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The ghost of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and what data shall be gleaned from ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell has dominated a lot of the media as of late, together with debates about “the list” of who did or didn’t go to and take part in varied unlawful deeds when on Epstein’s island. I needed to remind myself that the isle in query is within the U.S. Virgin Islands.
My protection of the USVI right here previously has largely been both historic, hurricane associated, or cultural. I actually hadn’t considered what this Epstein story has meant in island politics.
Epstein initially bought Little St. James, which is greater than 70 acres, for $8 million in 1998, constructing a number of buildings on the property, in response to Forbes. Nice St. James, round 165 acres, was then purchased by Epstein in 2016 for $22.5 million.
A view of Jeffrey Epstein’s stone mansion on Little St. James Island. Federal authorities take into account Little St. James Island to have been Epstein’s major residence in the US.
I’ve to confess I used to be shocked that I discovered nearly no interviews with any Black Virgin Islanders who labored on that island—the maids, cooks, cleaners, and different “invisible workers” who hold the estates of the rich working. I may discover no information on the race of the island’s workers.
There have been few tales from the boat crews who ferried company backwards and forwards. Through the days previously once I stayed in St. Thomas I frolicked with guys who owned or crewed a few of these sorts of ships. They knew all of the island gossip and helped create a few of it, on condition that they had been retired gunrunners and retirees from different not-legal or quasi-legal endeavors. I additionally knew among the largely Black feminine workers who labored for largely white elites, and so they had been filled with humorous tales.
However there are a number of mentions, like the truth that locals referred to Epstein’s property as “Pedophile Island:”
The 66-year-old financier purchased Little St. James Island off this US Caribbean territory greater than twenty years in the past and commenced to remodel it — clearing the native vegetation, ringing the property with towering palm bushes and planting two huge US flags on both finish. When guides took scuba divers to spots close to the island, safety guards would stroll to the water’s edge.
It was off-putting to residents of St. Thomas — a lush tropical island east of Puerto Rico with winding roads by means of mountains dotted with dainty Danish colonial-era properties. Then, when Epstein pleaded responsible in a 2008 to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution, his want for privateness began appearing extra sinister.
“Everybody called it ‘Pedophile Island,'” mentioned Kevin Goodrich, who’s from St. Thomas and operates boat charters. “It’s our dark corner.”
Many individuals who labored for Epstein informed The Related Press this week that that they had signed lengthy non-disclosure agreements, and refused to speak. One former worker who declined to be recognized mentioned Epstein as soon as had 5 boats, together with a big ferry by which he transported as much as 200 staff from St. Thomas to his island daily for building work.
A number of people from St. Thomas who labored on Jeffrey Epstein’s non-public island, Little Saint James, have shared particulars of their experiences, portray an image of an uncommon and secretive setting.
One former employee described a strict “keep to yourself and do your thing” environment when Epstein was current, implying staff had been discouraged from observing his actions carefully. This particular person additionally recounted seeing younger ladies on the property and believed them to be over 18, although they acknowledged some uncertainty.
One other employee famous the secrecy surrounding a specific metal protected in Epstein’s workplace, suggesting it contained delicate supplies past simply cash. This employee additionally revealed that workers weren’t permitted to enter sure rooms, together with the places of work, with out authorization, in response to the Los Angeles Instances. […]
Past these particular person accounts, some St. Thomas residents who did not work instantly on the island have additionally shared their observations about Epstein and his actions, with some locals even referring to Little Saint James as “Pedophile Island”. Two workers on the native airstrip informed Self-importance Truthful that they witnessed Epstein boarding his non-public airplane with women who seemed to be underage, in response to Self-importance Truthful.
How shortly all of us appear to neglect. It was lower than one yr in the past when [USVI] Governor [Albert] Bryan introduced that the Virgin Islands had reached a $75 million greenback settlement with JP Morgan Chase Financial institution stemming from the financial institution’s alleged involvement with Jeffrey Epstein within the Virgin Islands. Of that $75 million {dollars}, $20 million was to go to exterior counsel for authorized charges and the rest was to go to the USVI.
And it was in January 2021 when [Epstein’s financier] Leon Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to the USVI to settle any potential claims involving his relationship with Epstein. We realized about that settlement in January 2023, two years after the very fact. […]
And maybe most significantly, and most contentiously, how about appointment of an impartial particular prosecutor to find out whether or not any present or previous authorities workers had been complicit within the intercourse trafficking actions of Jeffrey Epstein within the Virgin Islands? We can not “put this episode behind us” as some in authorities desperately wish to do, till all people concerned are held accountable. Relying on lawsuits from “Jane Doe” victims to uncover the reality concerning the USVI is decidedly not the identical as our personal impartial investigation.
