Billionaire turning Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Pedophile Island’ into resort and hotel
The island and its dark history was bought for $88 million last May.
World
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Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean islands, where he is accused of holding underage sex parties and other debauchery, are slated for a major rebranding.
The new owners of the late financier’s playgrounds of perversion in the US Virgin Islands — known informally as “Pedophile Island” — are working to transform them into a glitzy new resort.
Billionaire Stephen Deckoff paid $88 million for Great St. James and Little St. James, with the smaller of the two hosting Epstein’s former estate.
According to reports, the co-founder of Black Diamond Capital Management hopes to inaugurate the new attraction sometime in 2025.
The islands were initially listed for $184 million in 2021, with the bulk of the proceeds supporting compensation efforts for Epstein’s victims.
They failed to land a buyer, and the price was slashed to $162 million in 2022 before Deckoff pounced in May of last year.
Epstein — who hung himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2018 — hosted a parade of prominent figures he brought into his orbit at the site over many years.
Since Epstein’s death hundreds of women from around the world have come forward to say they were sex trafficked to the islands and abused, often while underage, after being promised modelling contracts or better lives by Epstein or one of his cohorts, like ex-girlfriend and fixer Ghislaine Maxwell.
A judge is expected to unseal a trove of documents related to the jetsetting former finance bigwig’s activities as soon as Tuesday.
Much of the property on Little St. James will be refashioned, but Deckoff reportedly will not raze Epstein’s former residence.
Instead, developers plan to “convert” it into a glittering hotel.
“I’ve been proud to call the US 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 told the Financial Times in May after the buy.
Reportedly worth $4 billion, Deckoff augmented his already sprawling real estate portfolio with the purchases of 165-acre Great St. James Bay and 70-acre Little St. James Bay.
The finance titan lives in a $17 million waterfront estate in St. John ‘s Peter Bay, and owns other trophy properties in Beverly Hills and New York.
Epstein purchased Little St. James — which would become the centre of his misconduct — for just $11.75 million in 1998. He later bought Great St. James in 2016 for nearly $29 million, although he never significantly developed it before his death.
The smaller island hosted five buildings, including Epstein’s primary luxury villa, a library, theatre, cinema and bathhouse.
According to a prior real estate listing, “Epstein Island” also included “a helipad, private dock, gas station, high-capacity water filtration, 2 pools, the main compound, 4 guest villas, 3 private beaches, gym, tiki hut,” and other structures.
Epstein observers have long scrutinised a large temple-like property on the island featuring a golden dome, blue and white striped exterior, and statue of the Greek god Poseidon.
Collaborating with accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein greeted a procession of high-powered global figures to the property — including former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew.
Maxwell — who remains jailed in Florida — helped procure underage girls to satisfy the desires of Epstein and some of his associates, authorities asserted.
This story originally appeared on the New York Post and is republished here with permission.
Originally published as Billionaire turning Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Pedophile Island’ into resort and hotel
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