitted wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

Both settlements were approved by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who oversees the Bank of America and BNY Mellon cases.

Epstein committed suicide in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

His case remains headline material, including this week when House Democrats released emails they said raised new questions about how much U.S. President Donald Trump knew about Epstein's sex trafficking of girls and young women.

Trump has vehemently and consistently denied knowing about Epstein's sex trafficking.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)