Little Saint James

Last updated

Little Saint James
Nickname: Epstein Island
Little St James Island (9165947585).jpg
USA Virgin Islands location map.svg
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Little Saint James
Location in the Caribbean
Caribbean location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Little Saint James
Little Saint James (Caribbean)
Geography
Location Caribbean Sea
Coordinates 18°18′0″N64°49′31″W / 18.30000°N 64.82528°W / 18.30000; -64.82528
Type Volcanic
Archipelago Virgin Islands archipelago
Administration
United States
Territory United States Virgin Islands
Area covered0.28–0.32 km2 (0.11–0.12 sq mi)

Little Saint James, infamously nicknamed Epstein Island, is a small private island in the United States Virgin Islands southeast of Saint Thomas. It was owned by American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 1998 until his death in 2019. [1] [2]

Contents

The island's reputation became controversial after reports that Epstein hosted sex parties with underage girls there.

Geography

Little Saint James is a small island (or islet) [3] with an area of 70 to 78 acres (28 to 32 ha). It is part of the United States Virgin Islands, [1] southeast of neighboring Great Saint James, both off the southern coast of the larger St. Thomas island [4] [5] and belonging to the subdistrict East End, St. Thomas. The Virgin Islands are mountain peaks rising from the Caribbean ocean floor. [6] The trade winds (prevailing east-to-west winds near Earth's equator) dominate its climate and local weather, with stronger winds and less rain during winter. [7]

History

Little St. James was part of the Danish West Indies. In 1917, Denmark sold the United States Virgin Islands to the United States. Little St. James was included as one of the "adjacent islands" in the deal. [8] [9]

Little St. James is a private island. In 1997, it was owned by venture capitalist Arch Cummin and was for sale for $10.5 million. [10] In April 1998, a company called L.S.J. LLC purchased it for $7.95 million. Documents show that Jeffrey Epstein was the sole member of L.S.J. [11] [12] [13] [14] In 2019, the island was valued at $63,874,223. [15] Little St. James was Epstein's primary residence, [4] [16] and he called the island "Little St. Jeff". [1] [2] The main house on the island was renovated by Edward Tuttle, a designer of the Aman Resorts. [1]

Before Epstein bought the Island, several buildings were already present, including the main house, the guest house, oval-shaped pool, and three cabanas. They were seen in the booklet promoting the island for sale and appeared in the March 1996 edition of House & Garden magazine and "The Villa Report". [17] In 2005, Epstein hired the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to install a combination power and fiber optic cable between St. Thomas and Little St. James, giving the island dedicated data and electric connections, which eliminated the need for generators. [18] [19]

Little Saint James Island in the Virgin Islands, while owned by Jeffrey Epstein in June 2013 Little St James Island (9123420726).jpg
Little Saint James Island in the Virgin Islands, while owned by Jeffrey Epstein in June 2013

In 2008, Epstein's estate on Little St. James had 70 staff. [12] [20] According to a former staffer, Epstein insisted on discretion and confidentiality from his employees. [14] In 2016, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources received complaints about Epstein, who had begun to clear land without a permit. [18] In his will and testament (a 21-page pour-over will), signed two days before his death, [21] all of Epstein's holdings were transferred into the "1953 [the year of his birth] Trust". [22]

In March 2022, Little St. James and the neighboring Great Saint James were listed at $125 million. A lawyer for Epstein's estate said money obtained from the sale would be used to settle lawsuits. Bespoke Real Estate, the agency jointly overseeing the sale, said that further information on the listing was available only to prospective buyers. [23] [24]

In May 2023, billionaire Stephen Deckoff, under his firm SD Investments, announced the acquisition of Great St. James and Little St. James for $60 million. [25] [26]

Epstein's buildings

Guest house and the main residence on the right USVI IMG 5162 - Grand estate with turquoise roofs and lush palm trees under a cloudy sky.jpg
Guest house and the main residence on the right

In 1997, the island had a main house, three guest cottages, a caretaker's cottage, a private desalination system, a helipad, and a dock. [10] By 2019, its infrastructure had expanded to include a sprawling complex of residential and maintenance buildings.

