the epstein case

What We Know Almost Jeffrey Epstein's 'Pedophile Island'

Little St. James Island, which is owned by billionaire and accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Little St. James Island. Photo: Gianfranco Gaglione/AP/Shutterstock

More two decades agone, Little St. James Island, a small part of the U.Southward. Virgin Islands, began to change in ways that the locals on neighboring islands regarded with suspicion. Plants were cleared. Poles bearing American flags went up. Security guards lined the beaches.

These transformations, according to the Associated Printing, happened when the island was bought past accused child-sexual practice trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead by apparent suicide in his prison house jail cell on August 10. The island has, over the years, gained a handful of sinister nicknames: "Orgy Isle," "Pedophile Island," and "Island of Sin." (Epstein, Bloomberg reports, preferred the nickname "Trivial St. Jeff's.")

Though much of what transpired on the island has remained the subject of rumor, it's probable that more concrete details will presently emerge: On Monday, at to the lowest degree a dozen FBI agents raided Epstein'southward Piddling St. James residence, a bureau spokesman told NBC News.

Below, everything to know about Epstein's ties to the island.

In 1998, for $7.95 1000000, Epstein purchased Trivial St. James Island, which is situated between the larger St. Thomas and St. John islands. After buying the 72-acre body of land, Epstein outfitted the island with towering palm trees, multiple buildings, and a helicopter pad, Bloomberg reports.

Though not many details have been reported most the interior of the main residence, a onetime employee said that Epstein had two offices, which no one but the maid was immune to enter, where he kept security boxes. A sometime IT contractor who worked for Epstein from 1999 through 2005 as well shed light on what was to exist institute inside Epstein'south residence: countless photos of nude women.

"At that place were photos of topless women everywhere," contractor Steve Scully told ABC News. "On his desk, in his office, in his bedroom."

There'southward also what appears to be a mysterious blue-striped temple. According to Insider, which investigated the structure, it previously featured a gilt dome that flew off in 2017 when the hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the region. While the purpose of the temple is unknown, one possibility is that it had served every bit a place for the classically trained Epstein to practice pianoforte — workers described information technology as a music room with acoustic walls and a grand piano inside, as the AP reports.

Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the temple was either a secluded setting for Epstein's abuse or that it concealed a subconscious underground location for the aforementioned purpose. James Both, a contractor whom Insider consulted with for the story, noted that while information technology was possible to install an cloak-and-dagger space or elevator, the construction would have most likely been documented past a vendor to ensure regular inspections.

Both likewise pointed out the temple'southward questionable wooden door, which features a reinforcing lock bar. "What makes information technology peculiar is that if you lot wanted to keep people out, the bar would be placed inside the building, [but the] locking bar appears to be placed on the outside … as if it were intended to lock people in," he said. According to Scully, though, the edifice is simply a gym. (He claims, nevertheless, that the gym allegedly features an especially large framed photo of a topless adult female.)

Epstein also had an interest in "pirate treasure," ane of his former employees told Bloomberg. Reportedly, Epstein would pay staffers anywhere between $100 and $one,000 if they discovered and gave to him old rum bottles, plates, and other dishware.

According to Play tricks News, Epstein had a dedicated team of workers on the isle who trafficked girls every bit immature every bit 12 to his clients. To get there, Epstein would fly the underage girls into St. Thomas, and and then he would ferry them over to his individual isle via a boat named Lady Ghislaine, one former employee told Bloomberg.

Once on the isle, the underage girls and women say they were coerced into sexual encounters and, in some cases, even held hostage. Sarah Ransome, who claims Epstein instructed her to have sex activity with lawyer Alan Dershowitz when she was in her 20, said she tried to swim off the island, only to be establish past a search party that included Epstein and his alleged madame Ghislaine Maxwell. (Dershowitz claims that he has never met Ransome). She too said that they kept her passport so she couldn't go out — a ruthless tactic they allegedly used in an attempt to hold more than one victim against their will. In a 2015 defamation lawsuit filed against Maxwell, the firm manager for 1 of Maxwell's close friends testified that a "distraught" 15-yr-old Swedish girl told him that Maxwell had taken away her passport and tried to force her to have sex with Epstein while she was on the isle. (In a statement, a spokesperson for his onetime employer called this claim "demonstrably false and defamatory.")

Furthermore, in his interview with ABC News, Scully said that he frequently saw groups of girls who "couldn't have been more than fifteen or xvi years quondam" riding ATVs and bathing topless.

Co-ordinate to permit records obtained by NBC News, while Epstein's legal squad was busy negotiating a notoriously lenient plea deal for their client in the fall of 2007, Epstein was preoccupied with orchestrating major renovations on the isle. (He would eventually plead guilty to two counts of soliciting prostitution from a minor, thus dodging federal sex-trafficking charges, and serve just 13 months in jail.) During this time, Epstein reportedly ordered the structure of a spa, a living room that would connect to a ground theater, a new kitchen, and ii new guest rooms. Altogether, he sought to expand his residence by well-nigh 20,000 foursquare anxiety — a transformation that turned his primary business firm into a mansion.

Virginia Roberts, who claims to accept been trafficked by Epstein, told her lawyers in 2011 interview that she saw Clinton with "two young girls" on the island. "I remember asking Jeffrey, 'What'due south Beak Clinton doing here?,' [that] kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said, 'Well, he owes me a favor,'" Roberts told her lawyers.

Clinton, even so, has repeatedly denied this allegation through his spokesperson.

"President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years agone, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York," Affections Urena said in a statement. "He'southward non spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein's ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida."

Per Bloomberg, Les Wexner, chairman and CEO of the 50 Brands corporation (the parent company of Victoria's Secret), as well spent time on the island on at least occasion, an employee told the outlet. (Victoria'south Secret models allegedly visited, besides). Additionally, the former prime minister of Israel Ehud Barak told the Daily Creature that he had visited the isle, though he explicitly said that he did not run into Epstein "in the company of women or young girls."

In 2016, Epstein purchased the nearby Great St. James Island, which is approximately 165 acres, for $xviii million. This year, he had begun construction on a compound there despite a stop-work order that had been in place since December. The compound was to characteristic an amphitheater, an underwater office, and pool, according to the Virgin Islands Daily News.

On July 9, U.Due south. Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett said she would be matching the donations she had received from Epstein over the years to give to organizations in her district that focus on women and children. "I am uncomfortable having received coin from someone who has been defendant of these egregious actions multiple times," Plaskett said.

This post has been updated.

What We Know Near Jeffrey Epstein's 'Pedophile' Island