Epstein Island

Epstein Island (Island)
Locations	US Virgin Islands

Little Saint James is a small private island in the United States Virgin Islands, The 70- to 78-acre (28 to 32 ha) island was owned by American convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 1998 until his "suicide" in 2019. During Epstein's ownership, the island acquired local nicknames such as "Epstein Island", "Island of Sin" and "Pedophile Island".

Ownership

Little Saint James Island in the Virgin Islands, while owned by Jeffrey Epstein

The island is located southeast of neighboring Great Saint James, both off the southern coast of the larger St. Thomas island.

In 1997, Little St. James was owned by venture capitalist Arch Cummin and was for sale for $10.5 million. In April 1998, a company called L.S.J. LLC purchased the island for $7.95 million, and documents showed that Jeffrey Epstein was the sole member of L.S.J. In 2019, the island was valued at $63,874,223. The island was Epstein's primary residence, and he called the island "Little St. Jeff". The main house on the island was renovated by Edward Tuttle, a designer of the Aman Resorts. In 2008, Epstein's estate on Little Saint James had 70 staff. According to a former staffer, Epstein insisted on discretion and confidentiality from his employees.

In March 2022, Little Saint James and the neighboring Great Saint James were listed at $125 million. A lawyer for Epstein's estate stated that the money obtained from the sale would be used to settle a number of lawsuits. Bespoke Real Estate, the agency jointly overseeing the sale, stated that further information on the listing was only available to prospective buyers.

In May 2023, billionaire Stephen Deckoff, under his firm SD Investments, announced the acquisition of the Great St. James and Little St. James islands for $60 million.

Buildings

In 1997, the island had a main house, three guest cottages, a caretaker's cottage, a private desalination system, a helipad, and a dock. In addition, there is a blue-striped, boxlike building that initially was topped by a golden dome. The purpose of this construction is unclear, as it deviates in substantial ways from the plans for the music pavilion that had been submitted for approval in 2010 by Epstein's architects. The original building in the plans was of an octagonal footprint, rectangular in cross-section, and had two side rooms extending from the outside walls. It was also much lower in perspective, and the dome extended from the octagon over onto the roofs of the side buildings. The building that was eventually constructed was much taller, in the shape of a cube, and without any side rooms. The dome was also well within the footprint of the cube, and the building did not have any of the proposed finishes applied to the walls, nor was it constructed out of materials in those plans—namely, stone.

Visitors

Victoria's Secret models were among the guests a former employee saw there, and billionaire Les Wexner visited the island at least once. Prince Andrew, Duke of York paid at least one visit aboard Epstein's private jet to the island, although former staff said he visited Little St. James several times.

Bill Clinton reportedly used Epstein's private jet to visit Little St. James on multiple occasions between 2002 and 2005. Virginia Roberts, later known as Virginia Giuffre, states in a lawsuit that while working at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort she was lured into a sex-trafficking ring run by Epstein and while traveling with Epstein she saw Clinton on the island. In a 2011 conversation with her lawyers, Roberts said Clinton traveled to Epstein's retreat on Little St. James in 2002. A Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secret Service records of visits Clinton may have made to Little St. James produced no such evidence. According to Epstein's flight logs, Clinton never flew near the U.S. Virgin Islands. In July 2019, a Clinton spokesperson issued a statement saying Clinton never visited the island.

French procurer Jean-Luc Brunel (who like Epstein was "found dead in his cell"). Known to have supplied three 12-year-old sisters to Epstein and visited him in jail at least 70 times during his 2008 incarceration. Known to have visited the island on multiple occasions.

David Copperfield proposed to Claudia Schiffer on Little St. James, three months after meeting her in 1993.

Jes Staley, the former head of Barclays, visited the island in 2015.

Actors Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker.

In 2006 Stephen Hawking was photographed at a barbecue on Little St. James island together with other scientists attending a conference sponsored by Epstein. Later, the island acquired such nicknames as "Island of Sin", "Pedophile Island", "Orgy Island", and "Epstein Island". American-Canadian theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krausswas at the same meeting.

Labour spin doctor Peter Mandelson and his partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva. Known to have visited on several occasions – including when his host was not present – between 2000 and 2005.

Socialite Clementine ‘Clemmie’ Hambro. Known to have visited in 1999.

According to attorneys for Epstein's alleged victims, Little St. James is where many of the crimes against minors were committed by Epstein and friends who traveled there with him. Court documents allege that then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts was forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew on several occasions, including as part of an orgy on Little St. James. Buckingham Palace has denied this allegation. A lawyer for Epstein has described the allegations of orgies by Roberts as "old and discredited".

According to locals, Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island in 2019, after he was registered as a sex offender. In August 2019, following Epstein's death, FBI agents searched his residence on Little St. James.

Great Saint James

Great Saint James is a private island approximately 165 acres (67 ha) in size]], next to neighboring Little Saint James island. The island was also owned by Epstein. Epstein bought the island in 2016 for US$22.5 million. Family members of the Danish politician Christian Kjær had owned Great Saint James since the late 1970s. Kjær owned 80.1 acres (32.4 ha) of the island, Epstein had attempted to purchase the island, but that the sale had not gone through, allegedly partially because islanders "begged" Kjær and his wife Susan Astani not to sell the land to Epstein. Astani said that at the time there were rumors about Epstein's "sexual preferences". In order to conceal his identity, Epstein made Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem the ultimate beneficial owner against his will and purchased Kjær's three parcels through his shell corporation Great St. Jim LLC, for US$17.5 million on January 18, 2016. He bought the rest of the island (twelve parcels totalling 81.22 acres (32.87 ha)) through the same LLC from GSJ Properties Corp. for US$5 million on January 21, 2016.

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References

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 11.11.2022.
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