One of the islands was bought by Jeffrey Epstein in 1998 for $8 million.
The controversial islands owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will soon be turned into a resort, according to a report in New York Post. The real estate in the Caribbean, known informally as “Paedophile Islands”, is one of the places where Epstein reportedly held sex parties. As per Forbes, the islands were bought by billionaire Stephen Deckoff, founder of private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, for $60 million in May 2023. The outlet said that Great St. James and Little St. James were on the market for more than year.
The Post said in its report that the island resort will be inaugurated in 2025.
They were initially listed for $125 million in 2021, with the bulk of the proceeds supporting compensation efforts for Epstein’s victims.
Mr Deckoff had told Forbes that the resort will have 25 rooms. The property spans more than 230 acres – 70-plus-acre in Little St. James and 160-plus-acre in Great St. James. It is located just off the shores of tourism hub St. Thomas and already boasts a helipad, multiple pools and several guest villas.
“I very much look forward to working with the US Virgin Islands to make this dream a reality,” the billionaire had said after the deal was widely reported.
Epstein’s ownership had cast a dark shadow over the islands. The disgraced financier had bought them in 1998 for $8 million. Since his death, several women have come forward to say they were trafficked to the islands and abused.
Their accounts were revealed when a New York judge unsealed documents related to Epstein. The documents, which include almost 1,000 pages of depositions and statements, were former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, who have not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
The disclosure is part of a defamation proceeding between Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison, and a plaintiff against the duo, Virginia Giuffre.
Epstein, a financier with a powerful network in the United States and abroad, was himself accused of raping young girls, but his suicide by hanging in a New York prison in August 2019 halted his prosecution.
