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---
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category: "City"
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tags:
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- Place
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- PalmBeach
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- Florida
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- JeffreyEpstein
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- DonaldTrump
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- MarALago
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- NonProsecutionAgreement
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- PalmBeachPolice
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alias:
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- Palm Beach
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- Town of Palm Beach
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- Palm Beach, FL
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- Palm Beach, Fla.
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summary: "Barrier-island town in Palm Beach County, Florida, incorporated in 1911, home of Mar-a-Lago and of Jeffrey Epstein's house at 358 El Brillo Way, where the 2005 police investigation of Epstein began."
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start: 1911
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location: "Palm Beach County, Florida"
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created: 2026-09-25
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updated: 2026-09-25
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---
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Palm Beach is a town in [[Palm Beach County]], [[Florida]], on the barrier island between Lake Worth and the Atlantic. It was incorporated by its first charter in 1911 and has its own police department. [[Donald Trump|Donald Trump's]] club [[Mar-a-Lago]] and, from 1990 to 2019, [[Jeffrey Epstein|Jeffrey Epstein's]] house at [[358 El Brillo Way]] stand in the town. A 2005 complaint to the town's police about the house produced the first criminal investigation of Epstein, which the county's State Attorney took to a grand jury and federal prosecutors ended with a [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^1][^2][^3]
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### Town and Society
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The 1911 charter created the office of town marshal. Joseph Borman, occasionally employed before his election by the first mayor, Captain Dimick, served as marshal, tax collector, tax assessor, fire chief, voter registrar, code enforcement officer, building official, mosquito control officer and secretary of the town caucus until 1946, and became the first police chief when the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] was formed on October 17, 1922. From 1911 until the Second World War, society baseball games between the New York "Police" and the Philadelphia "Convicts," played at the present site of the tennis courts of [[The Breakers]] with Palm Beach police officers on both sides, raised money for the police pension fund; players included [[Woolworth Donahue]], [[E. F. Hutton]] and [[Walter P. Chrysler]]. The town's police dispatched for [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]] from 1933, and military police patrolled Palm Beach during the war as a rest point for servicemen.[^1]
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Mar-a-Lago was built in the 1920s for [[Marjorie Merriweather Post]]; its tunnel under South Ocean Boulevard leads to a beach cabana beside the [[Bath and Tennis Club]]. When Trump opened it as a club in 1995, only one Palm Beach club was open to Jews. Trump had first sought to subdivide the estate; after a year of hearings the Town Council voted the plan down, Trump sued the town for 50 million dollars, and the council approved a club with restrictions on traffic and noise. In December 1996, when the council refused to lift the restrictions, Trump sued again, alleging that the town discriminated against Mar-a-Lago in part because it was open to Jews and African Americans; the town said it was deciding a zoning matter. In 2004 Trump and Epstein bid against each other for the town's oceanfront mansion [[Maison de l'Amitie]], sold out of bankruptcy to Trump for 41.35 million dollars.[^2][^4][^5]
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### The Epstein Investigation
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Epstein bought 358 El Brillo Way, a waterfront house on the Intracoastal side, in 1990 for about 2.5 million dollars. In March 2005 a woman reported to the town's police that her fourteen-year-old stepdaughter had been molested by a wealthy man who lived on El Brillo Way. Under Chief [[Michael Reiter]], chief from 2001 to 2009, Detective [[Joseph Recarey]] took sworn statements from victims and witnesses, obtained Epstein's household trash through the supervisor of the Town of Palm Beach sanitation bureau, and matched the calls of Epstein's assistant [[Sarah Kellen]] to the girls against the arrival records of Epstein's aircraft at [[Palm Beach International Airport]]; the calls clustered "in the days just prior to [Epstein's] arrival or during the time Epstein was in Palm Beach." Epstein had given the department 90,000 dollars before the investigation began, and the money was returned after his arrest.[^1][^3][^6][^7]
