Lawyer Daniel Weiner told the BBC that the two islands — Little St James and Great St James — have been put on sale and that some of the proceeds from the sale will be used to settle outstanding lawsuits.
Weiner said the sale is taking place with the support of U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George.
Weiner said that the proceeds “will be used by the estate for the resolution of outstanding lawsuits and the regular costs of the estate’s operations.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Lawyer Daniel Weiner for comment.
Epstein, 66, was convicted in Florida in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution. After serving a short amount of time in jail, he was released, but he was arrested again at a New Jersey airport in 2019 on child sex trafficking charges.
He killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled as suicide by the New York medical examiner, who said he had hung himself with a sheet from his bed.
The convicted sex offender purchased the 90-acre Little St James nearly 25 years ago for almost $8 million.
The two islands that he owned were Little St. James and Great St. James, located about two miles from St. Thomas, a larger island with a population of around 50,000.
According to a January 2020 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands, Epstein purchased Little St. James in the late 1990s “as the perfect hideway (sic) for trafficking young women and underage girls for sexual servitude, child abuse, and sexual assault.”
He reportedly bought it for nearly $8 million before going on to buy Great St. James for more than $20 million in 2016, the lawsuit alleged.
Both islands are located around two miles from St. Thomas, a larger island with a population of around 50,000.
Epstein’s Little St James island allegedly welcomed a string of high-profile guests over the years. One of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, has claimed in a lawsuit that Epstein arranged for Prince Andrew to sexually abuse her when she was 17, and that the embattled royal sexually assaulted her in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as New York, and London.
The Duke of York has denied all allegations against him and told the BBC in a 2019 interview that he had “no recollection” of ever meeting Giuffre, despite photographic evidence showing the two together.
Andrew was stripped of his military titles and charities in January and they were returned to the Queen, Buckingham Palace officials said.
In February, the royal settled the lawsuit with Giuffre, although the details of the settlement were not disclosed.