Main residence

Kitchen inside the Main Residence USVI IMG 5159 - Bright modern kitchen with white cabinets a central island and pendant lights under a vaulted ceiling.jpg
Kitchen inside the Main Residence

Edward Tuttle's architecture practice designed the renovation of the main house, often called a compound. [27] [28] The renovation concluded sometime after March 2003 [29] and the colonnaded villa-style house is where guests stayed while visiting the island. [30] Besides the main residence, there are four additional residences. [31]

Epstein's cabana

The main office area in Epstein's Cabana EFTA00002009 - Luxurious study with a painted ceiling wooden bookshelves and a large desk cluttered with books art and scientific instruments.jpg
The main office area in Epstein's Cabana

Epstein's personal residence on the island was a stone-walled cabana with a turquoise ceiling, one of many cabanas on the island. [30]

Guest cabanas

Guest cabanas USVI IMG 5177 - Stone-paved path winds through lush green lawns leading to three elegant buildings with turquoise roofs and white doors framed by tall palm trees under an overcast sky.jpg
Guest cabanas

Four smaller single-story buildings are next to the Main Residence and a large pool. All four have blue roofs. [31]

Pool

The Recorder of Deeds had a lien for nearly $40,000 owed to Rex Wolterman for pool construction at the time of Epstein's death. [18]

Pool house

The pool house on the western end of the island USVI IMG 5408 - Serene poolside retreat with palm trees stone walls and a view of turquoise ocean waters under a bright sky.jpg
The pool house on the western end of the island

On the west end of the island is a pool with a single-story structure. [31]

Temple

Exterior

At the southwest point of the island is a blue-striped, boxlike building surrounded by an expansive square pavilion with geometric patterns meant to look like mosaics painted in red on a white background. The structure was initially topped by a golden dome, which Google Earth satellite images suggest was added between July 2013 and March 2014. Aerial footage from March 2015 shows the dome and two large, golden, avian-like statues atop the building with two sculptures in front. [32] Locals say the dome was blown away during Hurricane Maria in 2017. [33]

The purpose of the actual construction is unclear and it deviates in substantial ways from the plans for the grand piano container that Epstein's architects submitted for approval in 2010. [33] The planned "Music Pavilion" building was of an octagonal footprint. The planned building with a substantial covered porch, also octagonal, was much lower in perspective than the as-built. The constructed building was much taller, in the shape of a cube. The dome was also well within the footprint of the cube, and the building had none of the proposed finishes applied to the walls, nor was it constructed out of materials in those plans—namely, stone. [33]

Patrick Baron, a piano tuner and technician who worked in the area at the time, visited the island twice in 2012 to tune a piano inside the building. Baron later said the structure was a relatively small building near the coast and far from the other buildings. He said it was "dull pewter" in color, featured statues that resembled gargoyles atop the roof, and had a large glass door facing south. [34]

Baron confirmed the building against photographs provided by Trotter, despite its being blue and white in the images, based on its size, shape and location—indicating the distinctive stripes and false wooden door were painted after October 2012. [34] Footage captured by Tyler Oliveira, an American content creator who sneaked onto the island in 2023, shows that the building and surrounding area had been painted white. [35]

Interior

Baron described the interior as having one large room with two levels. The ground floor was 4 to 6 ft (1.2 to 1.8 m) tall and another on a slightly raised platform, which was accessed by a single step. The flooring looked wooden and was covered by a large Oriental rug. He recalls a grey sofa to his right, against the eastern wall. [34]

Directly ahead of him was a dark wood desk of about 10 ft (3 m) long. Behind it were several columns of floor-to-ceiling bookcases. To his left, against the western wall, was a small black grand piano. Baron's notes describe the piano as having been manufactured by the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. Above the piano hung a portrait of Epstein and a Pope. Baron could not confirm which Pope it was. [34]

Maintenance and logistics

Visitors during Epstein's ownership

An aerial view showing Little Saint James in the upper right DJI 0360 - Aerial view of a coastal village nestled among lush green islands with turquoise waters and white houses dotting the shoreline under a partly cloudy sky.jpg
An aerial view showing Little Saint James in the upper right

