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Little Saint James
Private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 1998 until his death in 2019.[1][2] Due to Epstein's years of ownership, and especially its use as a base of operations for underage sex trafficking, the island is most often nicknamed Epstein Island.
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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 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]
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History
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Perspective
David Copperfield proposed to Claudia Schiffer on Little St. James, three months after meeting her in 1993.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10][11][12][13] In 2019, the island was valued at $63,874,223.[14] Little St. James was Epstein's primary residence,[4][15] 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 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, providing the island dedicated data and electric connections which eliminated the need for generators.[16][17]
In 2008, Epstein's estate on Little St. James had 70 staff.[11][18] According to a former staffer, Epstein insisted on discretion and confidentiality from his employees.[13]
In 2016, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources received complaints about Epstein, who had begun to clear land without a permit.[16]
In his will and testament (a 21-page pour-over will) signed just two days before his death,[19] all of Epstein's holdings were transferred into the "1953 Trust",[20] named after the year of his birth.
In March 2022, Little St. James and the neighboring Great St. 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.[21][22]
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.[23][24]
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Epstein's buildings and visitors (1998–2019)
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In 1997, the island had a main house, three guest cottages, a caretaker's cottage, a private desalination system, a helipad, and a dock.[9]
Main House
Edward Tuttle’s architecture practice designed the renovation of the main house on the island, often described as a compound.[25][26] The renovation concluded sometime after March 2003[27] and the colonnaded villa-style house is where guests stayed while visiting the island.[28]
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.[28]
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.[16]
The Temple
Exterior
There is a blue-striped, boxlike building at the southwest point of the island, 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, along with two sculptures out front.[29] Locals say the dome was blown away during Hurricane Maria in 2017.[30]
The purpose of the actual construction is unclear and it deviates in substantial ways from the plans for the grand piano container that had been submitted for approval in 2010 by Epstein's architects.[30]
The planned "Music Pavilion" building, much like the Dome of the Rock, was of an octagonal footprint. The planned building with a substantial covered porch, also octagonal, was also much lower in perspective than the as-built. The building that was eventually constructed was much taller, in the shape of a cube. 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.[30]
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 described the structure as a relatively small building near the coast which was far away from the other buildings on the island. He said it was "dull pewter" in colour, featured statues that resembled gargoyles atop the roof, and a large glass door which faced south. Baron then confirmed the building against photographs provided by Trotter, despite it 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.[31]
Footage captured by an American content creator who snuck onto the island in 2023 shows that the building and surrounding area had been painted white.[32]
- Exterior of The Temple
Interior
Baron went on to describe the interior as having only one large room that had two levels: the ground floor 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 with a large Oriental rug. He recalls a grey sofa to his right, against the eastern wall; directly ahead of him a dark wood desk of about 10 ft (3 m) long, behind it 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 the pope, although Baron could not confirm which specific pope it was.[31]
Interior
Ceiling mural
Epstein's visitors
Victoria's Secret models were among the guests a former Epstein employee saw there, and billionaire Les Wexner visited the island at least once.[13] Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor paid at least one visit aboard Epstein's private jet to the island, although former staff said he visited Little St. James several times.[33]
Jes Staley, the former head of Barclays, visited the island in 2015.[34]
Virginia Roberts, later known as Virginia Giuffre, stated in a lawsuit that while working at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort[35] she was lured into a sex-trafficking ring run by Epstein and while traveling with Epstein she saw Bill Clinton on the island.[36] 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.[36] According to Epstein's flight logs, Clinton never flew on one of Epstein's planes near the U.S. Virgin Islands.[37] In July 2019, a Clinton spokesperson issued a statement saying Clinton never visited the island.[10][38]
Reputation under Epstein's ownership
During and after its ownership by financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the island acquired nicknames such as "Isle of Babes",[39] "Island of Sin",[33] "Pedophile Island",[40][11] "Orgy Island",[40][11] or more simply, "Epstein Island".[41]
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.[42] 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.[33][43] Buckingham Palace has denied this allegation.[44][45] A lawyer for Epstein has described the allegations of orgies by Roberts as "old and discredited".[33]
According to locals, Epstein continued to bring underage girls to the island in 2019, after he was registered as a sex offender.[46] In August 2019, following Epstein's death, FBI agents searched his residence on Little St. James.[47][48]
Gallery
Lagoon and the Temple on the hill, also the highest point of the island
One of the pools
Walkway towards the beach area
Rocky shoreline and the dock
Buildings of the main area. Four guest houses on the left.
Interior of one of the rooms
Guest houses
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See also
References
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