The place has the cash gone? Did it ever actually exist? Inquiring minds wish to know, however oddly there don’t appear to be sufficient inquiring minds within the thirty fifth Legislature or on Authorities Hill.
Good query, and the solutions, similar to they’re, meant taking a dive into USVI’s politics.
Julie Okay. Brown, investigative reporter for The Miami Herald, wrote in September 2023 on his cozied-up relationships with these in energy:
For twenty years, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ most outstanding authorities and elected officers — in addition to their pet charities, academic establishments and causes — had been paid tens of millions of {dollars} by Jeffrey Epstein within the type of salaries, marketing campaign contributions and guide charges. His most trusted worker was the U.S. territory’s first girl. On the similar time, USVI authorities paid little thoughts to the younger ladies and women he shuttled by means of the St. Thomas airport following his 2008 Palm Seashore conviction for soliciting a minor for intercourse. […]
In latest months, discovery from the federal civil lawsuit supplies the strongest proof to this point of Epstein’s affect within the USVI and his cozy relationships with three of the territory’s governors, its former first girl, lawyer generals, senators, leaders of its Financial Growth Fee, the Virgin Islands police, federal marshals, the Port Authority and the territory’s consultant to Congress. Epstein even gave free turkeys to 78 federal Customs brokers on the St. Thomas airport for Thanksgiving.
Additionally at first of 2023, there was a curve ball thrown into the works. USVI Gov. Bryan fired the USVI prosecutor of the case and lawyer common, Denise George.
The previous lawyer common for the Virgin Islands, who just lately secured a $105 million settlement from the property of Jeffrey Epstein, was just lately fired following months of friction between her and the U.S. territory’s governor over the dealing with of the investigation into the disgraced financier, in response to individuals briefed on the matter.
Denise N. George, the previous official, was dismissed by Albert Bryan Jr., the governor of the Virgin Islands, on New 12 months’s Eve, 4 days after her workplace sued JPMorgan Chase in federal court docket in Manhattan for its dealings with Mr. Epstein, who died of an obvious suicide in 2019 whereas in federal custody.
The timing of Ms. George’s firing fueled media hypothesis within the Virgin Islands and past that the swimsuit in opposition to JPMorgan was the speedy trigger. […]
Ms. George didn’t tackle the hypothesis, however defended her choice to sue the financial institution and the work her workplace had finished to ensure the handfuls of girls who had been victims of Mr. Epstein’s sexual abuse as youngsters or younger adults had been appropriately compensated.
“I stand firm in my belief that the lawsuit I filed against JPMorgan Chase in our pursuit of justice must continue,” Ms. George mentioned in a press release to The New York Instances. “No institution, organization or person should be off-limits, no matter how wealthy or powerful.”
In 2023, George spoke out, The St. Thomas Supply reported:
George, who was broadly lauded when she received a $105 million lawsuit in opposition to the Epstein property in November — believed to be the biggest financial settlement within the historical past of the territory — subsequently filed swimsuit for $190 million in opposition to his onetime financial institution, JPMorgan Chase, on Dec. 27 in Manhattan federal court docket, alleging violations of the Trafficking Victims Safety Act.
Bryan fired George 4 days later, on New 12 months’s Eve, saying nothing at first however later admitting that he was “blindsided” by the lawsuit that has opened V.I. officers to scrutiny for his or her dealings with Epstein. That features Bryan himself, who accredited Epstein’s profitable Financial Growth Authority advantages when he was head of the EDA board and has been deposed by JPMorgan’s attorneys, together with a bunch of different territory officers. […]
“The announcement was met with outrage on the islands, in the local press and abroad,” the Sunday Instances mentioned. […]
George was new to the job, having been nominated by Bryan simply months earlier in March 2019, and was compelled to pursue the swimsuit in opposition to Epstein’s property after conducting heart-wrenching interviews with three of his victims that satisfied her that crimes had certainly been dedicated within the USVI, she informed the Sunday Instances. […]
“Some people thought it was too big,” George mentioned. “It’s not like anyone came to my face and said it, but I heard it on the streets. We had dozens of victims. Turning a blind eye was not an option. If I had done that, what would that have made me?”
The property of Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands greater than $105 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that he used the territory as the bottom of an intensive intercourse trafficking operation.
The swimsuit is being settled practically three years after Denise N. George, the lawyer common of the U.S. territory, sued Epstein, a New York financier who died by suicide in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking costs.