Victoria's Secret models were among the guests a former Epstein employee saw at his Little St. James residence, and billionaire Les Wexner visited the island at least once. [14] Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor paid at least one visit aboard Epstein's private jet to the island; former staff said he visited Little St. James several times. [36] Peter Mandelson spent a week on the island in 2004. [37]

In 2015, Epstein emailed friends of his alleged victim Virginia Giuffre, asking them to disprove supposed allegations by Giuffre that physicist Stephen Hawking participated in an "underage orgy" in the Virgin Islands. Epstein said he "can issue a reward” to them if they can "prove her allegations are false". The email implies it was written in response to a "new version" of the claim about Hawking. Neither Giuffre, who died in 2025, [38] nor anyone else has ever publicly accused Hawking of sexual misconduct. [39] [40] [41]

Sergey Brin and his then fiancée, Anne Wojcicki, visited the island in 2007. [42] In December 2012, Howard Lutnick, his wife and their children visited the island, where they had lunch with Epstein. [43] Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito visited the island in November 2014, according to Epstein's records. [44] Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak visited the island multiple times from 2014 to 2015. [45] Jes Staley, the former head of Barclays, visited the island in 2015. [46]

Giuffre said in a lawsuit that while traveling with Epstein she saw Bill Clinton on the island. [47] 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. [47] According to Epstein's flight logs, Clinton never flew on one of Epstein's planes near the U.S. Virgin Islands. [48] In July 2019, a Clinton spokesperson issued a statement saying Clinton never visited the island. [11] [49]

In emails from 2011 and 2015, Epstein denies that Clinton ever visited the island. [50] [51] [52] In August 2025, the Department of Justice released a transcript of an interview between Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during which Maxwell said Naomi Campbell probably had visited Little Saint James at some point. [53]

Allegations and reputation under Epstein's ownership

The first allegations regarding Little Saint James pertained to a lawsuit alleging that Epstein forced the then 18-year-old Virginia Roberts to have sex with the then Prince Andrew on several occasions, including as part of an orgy on Little St. James. [36] [54] [ needs update ] Buckingham Palace has denied this allegation. [55] [56] A lawyer for Epstein called Roberts's allegations of orgies "old and discredited". [36]

Little Saint James has been given numerous nicknames in the media, such as "Isle of Babes", [57] "Island of Sin", [36] "Pedophile Island", [58] [12] "Orgy Island", [58] [12] and "Epstein Island". [59]

