Little Saint James, U.S. Virgin Islands

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Little Saint James
Little St James Island (9165947585).jpg
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Little Saint James
Location in the Caribbean
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Little Saint James
Little Saint James (Caribbean)
Geography
Location Caribbean Sea
Coordinates 18°18′0″N64°49′30″W / 18.30000°N 64.82500°W / 18.30000; -64.82500
Archipelago Virgin Islands archipelago
Administration
TerritoryFlag of the United States Virgin Islands.svg  United States Virgin Islands
Area covered0.28–0.32 km2 (0.11–0.12 sq mi)
Little Saint James is the smaller of the two islands in the southeast of nr. 2 of Saint Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands Subdivisions.svg
Little Saint James is the smaller of the two islands in the southeast of nr. 2 of Saint Thomas

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

Contents

Geography

Map of Little Saint James Little Saint James.png
Map of Little Saint James

Little Saint James is a small island (or islet) [3] with an area of 70 to 78 acres (28 to 32 ha). It is in the United States Virgin Islands, [1] located 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]

Ownership

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

Little Saint James is a private island. In 1997, Little St. James was owned by venture capitalist Arch Cummin and was for sale for $10.5 million. [8] 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. [9] [10] [11] In 2019, the island was valued at $63,874,223. [12] The island was Epstein's primary residence, [4] [13] 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] In 2008, Epstein's estate on Little Saint James had 70 staff. [10] [14] According to a former staffer, Epstein insisted on discretion and confidentiality from his employees. [11]

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. [15] [16]

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. [17]

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. [8] In addition, there is a blue-striped, boxlike building that initially was topped by a golden dome. [18] 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. [18] 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.[ citation needed ]

Visitors

David Copperfield proposed to Claudia Schiffer on Little St. James, three months after meeting her in 1993. [19]

Victoria's Secret models were among the guests a former Epstein employee saw there, and billionaire Les Wexner visited the island at least once. [11] 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. [20]

Virginia Roberts, later known as Virginia Giuffre, states in a lawsuit that while working at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort [21] she was lured into a sex-trafficking ring run by Epstein and while traveling with Epstein she saw Bill Clinton on the island. [22] A Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secret Service records of visits Bill Clinton may have made to Little St. James produced no such evidence. [22] According to Epstein's flight logs, Clinton never flew near the U.S. Virgin Islands. [23] In July 2019, a Clinton spokesperson issued a statement saying Clinton never visited the island. [9] [24]

Jes Staley, the former head of Barclays, visited the island in 2015. [25]

Reputation under Epstein's ownership

The island acquired nicknames such as “Island of Sin”, [20] "Pedophile Island", [26] [10] "Orgy Island", [26] [10] and "Epstein Island". [27]

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. [28] 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. [20] [29] Buckingham Palace has denied this allegation. [30] [31] A lawyer for Epstein has described the allegations of orgies by Roberts as "old and discredited". [20]

According to locals, Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island in 2019, after he was registered as a sex offender. [32] In August 2019, following Epstein's death, FBI agents searched his residence on Little St. James. [33] [34]

See also

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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 5 January 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Jeffrey Epstein arrested on sex trafficking charges". miamiherald. Archived from the original on 2019-07-07. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  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. 1 2 "Private Properties". Wall Street Journal . April 18, 1997. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  9. 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.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Stieb, Matt (2019-07-10). "Everything We Know About Jeffrey Epstein's Private 'Pedophile Island'". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2019-07-13.
  11. 1 2 3 "The Mystery Surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's Private Island". www.bloomberg.com. 12 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
  12. ↑ Lisette Voytko (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.
  13. ↑ Cartwright, Kate Briquelet|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– via www.thedailybeast.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "INSIDE THE TIMES: July 1, 2008". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  15. ↑ Clarke, Sarah Paynter and Katherine (2022-03-23). "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Islands in the Caribbean to List for $125 Million". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  16. ↑ "Jeffrey Epstein's St. James Islands Listed For Sale". St. Thomas Source. 2022-03-23. Archived from the original on 2023-02-14. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  17. ↑ Investments, S. D. "SD Investments Announces Acquisition of Great St. James and Little St. James Islands in the United States Virgin Islands". www.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  18. 1 2 Rich Schapiro (August 1, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's bizarre blue-striped building on private island raised alarm". NBC News. Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  19. ↑ Espinoza, Galina (April 9, 2001). "A Lift Out of Life". People . Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  20. 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.
  21. ↑ Brown, Julie K.; Blaskey, Sarah (9 August 2019). "Huge cache of records details how Jeffrey Epstein and madam lured girls into depraved world". Miami Herald . Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020. Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre, says she was 16 and working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort when she was approached by Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's associate, about becoming a masseuse for Epstein.
  22. 1 2 Gerstein, Josh. "The one weird court case linking Trump, Bill Clinton, and a billionaire pedophile". POLITICO. Archived from the original on 2021-03-10. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  23. ↑ "Plenty Of Innuendo, But No Hard Evidence Of New Clinton Sex Scandal". BuzzFeed News. January 28, 2015. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ "Jeffrey Epstein's private islands put up for sale for $125m". BBC News. 2022-03-24. Archived from the original on 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  26. 1 2 Metcalf, Jonathan Levin, Greg Farrell, Tom (12 July 2019). "Mystery surrounds Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the Caribbean". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 2019-07-13. Retrieved 2019-07-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ↑ Velsey, Kim (8 May 2023). "Who Wants to Vacation on Epstein Island?". curbed.com. Curbed. Archived from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  28. ↑ "The Salacious Ammo Even Donald Trump Won't Use in a Fight Against Hillary Clinton – VICE News". News.vice.com. Archived from the original on 2019-07-16. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
  29. ↑ "Prince Andrew sex allegations: Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein 'had 21". The Independent. January 6, 2015. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  30. ↑ Pavia, Will (January 9, 2015). "Stephen Hawking joined Jeffrey Epstein private island soiree". The Australian .
  31. ↑ Swaine, Jon (January 13, 2015). "Jeffrey Epstein's donations to young pupils prompts US Virgin Islands review". Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2019– via www.theguardian.com.
  32. ↑ ""The girls were just so young": The horrors of Jeffrey Epstein's private island". Vanity Fair . July 20, 2019. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  33. ↑ "FBI searches Jeffrey Epstein's home in Virgin Islands". CNBC . August 12, 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  34. ↑ "FBI agents swarm Jeffrey Epstein's private Caribbean island". August 13, 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019– via NBC News.
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