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Recarey's affidavit of May 1, 2006 recommended five felony counts. The county's State Attorney, [[Barry Krischer]], instead took the case to a grand jury, which heard two of the girls on July 19, 2006 and returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution; Reiter wrote to Krischer that his office's handling was "highly unusual" and referred the case to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]. On September 21, 2007 Krischer wrote to the federal line prosecutor, "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing," and the non-prosecution agreement was signed three days later. Epstein pleaded guilty in state court in 2008 and served about thirteen months in the county stockade with work release, during which deputies of the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]], paid through an off-duty permit for the "[[Florida Science Foundation]]," escorted him from the foundation's office to his house for midday visits. After Reiter left in 2009, the town's police were headed by a Director of Public Safety until 2018.[^1][^3][^8][^9][^10]
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### Registration and Residence
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Epstein registered as a sex offender in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], and his filings with the territory described the Palm Beach house as a "vacation home." In a privacy waiver his lawyer filed with the FBI in 2010, he gave a [[St. Thomas]] address as his current residence and 358 El Brillo Way as his prior one. On February 19, 2019, after he was detained and refused entry in the [[Dominican Republic]], he flew on "to his vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida," and his May 2019 travel notice to the territory listed a stay "at my vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida" before trips to New York, [[New Mexico]] and Paris. The Virgin Islands government, in its complaint against his estate, valued the Palm Beach house at 12 million dollars. The estate sold it in March 2021 for 18.5 million dollars to the developer [[Todd Michael Glaser]], who demolished it and changed the address to 360 El Brillo Way.[^11][^12][^13][^14]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Town of Palm Beach Police Department, "History of the Police Department," accessed September 25, 2026 (1911 charter; Joseph Borman; October 17, 1922; society baseball games; chiefs, including Michael S. Reiter, 2001 to 2009, and Kirk W. Blouin, Director of Public Safety, 2009 to 2018). https://www.townofpalmbeach.com/299/Historyof-thePolice-Department
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[^2]: "Trump did open Mar-a-Lago to blacks and Jews, but in a business move, not a crusade." *PolitiFact,* February 11, 2020. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/11/viral-image/trump-did-open-mar-lago-blacks-and-jews-business-m/
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[^3]: Opinion and Order, *Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States*, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla. Feb. 21, 2019), ECF No. 435, at 7, 9 (Marra, J.), quoting ECF No. 407 at paragraphs 33, 52. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.435.0.pdf
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[^4]: National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form, "Mar-A-Lago," 1100 South Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida, National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, August 31, 1981, section 7. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/80000961_text
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[^5]: Czopek, Madison, and Gabrielle Lazor. "The facts and timeline of Trump and Epstein's falling out." *PolitiFact,* republished by *PBS NewsHour,* July 31, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-facts-and-timeline-of-trump-and-epsteins-falling-out
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[^6]: Palm Beach Police Department, probable cause affidavit of Detective Joseph Recarey regarding Jeffrey Epstein, sworn May 1, 2006 (redacted). https://archive.org/stream/JeffreyEpstein/Jeffrey%20Epstein%20Redacted%20Probable%20Cause%20Affadavit_djvu.txt
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[^7]: "Notorious Palm Beach mansion Jeffrey Epstein bought for $2.5M," *Palm Beach Post / Yahoo.* https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/notorious-palm-beach-mansion-jeffrey-202519748.html ; Hannah Phillips, "Congresswoman's claims about Epstein police probe were misleading," *Palm Beach Post* (via AOL), May 13, 2026. https://www.aol.com/articles/congresswomans-claims-epstein-police-probe-181112537.html ; "The Palm Beach cop who Jeffrey Epstein couldn't stop," *Union-Bulletin / Associated Press.* https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/the-palm-beach-cop-who-jeffrey-epstein-couldn-t-stop/article_699648e0-ce21-53fe-aaad-6e797deaeebf.html
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[^8]: Holly Baltz, "Who is Jeffrey Epstein's first prosecutor? It's not his first rodeo in the national glare," *Palm Beach Post* (via Yahoo News), July 10, 2024. https://www.yahoo.com/news/jeffrey-epsteins-first-prosecutor-not-090053542.html ; "Ex-Florida police chief: Epstein case 'the worst failure of the criminal justice system' in modern times," *NBC News,* 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-florida-police-chief-epstein-case-worst-failure-criminal-justice-n1057226 ; U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01308629, DataSet 10, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Extra Duty Permits System overtime report forms, Permit No. 7804, "Florida Science Foundation," July 1 to 14, 2009. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01308629.pdf