According to a 2019 Vanity Fair article, two locals on St. Thomas said they saw Epstein board his plane in 2019 with girls "who appeared to be under the age of consent". [60] In August 2019, after Epstein's death, FBI agents searched his residence on Little St. James. [61] [62]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ward, Vicky (June 27, 2011). "The Talented Mr. Epstein". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Thomas, Landon Jr. (July 1, 2008). "Financier Starts Sentence in Prostitution Case". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Lesser Antilles : Barbados to the Virgin Islands". Cambridgeshire, England : Imray, Norie & Wilson Ltd. 1991. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Brown, Julie K. (July 11, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein arrested on sex trafficking charges". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  5. ↑ Coaston, Jane (December 3, 2018). "Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who is friends with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton explained". Vox. Archived from the original on August 24, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  6. ↑ "VInow: Virgin Islands Geography". vinow.com. Retrieved January 5, 2024. The islands are the peaks of submerged mountains that rise from the ocean floor....The geography of the islands consists of seaside cliffs, mountains with lush forest, tiny streams, arid lands and beautiful white sand beaches.
  7. ↑ "Weather". U.S. National Park Service. September 8, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2024. The Tradewinds (the Easterlies) dominate the weather in the Virgin Islands, blowing east to west across the tropical Atlantic. The winter tends to bring stronger winds and less rain, and the summer tends to bring more rain and lighter winds.
  8. ↑ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (July 21, 2008). "Purchase of the United States Virgin Islands, 1917". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved January 21, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Historical Documents - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved February 12, 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Private Properties". Wall Street Journal . April 18, 1997. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  11. 1 2 "Whispers, suspicion about Epstein on Caribbean island". July 11, 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019– via Associated Press.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Stieb, Matt (July 10, 2019). "Everything We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Private 'Pedophile Island'". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on September 3, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  13. ↑ Metcalf, Tom (August 14, 2019). "The Epstein Tapes: Unearthed Recordings From His Private Island" . Bloomberg. Retrieved July 17, 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  14. 1 2 3 Levin, Jonathan; Farrell, Greg; Metcalf, Tom (July 12, 2019). "The Mystery Surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's Private Island" . Bloomberg. Archived from the original on July 26, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ Voytko, Lisette (July 16, 2019). "Court Documents Confirm Jeffrey Epstein Is Nowhere Near A Billionaire" . Forbes . Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  16. ↑ Briquelet, Kate; Cartwright, Lachlan (March 12, 2019). "Notorious Billionaire Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein Funded This 'Women's Empowerment' Advocate". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  17. ↑ "CARIBBEAN RENTALS, USVI, LITTLE ST. JAMES". www.naplesnet.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 1999. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 Hall, Kevin G.; Brown, Julie K. (October 1, 2019). "For Jeffrey Epstein, one island hideaway wasn't enough. How he stealthily acquired a second". Miami Herald .
  19. ↑ Carlson, Suzanne (July 22, 2019). "Contractor recalls 6 years on Epstein's island". The Virgin Islands Daily News .
  20. ↑ "INSIDE THE TIMES: July 1, 2008". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  21. ↑ DeGregory, Priscilla; Sheehy, Kate (August 19, 2019). "Exclusive | Jeffrey Epstein signed will just two days before suicide". New York Post.
  22. ↑ Epstein, Jeffrey (August 2019). "Last Will and Testament of Jeffrey E. Epstein". Virgin Islands Courts.
  23. ↑ Clarke, Katherine; Paynter, Sarah (March 23, 2022). "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Islands in the Caribbean to List for $125 Million" . Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Jeffrey Epstein's St. James Islands Listed For Sale". St. Thomas Source. March 23, 2022. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  25. ↑ Dey, Kunal (May 4, 2023). "Stephen Deckoff: Billionaire acquires Jeffrey Epstein's private islands for $60 million". Meaww.com. Retrieved November 23, 2025. Deckoff acquired the properties for less than half of their $125M initial asking price
  26. ↑ Goldstein, Matthew (May 3, 2023). "Billionaire Investor Buys Epstein's Private Islands for $60 Million" . The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 31, 2025. Retrieved December 30, 2025.
  27. ↑ "Eavesdrop: Here are all the architects and designers in Jeffrey Epstein's black book". The Architect's Newspaper. August 15, 2019.
  28. ↑ Colyar, Brock; Hurwitz, Kelsey; Klein, Charlotte; Kweku, Ezekiel; Larocca, Amy; Martins, Yinka; Raymond, Adam K.; Schneier, Matthew; Stieb, Matt; Walsh, James D. (July 22, 2019). "Who Was Jeffrey Epstein Calling? A close study of his circle — social, professional, transactional — reveals a damning portrait of elite New York" . New York Magazine: Intelligencer.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  29. ↑ Ward, Vicky (March 1, 2003). "The Talented Mr. Epstein" . Vanity Fair.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  30. 1 2 Nicolaou, Elena (May 29, 2020). "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Island Has Become a Tourist Attraction". Oprah Daily.