“This settlement restores the faith of the people of the Virgin Islands that its laws will be enforced, without fear or favor, against those who break them,” George mentioned in a press release Wednesday. “We are sending a clear message that the Virgin Islands will not serve as a haven for human trafficking.”
The allocations shall be spent on “various projects and initiatives to enhance community services, mental health resources, [and] infrastructure and economic development in the Virgin Islands,” in response to Senator Donna Frett-Gregory. A number of the initiatives that shall be funded from this cash embrace the institution of the Southern Belief Firm Settlement Fund, and the Survivors and Psychological Well being Therapeutic Belief Fund, below Invoice 35-0380.
The measure additionally appropriates $21.5 million to the Division of Public Works for the completion of the Property Nazareth Sports activities Advanced, simply over $2 million for varsity upkeep, $10 million to the Virgin Islands Port Authority to construct the St. John Cultural Middle, $4.2 million to Sea View Nursing Dwelling, and $1.8 million to the Division of Property and Procurement for a long-term lease with the Nana Child Youngsters’s residence on St. Thomas. The power may even obtain $200,000 to outfit the house.
The Division of Well being will obtain an $18 million appropriation from the Survivors and Psychological Well being Therapeutic belief fund to finish a behavioral well being facility on St. Croix, whereas $3.5 million will go towards ending renovations on the east wing of the Eldra Schulterbrandt Psychological Well being Facility. The St. Thomas East Finish Medical Middle receives $1 million, with the identical sum additionally going to the Frederiksted Well being Middle.
The Division of Justice will obtain $25 million to assemble their St. Croix places of work and $5 million for crime prevention and prosecution, whereas $125,000 will go in the direction of police coaching.
In the meantime, the V.I. Housing Authority will obtain $3.5 million to renovate, rehabilitate, and assemble leisure amenities in public housing communities on St. Thomas and St. Croix. The Agro Meals and Innovation Middle on St. Croix will obtain $400,000, whereas the Agro Meals Know-how Middle, housed within the Marcelli Institute on St. Thomas, will obtain $675,000, Senator Frett-Gregory indicated.
In December 2024, The St. Thomas Supply reported the funds would even be used to construct nursing properties on the island:
Lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee unanimously accredited a $20 million appropriation on Friday from funds obtained by means of a settlement settlement with the property of Jeffrey Epstein for the design and building of nursing properties on St. Croix and St. Thomas.
Sen. Dwayne DeGraff, who sponsored the measure … referred to as the U.S. Virgin Islands’ prior relationship with Epstein a “dark cloud” hanging over the territory. The territory obtained a mixed complete of $137.5 million from settlement agreements with Epstein’s property and financier Leon Black, respectively. DeGraff mentioned the laws was an effort to make use of among the settlement cash to instantly profit the territory’s seniors.
The most recent wrinkle within the case that’s being reported includes the island’s non-voting consultant to the U.S. Congress, Democrat Stacey Plaskett:
V.I. Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett has filed discover that she is going to search sanctions in opposition to the lawyer representing six victims of Jeffrey Epstein in a lawsuit naming her, the V.I. authorities and different territory officers, saying the claims in opposition to her quantity to “outright untruth, fiction, and misrepresentation.”
Plaskett mentioned lawyer Jordan Okay. Merson of Merson Legislation endured within the “frivolous legal claims” even after her counsel contacted him in March, after the primary amended grievance was filed, to warn that ought to he proceed to press the grievance, the congresswoman would proceed to serve after which file a Rule 11 movement, which is used to handle abusive or unfounded court docket filings. […]
“In this case, however, Mr. Merson and his colleagues disregarded their obligations as officers of the court. Perhaps they believed including the Congresswoman in their complaint would garner publicity, or that some defendants would put pressure on other defendants to settle quickly,” the discover states. “Perhaps they just wish to wound for some unknown insidious purpose. Certainly, the fact that they are using their clients as a conduit in that effort is reprehensible” and warrants “substantial sanctions,” it says, whereas stressing Plaskett’s help for victims of human trafficking.
Among the many allegations in opposition to Plaskett within the second amended grievance are that she took “regular and routine payments” from Epstein, “disguised as campaign contributions”; that he held a fundraiser for her; that she really helpful tax incentives for him when she was counsel for the V.I. Financial Growth Authority; and that she “entered into agreement [sic] with Epstein … to facilitate the sex trafficking venture … to ensure Epstein’s clients co-conspirators, and co-defendants … had access to victims and Plaintiffs,” all of which is fake, the discover states.
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