The Caribbean islands where convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein built a lavish home, entertained the cream of society and abused under-age girls has been put up for sale.
The US Virgin Islands of Little St James and Great St James, colloquially known as Paedophile Island, are being marketed with a price tag of $125m. Epstein bought Little St James in the 1990s, adding Great St James in 2016 for $20m.
Little St James was largely undeveloped when Epstein acquired it, a former employee told a court in New York last year. Cimberly Espinosa, who worked in Epstein’s New York office, said he had ordered “a lot of construction” including swimming pools, lodgings and a fire station. “We even shipped in sand and palm trees and all kinds of things to get the island to what he wanted it to be,” she said.
Proceeds from the sale are to be used to resolve outstanding lawsuits and to meet other potential costs, including debts that the government of the US Virgin Islands has sought to claim by placing liens on the properties, an attorney for the estate said.
Epstein’s estate says it has so far paid $121m to his victims through a compensation fund, largely through the sale of his properties. His Manhattan townhouse sold for $51m last year; his Palm Beach home in Florida sold for $18.5m to a developer who razed it to the ground and resold it in October for nearly $26m.