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "EFTA00020141.pdf UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT VIRGIN ISLANDS" (PDF). 2017.
  32. ↑ "4.8K aerial stock footage of an Oceanfront gold domed building, Little St James Island Aerial Stock Footage AX102_250". Axiom Images. March 12, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  33. 1 2 3 Schapiro, Rich (August 1, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's bizarre blue-striped building on private island raised alarm". NBC News. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  34. 1 2 3 4 Trotter, J.K. (September 10, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's island temple inspired dozens of conspiracy theories. We spoke to someone who went inside". Business Insider. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  35. ↑ Oliveira, Tyler (May 2, 2023). "I Snuck onto Jeffrey Epstein's Island". YouTube.
  36. 1 2 3 4 "Stephen Hawking pictured on Jeffrey Epstein's 'Island of Sin'" . The Daily Telegraph . January 12, 2015. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  37. ↑ Rayner, Gordon; Mendick, Robert (September 3, 2025). "I'm in the Mandelson photo – he spent a week on Epstein's island" . The Telegraph. Retrieved February 14, 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  38. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Sarah; Schapiro, Rich (April 26, 2025). "Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent abuse survivors, dies by suicide". NBC News. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  39. ↑ Bekiempis, Victoria (January 4, 2024). "Jeffrey Epstein: documents linking associates to sex offender unsealed". The Guardian . Retrieved February 1, 2026.
  40. ↑ Booth, Robert (January 5, 2024). "Prince Andrew, Clinton, Hawking: what do the Epstein documents say about key people?". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  41. ↑ Goodwin, Grace Eliza (January 4, 2024). "What the unsealed Jeffrey Epstein documents say — and don't say — about Stephen Hawking". Business Insider . Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  42. ↑ "New Epstein Files Name Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Other Powerful Men" . The New York Times . January 31, 2026. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 31, 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  43. ↑ Goodwin, Grace Eliza (January 30, 2026). "US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick planned visit to Jeffrey Epstein's private island, emails show". BBC News. Retrieved February 3, 2026.
  44. ↑ Rubin, Olivia; Hill, James (November 19, 2025). "LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman's ties to Jeffrey Epstein face Trump-ordered investigation". ABC News . Retrieved February 1, 2026.
  45. ↑ Hale, Erin; Power, John (December 9, 2025). "Israel's ex-PM Ehud Barak and Epstein had close relationship, emails reveal". Al Jazeera . Retrieved February 2, 2026.
  46. ↑ Jordan, Dearbail (March 24, 2022). "Jeffrey Epstein's private islands put up for sale for $125m". BBC News . Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  47. 1 2 Gerstein, Josh (May 4, 2017). "The one weird court case linking Trump, Bill Clinton, and a billionaire pedophile". POLITICO. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  48. ↑ Bensinger, Ken (January 28, 2015). "Plenty Of Innuendo, But No Hard Evidence Of New Clinton Sex Scandal". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  49. ↑ Sullivan, Kate (July 8, 2019). "Bill Clinton 'knows nothing' about Epstein's 'terrible crimes,' spokesman says". CNN . Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  50. ↑ Suter, Tara (November 13, 2025). "Epstein in newly released email said Bill Clinton was never 'on the island'". The Hill. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
  51. ↑ Gregorian, Dareh; Lebowitz, Megan; Glisson, Fiona; Shabad, Rebecca (November 12, 2025). "Jeffrey Epstein emails: Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and more". NBC News.
  52. ↑ Barrouque (November 13, 2025). "Brett". Arkansas Democratic Gazette. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
  53. ↑ Egwuonwu, Nnamdi (August 22, 2025). "Justice Department releases Ghislaine Maxwell interview transcript and audio file". NBC News.
  54. ↑ Buncombe, Andrew (January 6, 2015). "Prince Andrew sex allegations: Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein 'had 21". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  55. ↑ Pavia, Will (January 9, 2015). "Stephen Hawking joined Jeffrey Epstein private island soiree" . The Australian .{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  56. ↑ Swaine, Jon (January 13, 2015). "Jeffrey Epstein's donations to young pupils prompts US Virgin Islands review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  57. ↑ Nally, Leland. "I called everyone in Jeffrey Epstein's little black book".
  58. 1 2 Levin, Jonathan; Farrell, Greg; Metcalf, Tom (July 12, 2019). "Mystery surrounds Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the Caribbean". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  59. ↑ Velsey, Kim (May 8, 2023). "Who Wants to Vacation on Epstein Island?". curbed.com. Curbed. Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  60. ↑ Aguirre, Holly (July 20, 2019). ""The girls were just so young": The horrors of Jeffrey Epstein's private island" . Vanity Fair . Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  61. ↑ Mangan, Dan; Breuninger, Kevin (August 12, 2019). "FBI searches Jeffrey Epstein's home in Virgin Islands". CNBC . Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  62. ↑ Schapiro, Rich; Winter, Tom; Dienst, Jonathan (August 13, 2019). "FBI agents swarm Jeffrey Epstein's private Caribbean island". NBC News . Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
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