Billionaire Buys Epstein Islands, Reveals Future Plans

An aerial view of Little Saint James Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands in an undated photo. Gianfranco Gaglione/AP Photo

A billionaire has purchased the islands owned by sex offender and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Stephen Deckoff, the billionaire investor, made the purchase of Great St. James and Little St. James through his firm SD Investments LLC, the company said in a statement.

Deckoff, a resident of the U.S. Virgin Islands since 2011, plans to develop a five-star luxury resort on the islands.

“I’ve been proud to call the U.S. Virgin Islands home for more than a decade and am tremendously pleased to be able to bring the area a world-class destination befitting its natural grace and beauty,” Deckoff said in a statement.

“There is simply no place in the world as special as the U.S. Virgin Islands and I am humbled by the opportunity to share its splendor with visitors in a manner that will provide economic benefits to the region while respecting its culture, history, and natural beauty. I very much look forward to working with the U.S. Virgin Islands to make this dream a reality,” he added.

The project will help draw tourists to the islands and create jobs, according to SD Investments.

Deckoff is working to hire architects and engineers. The resort is projected to open in 2025.

Deckoff paid $60 million. The asking price for the islands, when they were first listed, was $125 million.

Epstein bought one of the islands in 1998 and the other in 2016. One includes multiple buildings while the other has few structures.

Epstein died in jail in New York City in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008.

Little St. James Island, one of the properties owned by Jeffrey Epstein, in an aerial view near Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on July 21, 2019. Marco Bello/Reuters

A man stands near a U.S. flag at half staff on Little St. James Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a property owned by Jeffrey Epstein on Aug. 14, 2019. Gabriel Lopez Albarran/AP Photo

Girls Raped on Islands

U.S. Virgin Islands officials have said that young girls were raped on the islands.

Epstein and people working with him “trafficked, raped, sexually assaulted and held captive underage girls and young women” on the islands, the islands’ attorney general said in a lawsuit filed in 2020.

The girls were as young as 11, the suit said.

Girls were lured to the islands with promises of money, employment, and career opportunities before becoming ensnared in a network that sometimes seized their passports and cut off communication with the outside world, prosecutors said.

One girl tried unsuccessfully to escape by swimming from one of the islands.

The alleged crimes took place from 2001 to 2018.

Numerous girls have said they were abused by Epstein and his associates at his properties, which included homes in New York City, New Mexico, and Florida.

Epstein’s estate agreed to settle the case with a payment of $105 million.

Per the settlement, a “significant portion” of the proceeds of the sale of the islands will be paid to the U.S. Virgin Islands government, SD Investments LLC said. The government is due to half the proceeds under the settlement.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry on March 28, 2017. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services via Reuters

Never Met Epstein

Deckoff “never met Mr. Epstein,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

Deckoff also had never been to either of the islands before they were placed on sale following Epstein’s death, which was ruled a suicide by New York City’s medical examiner, according to the spokesperson.

Deckoff is not listed in Epstein’s infamous black book, which was published online years ago, or mentioned in recent reporting by the Wall Street Journal, which obtained documents including Epstein’s schedule. The reports revealed new connections with top officials, including CIA Director William Burns, and more details on previously known connections.

Deckoff has a net worth of $3 billion, according to Forbes. The billionaire, who founded Black Diamond Capital, lived in New York City before moving to the U.S. Virgin Islands.