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[^9]: "Judge releases Jeffrey Epstein grand jury investigation transcripts," *WUSF / Associated Press,* July 1, 2024. https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2024-07-01/florida-judge-releases-transcripts-2006-grand-jury-investigation-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking
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[^10]: Julie K. Brown, "Perversion of Justice," *Miami Herald,* 2018, on the 2008 state guilty plea and roughly thirteen-month sentence with work release. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html
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[^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00624683, DataSet 9, FBI Privacy Waiver and Certification of Identity signed by Jeffrey Epstein. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00624683.pdf
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[^12]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Exhibit 83, ECF No. 194-24 (filed June 20, 2023), pp. 7, 54 to 55 (Appendix 1 to the April 30, 2019 Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin letter; Epstein travel notice of May 2019). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011719/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/194-24.pdf
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[^13]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Darren K. Indyke et al., No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint (filed November 30, 2022), estate asset allegations; reproduced as ECF No. 1-1 in Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y., filed December 27, 2022). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/001-01.pdf
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[^14]: "EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein house sold for $18.5M in Palm Beach," Darrell Hofheinz, *Palm Beach Daily News,* via Corcoran, and "Notorious Palm Beach mansion Jeffrey Epstein bought for $2.5M," *Palm Beach Post / Yahoo.* https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/notorious-palm-beach-mansion-jeffrey-202519748.html ; "Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach mansion is being demolished," *The Real Deal,* April 20, 2021. https://therealdeal.com/miami/2021/04/20/jeffrey-epsteins-palm-beach-mansion-is-being-demolished/
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@ -22,13 +22,13 @@ relations:
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fn: 2
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---
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The house at 358 El Brillo Way was a waterfront mansion in the Town of Palm Beach, Florida, owned by [[Jeffrey Epstein]] from 1990 until his 2019 death. The 2005 investigation by the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] into conduct at the house produced the first criminal case against Epstein and identified dozens of teenage girls who said they had been abused there.[^1]
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The house at 358 El Brillo Way was a waterfront mansion in the Town of [[Palm Beach, Florida]], owned by [[Jeffrey Epstein]] from 1990 until his 2019 death. The 2005 investigation by the [[Palm Beach Police Department]] into conduct at the house produced the first criminal case against Epstein and identified dozens of teenage girls who said they had been abused there.[^1]
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### Acquisition and the House
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Epstein purchased 358 El Brillo Way in 1990 for about 2.5 million dollars.[^2] The roughly 14,000-square-foot, six-bedroom house sat on about eight-tenths of an acre fronting the Intracoastal Waterway and had been designed by the Palm Beach architect [[John Volk]].[^2] The previous long-term owner had been Owen Ray Skelton, a founder and chief engineer of Chrysler, who held the property until his death in 1969.[^3]
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The house became Epstein's Florida residence, and he traveled frequently between it, the [[9 East 71st Street]] townhouse in Manhattan, his [[New Mexico]] ranch and his U.S. Virgin Islands island.[^1] Staff at the Palm Beach house arranged appointments described as massages, and visitors were directed to an upstairs room set up with a massage table.[^4]
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The house became Epstein's Florida residence, and he traveled frequently between it, the [[9 East 71st Street]] townhouse in Manhattan, his [[New Mexico]] ranch and his [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] island.[^1] Staff at the Palm Beach house arranged appointments described as massages, and visitors were directed to an upstairs room set up with a massage table.[^4]
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The waterfront location placed the house a short distance from other prominent Palm Beach estates, and Epstein maintained it as a household with domestic and scheduling staff whose later statements and records became evidence in the police investigation.[^4]
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The grand jury heard the case on July 19, 2006. Recarey testified first, and Assistant State Attorney [[Lanna Belohlavek]] called two of the girls, out of the roughly two dozen police had interviewed, questioning them in terms that cast doubt on their credibility. The grand jury returned one count of felony solicitation of prostitution under Florida Statute 796.07.[^4][^9] Recarey and Reiter objected that the charge did not reflect the conduct against minors that detectives had documented, and the police chief's referral moved the matter into federal jurisdiction.[^6] The transcript remained sealed until Circuit Judge [[Luis Delgado]] released it on July 1, 2024 under a statute enacted that year.[^9]
