- In July, New York Magazine reported that Jeffrey Epstein owned two neighboring private islands in the US Virgin Islands, which cost him over $25 million collectively.
- Epstein’s real-estate portfolio has played a major role in the sexual-abuse allegations against him.
- On August 12, 2019, two days after Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell, the FBI raided one of his private islands called Little St. James.
- On January 15, 2020, Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George filed a lawsuit alleging that Epstein and his associates took girls and young women to Little St. James and forced them into sexual servitude and forced labor.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had an expensive real-estate portfolio that included two neighboring private islands.
In 1998, Epstein bought Little St. James, a 72-acre private island in the US Virgin Islands, for $ 7.95 million. The island was dubbed “Pedophile Island” and “Orgy Island” by locals, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Next to Little St. James sits Epstein’s second private island, Great St. James. Epstein purchased the second island in 2016 for a reported $18 million.
According to New York Magazine, Epstein planned to build a compound on Great St. James but was issued a stop-work order in December for not obeying environmental regulations.
On August 12, 2019, just days after Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell - where he was being held on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking - the FBI raided Little St. James to search for evidence pertaining to the case against him.
Then, on January 15, 2020, Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George filed a lawsuit alleging that Epstein and his associates lured girls and young women to the island, where they were forced into sexual servitude and prevented from leaving.
Keep reading for an inside look at Little St. James and Great St. James.
Jeffrey Epstein owned two private islands in the US Virgin Islands: Little St. James and Great St. James.
Source: New York Magazine, Miami Herald
The islands sit next to each other off the coast of St. Thomas.
Source: Google Maps
The first of Epstein's US Virgin Island purchases was Little Saint James.
Source: New York Magazine
Little St. James spans 78 acres.
Source: Business Insider
Epstein bought it in 1998 for $7.95 million.
Source: New York Magazine
He flew underage girls to the island on his private jet as recently as 2018, Vanity Fair reported, citing locals.
Source: Business Insider, Vanity Fair
The Los Angeles Times reported that the island has been dubbed "Pedophile Island" and "Orgy Island" by locals.
Source: Los Angeles Times
The island includes five buildings: a villa-style compound, a library, a cinema, a detached bathhouse, and cabanas. According to New York magazine, there is also a "flamingo-stocked lagoon" on the island.
Source: Curbed, Business Insider, New York Magazine
The main residence and compound sit on the northeast point of the island, and a pair of guest houses sit on the northwest and southeast points of the island. The mansion has a distinctive turquoise roof.
Source: Business Insider, AP
The island also has a temple structure that boasts some strange features. One of those features, Business Insider previously reported, is a door that appears to be designed to keep people inside.
Source: Business Insider
The island is believed to have been Epstein's primary residence.
Source: Miami Herald
In 2000, Epstein started Jeffrey Epstein's VI Foundation on Little St. James.
Source: JeffreyEpstein.org
According to its website, the foundation gave $35 million to Harvard, kick-starting the university's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. However, Vox reported that a source close to the contribution said the donation sum was actually much smaller — $6.5 million.
Source: JeffreyEpstein.org, Vox
The larger of Epstein's two islands is Great St. James.
Source: Google Maps
It spans 165 acres.
Source: New York Magazine
Epstein purchased Great St. James in 2016 for a reported $18 million.
Source: New York Post
Epstein planned to build a compound on the island but was issued a stop-work order in December for not obeying environmental regulations. According to the New York Post, the stop-work order was ignored, and construction on the island continued.
Source: New York Magazine, New York Post
The Virgin Islands Daily News reported that the compound was supposed to include an amphitheater and an "underwater office and pool."
Source: Virgin Islands Daily News
To the public's knowledge, Epstein owned four other luxury residential properties: a mansion in Manhattan, an estate in Palm Beach, Florida, a ranch in New Mexico, and an apartment in Paris.
Epstein's seven-story mansion on East 71st Street was valued at $77 million in a recent court document. However, the New York City Department of Finance valued the home closer to $56 million earlier in 2019. In Florida, his Palm Beach estate, which he purchased in 1990, is estimated to be worth over $12 million.
In New Mexico, Epstein owned a 7,500-acre ranch that was appraised at over $18 million in 2013.
He also owned an apartment in Paris on the famous Avenue Foch. However, very little information on the apartment is available to the public.
His real estate portfolio has played a major role in the sexual-abuse allegations against him.
On August 12, 2019, just two days after Epstein was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell, the FBI raided the island, according to the Miami Herald.
Then, on January 15, 2020, Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George filed a lawsuit alleging that, as recently as 2018, Epstein and his associates took girls and young women to Little St. James and forced them into sexual servitude and forced labor.
