10 months ago
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The Caribbean island owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, where he allegedly organised sex parties, has become the focus of attention after thousands of pages of documents were unsealed as part of a defamation proceeding related to Epstein's ex girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
While those featured in the documents are not all Epstein's associates, they are people connected to Epstein or Ms Maxwell in some way.
Where is the island?
The 72-acre property, also known informally as "Paedophile Island", is one of the many places where Epstein reportedly held sex parties. Epstein had bought two islands in 1998 for $8 million. Since his death, several women have come forward to say they were trafficked and abused on one of the islands called Little St. James.
The island included a series of villas and is a part of the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
What happened on the island?
In a lawsuit, filed by Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George, she accuses Epstein of bringing girls between the ages of 12 and 17 to his 577-million-dollar estate by boat, helicopter and plane between 2001 and 2019. The air traffic controllers in Virgin Islands said they saw Epstein leave his private plane with girls who looked 11 years old in 2018, the lawsuit claimed.
The registered sex offender has also refused investigators from entering his island and instead met them at his office. The lawsuit also claims that a 15-year-old girl, who was raped and forced to perform sex acts on others by Epstein, once tried to run away from the island but was caught and held captive.
As per an email Epstein sent to Maxwell, which was part of the recent unsealed documents, it was claimed that late scientist Stephen Hawking had taken part in an "underage orgy" at the island. People magazine reported that Mr Hawking visited Epstein's private island as part of a science trip in 2006, months before he was first charged with sexual offences.
What will happen to the island now?
The controversial islands are set to be converted into a resort soon, a report in New York Post said. As per Forbes, the islands were bought by billionaire Stephen Deckoff, founder of private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, for $60 million in May 2023. The island along with another 160-plus-acre property in Great St. James, also owned by Epstein, have been on sale for over a year and the future resort is likely to be inaugurated in 2025.
Listed to be sold for $125 million in 2021, a majority of the money will add to the compensation for Epstein's victims.
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