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Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, led by U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]], prepared a sex-trafficking case but in 2007 negotiated a [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with Epstein's lawyers.[^10] On September 21, 2007 Krischer wrote to the federal line prosecutor: "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing." The agreement was signed on September 24, 2007, and that day the line prosecutor wrote that the colleague calling Reiter "knows not to tell Chief Reiter about the money issue" and was "telling Chief Reiter not to disclose the outcome to anyone."[^11] Under the 2008 resolution Epstein pleaded guilty in state court to two prostitution-related charges, registered as a sex offender, and served about thirteen months in the Palm Beach County stockade with extensive work-release privileges, while the agreement also conferred immunity on potential co-conspirators and was not disclosed to the victims.[^10] During his incarceration Epstein spent his work-release days at the [[Florida Science Foundation]], an entity he had incorporated, co-located at the West Palm Beach office of one of his attorneys, and the foundation paid the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] 128,136 dollars.[^12] In August 2019, after a letter from Sheriff [[Ric Bradshaw]], Governor [[Ron DeSantis]] ordered the [[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]] to investigate; its May 2021 reports found that Epstein "received differential treatment" in the sheriff's custody, that the off-duty deputies had been hired mainly for his protection rather than to monitor him, and that there was no evidence of bribery or influence or of any crime by sheriff's or prosecutors' staff.[^13] A federal judge later ruled that the failure to notify the victims violated the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]].[^10][^11]
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Federal prosecutors in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida|Southern District of Florida]], led by U.S. Attorney [[Alexander Acosta]], prepared a sex-trafficking case but in 2007 negotiated a [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]] with Epstein's lawyers.[^10] On September 21, 2007 Krischer wrote to the federal line prosecutor: "Glad we could get this worked out for reasons I won't put in writing." The agreement was signed on September 24, 2007, and that day the line prosecutor wrote that the colleague calling Reiter "knows not to tell Chief Reiter about the money issue" and was "telling Chief Reiter not to disclose the outcome to anyone."[^11] Under the 2008 resolution Epstein pleaded guilty in state court to two prostitution-related charges, registered as a sex offender, and served about thirteen months in the Palm Beach County stockade with extensive work-release privileges, while the agreement also conferred immunity on potential co-conspirators and was not disclosed to the victims.[^10] During his incarceration Epstein spent his work-release days at the [[Florida Science Foundation]], an entity he had incorporated, co-located at the West Palm Beach office of one of his attorneys, and the foundation paid the [[Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office]] 128,136 dollars.[^12] In August 2019, after a letter from Sheriff [[Ric Bradshaw]], Governor [[Ron DeSantis]] ordered the [[Florida Department of Law Enforcement]] to investigate; its May 2021 reports found that Epstein "received differential treatment" in the sheriff's custody, that the off-duty deputies had been hired mainly for his protection rather than to monitor him, and that there was no evidence of bribery or influence or of any crime by sheriff's or prosecutors' staff.[^13] A federal judge later ruled that the failure to notify the victims violated the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]].[^10][^11]
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### Work Release Visits and Home Detention
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Epstein's work release ran through the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Extra Duty Permits System, where the paid deputy detail was carried as Permit No. 7804, "Florida Science Foundation," with a "Plain Clothed Position" and an "Unmarked only - Plain Clothed Position," and a work summary reading "Provide security for Jeffrey Epstein." Deputies' July 2009 overtime reports record the midday trips to the house. On July 5, 2009 a deputy maintained front office security until 11 a.m., then "FOLLOWED MR. EPSTEIN TO HIS RESIDENCE" and kept security until 2:45 p.m. before following him back to the office. On July 11, 2009 the deputy on the day shift wrote that Epstein arrived at the office at about 7:15 a.m., that "At 1149 hours we departed the office and arrived at 1200 hours at his residence at 358 El Brillo Way, Palm Beach," that he "backed into the drive way and provided security to prevent unwelcome guest from entering his property. I did not go into the residence," and that Epstein left the house at 2:31 p.m.; he added that when he asked a sheriff's official about his duties "at the residence," he was told "the function is to provide security." Another report reads: "At approximately 1200, escorted Mr. Epstein to his residence. At approximately 1430, escorted Mr. Epstein back to the office." The sheriff's media relations office faxed the July reports on July 21, 2009, the day before Epstein's release from the stockade to home confinement.[^14][^15]
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A retired deputy who escorted Epstein home told the [[Associated Press]] in 2019: "I didn't do an interior sweep of the residence. I followed instructions to the letter." In August 2009, during his home detention, Epstein was stopped by police while walking on the beach and said he was walking "to work" at an office nearly eight miles from his home. Michael Gauger, the sheriff's chief deputy during Epstein's incarceration, acknowledged coming to the mansion for dinner with Epstein; emails released in 2026 dated the dinner to September 2009. In the privacy waiver his lawyer filed with the FBI in 2010 for a records request, later reused for a request to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], Epstein listed a St. Thomas address as his current residence and 358 El Brillo Way as his prior address.[^15][^16][^17][^18]
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A retired deputy who escorted Epstein home told the [[Associated Press]] in 2019: "I didn't do an interior sweep of the residence. I followed instructions to the letter." In August 2009, during his home detention, Epstein was stopped by police while walking on the beach and said he was walking "to work" at an office nearly eight miles from his home. Michael Gauger, the sheriff's chief deputy during Epstein's incarceration, acknowledged coming to the mansion for dinner with Epstein; emails released in 2026 dated the dinner to September 2009. In the privacy waiver his lawyer filed with the FBI in 2010 for a records request, later reused for a request to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], Epstein listed a [[St. Thomas]] address as his current residence and 358 El Brillo Way as his prior address.[^15][^16][^17][^18]
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The Palm Beach investigation and the non-prosecution agreement became the factual basis for the 2018 [[Miami Herald]] series that renewed national attention on Epstein, leading to his July 2019 federal indictment in New York on sex-trafficking charges.[^10]
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Leslie Wexner, the founder of The Limited and [[L Brands]], bought the townhouse through a trust in 1989 for a reported 13.2 million dollars. Wexner married Abigail Koppel in 1993 and the couple moved to Ohio; in 1996 Epstein moved into the house. Vanity Fair reported in 2003 that "public documents suggest that the house is still owned by the trust that bought it, but Epstein has said that he now owns the house."[^1] Epstein, who held a sweeping power of attorney over Wexner's finances granted in 1991, used the house as his Manhattan residence while title remained with Wexner-linked entities. A 1998 purchase and sale agreement for the house involved a 10 million dollar promissory note and a personal guaranty signed by Epstein.[^5] An [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] internal memo released in 2026 stated that Epstein "controlled all of Wexner's personal finances with virtually no oversight" and described his sale to himself of a New York home that had belonged to Wexner at a discounted price; the financial mechanics of that transfer are detailed on the Leslie Wexner page.[^6]
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By 2011 the house was held by Nine East 71st Street Corporation, which the Virgin Islands government described as "owned by Epstein." In November 2011, after registering as a sex offender in the Virgin Islands, Epstein formed three Virgin Islands corporations, [[Cypress Inc.|Cypress, Inc.]], Maple, Inc. and [[Laurel Inc.|Laurel, Inc.]], with himself as president and director, [[Darren Indyke]] as vice president, secretary and director, and [[Richard Kahn]] as treasurer and director. Maple acquired the townhouse from Nine East 71st Street Corporation "on or about December 23, 2011," a transfer between two companies Epstein controlled; Cypress took the [[Zorro Ranch]] and Laurel the Palm Beach house the same month. The territory alleged that Epstein "transferred ownership of them to the Virgin Islands, and then concealed this fact even from Virgin Islands authorities in an attempt to shield the properties from any judgment in the states where they are located."[^2]
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By 2011 the house was held by Nine East 71st Street Corporation, which the Virgin Islands government described as "owned by Epstein." In November 2011, after registering as a sex offender in the Virgin Islands, Epstein formed three Virgin Islands corporations, [[Cypress Inc.|Cypress, Inc.]], Maple, Inc. and [[Laurel Inc.|Laurel, Inc.]], with himself as president and director, [[Darren Indyke]] as vice president, secretary and director, and [[Richard Kahn]] as treasurer and director. Maple acquired the townhouse from Nine East 71st Street Corporation "on or about December 23, 2011," a transfer between two companies Epstein controlled; Cypress took the [[Zorro Ranch]] and Laurel the [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] house the same month. The territory alleged that Epstein "transferred ownership of them to the Virgin Islands, and then concealed this fact even from Virgin Islands authorities in an attempt to shield the properties from any judgment in the states where they are located."[^2]
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Maple's annual reports to the Office of the [[Lieutenant Governor of the Virgin Islands]], signed by Epstein and Kahn under the attestation "ALL STATEMENTS CONTAINED IN THIS APPLICATION, AND ANY ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS, ARE TRUE AND CORRECT," never listed the house or its expenses for 2011 through 2016. For 2017 Maple reported cash of 18,281 dollars as its only asset and expenses of 150 dollars while paying 327,497.48 dollars and 6,487.04 dollars in New York City property taxes; for 2018 it reported cash of 21,265 dollars and expenses of 300 dollars while paying 336,471.87 dollars. The territory alleged that Indyke and Kahn "knew or should have known that their attestations were false" and that the transfers "were made for the sole purpose of sheltering these assets from collection." When Epstein died in August 2019, the estate valued its shares in the corporation holding the townhouse at 56 million dollars.[^2]
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Epstein listed Manhattan as his residence in legal filings, and a 2018 federal complaint by investors in [[Towers Financial Corporation]] gave his residence as 9 East 71st Street; the townhouse functioned as the hub of his New York operations, with staff, a large household and the art and furnishings later catalogued during the federal search.[^7][^8] After his death a plaintiff identified as "VE" sued the estate's co-executors, Nine East 71st Street Corporation, [[Financial Trust Company]] and NES, LLC in the Southern District of New York (No. 1:19-cv-07625); all were represented by Troutman Sanders, the firm that had defended Epstein against Towers claims.[^9]
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Epstein listed Manhattan as his residence in legal filings, and a 2018 federal complaint by investors in [[Towers Financial Corporation]] gave his residence as 9 East 71st Street; the townhouse functioned as the hub of his New York operations, with staff, a large household and the art and furnishings later catalogued during the federal search.[^7][^8] After his death a plaintiff identified as "VE" sued the estate's co-executors, Nine East 71st Street Corporation, [[Financial Trust Company]] and NES, LLC in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] (No. 1:19-cv-07625); all were represented by Troutman Sanders, the firm that had defended Epstein against Towers claims.[^9]
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### Interior Accounts and Surveillance
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@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Great St. James is a private island in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]], made up of a
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### Acquisition and the Shell Company
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Epstein sought to buy Great St. James from Christian Kjaer, described as one of Denmark's wealthiest men, who according to later reporting did not want to be publicly associated with Epstein given his sex-offender status. Epstein structured the purchase through the shell entity Great St. Jim LLC and arranged for the name of the Dubai businessman [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], the longtime chairman of the ports operator DP World, to appear as the ultimate beneficial owner on contractual paperwork. Reporting indicated that bin Sulayem had declined Epstein's request to use his name and that no signature of his appeared on the documents.[^2]
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Epstein sought to buy Great St. James from Christian Kjaer, described as one of Denmark's wealthiest men, who according to later reporting did not want to be publicly associated with Epstein given his sex-offender status. Epstein structured the purchase through the shell entity Great St. Jim LLC and arranged for the name of the Dubai businessman [[Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem]], the longtime chairman of the ports operator [[DP World]], to appear as the ultimate beneficial owner on contractual paperwork. Reporting indicated that bin Sulayem had declined Epstein's request to use his name and that no signature of his appeared on the documents.[^2]
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Great St. Jim, LLC was organized under Virgin Islands law on October 26, 2015, three months before the purchase, with Epstein as manager and member and its business described as "holding assets." According to the Recorder of Deeds, it acquired three parcels on January 28, 2016: Parcel 109801010100 (3.5 million square feet, valued at 17.5 million dollars), Parcel 109801010200 (450,000 square feet, valued at 2.8 million dollars), and Parcel 109801010300 (1.2 million square feet, valued at 2.7 million dollars). The warranty deed shows Epstein paid 5 million dollars each for the two smaller parcels, about 10 million dollars against their combined valuation of 5.5 million. The territory's complaint gives no purchase price for the largest parcel; reporting at the time of the 2023 sale put the total price at about 22.5 million dollars. The estate's petition for probate listed a second Epstein company, Poplar, Inc., incorporated November 22, 2011 with Indyke and Kahn as officers, as holding title to Great St. James, and a certificate of incumbency filed with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources authorized Poplar to handle "transactions related to permitting matters submitted on behalf of Great St. Jim, LLC."[^1][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
82
60 - PLACES/LANDMARKS/Mar-a-Lago.md
Normal file
82
60 - PLACES/LANDMARKS/Mar-a-Lago.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Landmark"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Place
|
||||
- MarALago
|
||||
- PalmBeach
|
||||
- Florida
|
||||
- DonaldTrump
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- VirginiaGiuffre
|
||||
- NationalHistoricLandmark
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Mar-A-Lago
|
||||
- Mar a Lago
|
||||
- Mar-a-Lago Club
|
||||
- Mar-a-Lago National Historic Site
|
||||
- Mar-A-Lago National Historic Landmark
|
||||
- 1100 South Ocean Boulevard
|
||||
summary: "Palm Beach estate built for Marjorie Merriweather Post, briefly federal property, bought by Donald Trump in 1985, where Virginia Giuffre worked when recruited for Jeffrey Epstein and the FBI searched in 2022."
|
||||
start: 1927
|
||||
location: "1100 South Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Marjorie Merriweather Post]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1972-12-18
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Donald Trump]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1985
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022-08-08
|
||||
role: "search under warrant No. 9:22-mj-08332"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Mar-a-Lago is an estate of about seventeen acres at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard in the town of [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], [[Florida]], running from the Atlantic to Lake Worth. It was built in the 1920s for the cereal heiress [[Marjorie Merriweather Post]], deeded by her to the [[United States]] in 1972 as a residence for visiting heads of state and executive officials, returned to her foundation by act of Congress in 1980, and bought by [[Donald Trump]] in 1985. Trump opened it as a private club in 1995. [[Virginia Giuffre]] was a teenage locker-room attendant at its spa in 2000 when, by her account, [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] recruited her for [[Jeffrey Epstein]]; Trump said in 2025 that Epstein had "stole" her and other spa workers. In August 2022 the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] searched the estate for classified documents under a warrant signed by Magistrate Judge [[Bruce Reinhart]], who in 2011 had sought to intervene against Epstein's victims in their suit over his [[Epstein non-prosecution agreement|non-prosecution agreement]].[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Post Estate
|
||||
|
||||
The house is an adaptation of the Hispano-Moresque style, crescent-shaped around a patio facing Lake Worth, with a seventy-five-foot tower. Its exterior walls were built of Doria stone brought in three boatloads from Genoa, its roof tiles came from old Cuban houses, and its sculpted ornament was designed by [[Joseph Urban]]. A tunnel under South Ocean Boulevard leads to the beach, where the private cabana and pool adjoin the [[Bath and Tennis Club]]. The boulevard in front was depressed so that passing traffic would not obscure the view. The National Park Service's landmark nomination described the estate as "representative of the affluent society's way of life in the 1920's," exemplifying "the baronial way of life adopted by the affluent society of the 1920's during the land boom that opened Florida to winter resort development."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Secretary of the Interior designated the Mar-A-Lago National Historic Site on January 16, 1969. An act of October 21, 1972 authorized the Secretary to accept and administer it "as a temporary residence for visiting foreign dignitaries or heads of state or members of the executive branch of the United States Government," and Post conveyed the property to the United States by deed of December 18, 1972. Public Law 96-586, of December 23, 1980, repealed the designation, designated the property the Mar-A-Lago National Historic Landmark, and directed the Secretary, consistent with the terms of Post's deed, to transfer it to the [[Marjorie Merriweather Post Foundation]] of the District of Columbia within 120 days.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Trump's Club
|
||||
|
||||
Trump bought the 128-room estate and its furnishings in 1985 for 9 million dollars and used it as a private residence until 1995, when he opened it as a club with a 100,000 dollar initiation fee. He had first sought to subdivide the land for mansions; after a year of hearings the Palm Beach Town Council voted the plan down, Trump sued the town for 50 million dollars, and the town approved a club with restrictions on traffic and noise. At the time only one Palm Beach club was open to Jews, and Mar-a-Lago was the first to accept African Americans and openly gay couples; the author [[Laurence Leamer]] credited Trump's lawyer [[Paul Rampell]] with persuading him of the business value of a wider membership. In December 1996, after the council refused to lift its restrictions, Trump sued again, alleging that the town discriminated against Mar-a-Lago in part because it was open to Jews and African Americans; the town denied the allegation and said it was deciding a zoning matter.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Epstein and Giuffre
|
||||
|
||||
Trump and Epstein socialized in Palm Beach and New York from the late 1980s, and archival [[NBC]] footage from 1992 shows the two together at Mar-a-Lago watching dancers. In 2002 Trump told [[New York Magazine]] he had known Epstein for fifteen years and called him a "terrific guy." Social Security records filed in Giuffre's defamation suit against Maxwell show that she was a locker-room spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in the summer of 2000. In 2009, as "Jane Doe 102," she said that Maxwell recruited her there while she was a minor to be Epstein's masseuse. Maxwell disputed Giuffre's account, and Giuffre sued her for defamation.[^2][^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 28, 2025, at his course in Turnberry, Scotland, Trump said that he had broken with Epstein because "He stole people that worked for me. I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata." The next day, aboard Air Force One, he said of Giuffre, "I think (Giuffre) worked at the spa. He stole her." [[White House|The White House]] communications director, [[Steven Cheung]], had said on July 23 that Trump expelled Epstein for "being a creep," and told PolitiFact that "taking employees is most definitely creepy." Reporters for the [[Miami Herald]] and [[The Wall Street Journal]], citing a club member, wrote that Trump barred Epstein after he harassed the teenage daughter of a member, around October 2007, when the club's registry listed Epstein's account as "closed"; the lawyer [[Bradley Edwards]] said Trump told him that account in 2009. The two men had also bid against each other in 2004 for the Palm Beach mansion [[Maison de l'Amitie]], which Trump bought for 41.35 million dollars.[^2][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 4, 2018 [[Jonathan Farkas]] wrote to Epstein that he had gone to "the trump mar a lago speech trump gave Saturday," then described an evening at the house of a businessman and closed, "I am going to get to know him better"; Epstein replied, "i like him i know him," without identifying whom he meant. On July 17, 2019, as prosecutors in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]] opposed Epstein's bail, the office's press staff circulated a New York magazine story on archival footage of Epstein and Trump at Mar-a-Lago.[^9][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2022 Search
|
||||
|
||||
On August 5, 2022 Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart of the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida]] signed a warrant to search "1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480," described as "a resort, club, and residence" with "approximately 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, on a 17-acre estate," including the "45 Office" and all storage rooms used or available to "FPOTUS and his staff," for documents with classification markings and presidential records created between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021, as evidence of violations of 18 U.S.C. sections 793, 2071 and 1519. Agents executed it on August 8, 2022 and listed numbered boxes in their receipts for property. Reinhart ordered the government to respond to motions to unseal from news organizations, including The Palm Beach Post, and the warrant and receipts were unsealed on August 12, 2022.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Reinhart had been a federal prosecutor in the [[U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida]]. On May 3, 2011 he moved to intervene in [[Doe v. United States]], the suit of Epstein's victims under the [[Crime Victims' Rights Act]], to seek sanctions over their allegations that he had violated Florida Bar rules and [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] regulations "by representing employees of Jeffrey Epstein ('Epstein') in civil litigation after the undersigned retired from the United States Attorney's Office," and had engaged "while still employed by the Office" in "improper conduct relating to Epstein." He called the allegations false and "irrelevant, slanderous accusations against a non-party."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form, "Mar-A-Lago," 1100 South Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida, prepared by the National Park Service Southeast Regional Office, August 31, 1981, sections 7 and 8. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/80000961_text
|
||||
[^2]: Czopek, Madison, and Gabrielle Lazor. "The facts and timeline of Trump and Epstein's falling out." *PolitiFact,* republished by *PBS NewsHour,* July 31, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-facts-and-timeline-of-trump-and-epsteins-falling-out
|
||||
[^3]: 16 U.S.C. section 467a (repealed), and Pub. L. 96-586, section 4, December 23, 1980, 94 Stat. 3386, set out as a note, United States Code, 2021 edition, Title 16, chapter 1A. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2021-title16/html/USCODE-2021-title16-chap1A.htm
|
||||
[^4]: "Trump did open Mar-a-Lago to blacks and Jews, but in a business move, not a crusade." *PolitiFact,* February 11, 2020. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/11/viral-image/trump-did-open-mar-lago-blacks-and-jews-business-m/
|
||||
[^5]: United States v. Sealed Search Warrant, No. 9:22-mj-08332-BER (S.D. Fla.), Search and Seizure Warrant with Attachments A and B and FBI Receipts for Property, ECF No. 17 (entered August 11, 2022, unsealed August 12, 2022), and docket. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.617854/gov.uscourts.flsd.617854.17.0_32.pdf ; https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/64872441/united-states-v-sealed-search-warrant/
|
||||
[^6]: "Trump called Epstein a 'terrific guy' who enjoyed 'younger' women before denying relationship with him." *Washington Post,* July 8, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-called-epstein-a-terrific-guy-before-denying-relationship-with-him/2019/07/08/a01e0f00-a1be-11e9-bd56-eac6bb02d01d_story.html
|
||||
[^7]: "Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent abuse survivors, dies by suicide," *NBC News,* April 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/virginia-giuffre-one-jeffrey-epsteins-prominent-abuse-survivors-dies-s-rcna203027
|
||||
[^8]: "What we know about the Trump-Epstein falling out." *PolitiFact,* July 31, 2025. https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/jul/31/what-we-know-about-the-trump-epstein-falling-out/ ; "President Donald Trump explains why he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago." *Fox News,* 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/us/jeffrey-epstein-thrown-out-mar-a-lago-hiring-help-trump
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00868435, DataSet 9, email exchange, Jonathan Farkas and Jeffrey Epstein, March 4, 2018 (duplicates EFTA00868586, DataSet 9; EFTA02516392, DataSet 11). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00868435.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00016747, DataSet 8, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York internal email, July 17, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00016747.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 v. United States, No. 9:08-cv-80736-KAM (S.D. Fla.), Motion to Intervene or in the Alternative for a Sua Sponte Rule 11 Order, by Bruce E. Reinhart, ECF No. 79 (May 3, 2011), pp. 1 to 3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867/gov.uscourts.flsd.317867.79.0.pdf
|
||||
65
60 - PLACES/REGIONS/St. Thomas.md
Normal file
65
60 - PLACES/REGIONS/St. Thomas.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Region"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Place
|
||||
- Island
|
||||
- VirginIslands
|
||||
- CharlotteAmalie
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
||||
- TaxHaven
|
||||
- DanishWestIndies
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Saint Thomas
|
||||
- St Thomas
|
||||
- St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
|
||||
- St. Thomas, USVI
|
||||
- St. Thomas, V.I.
|
||||
summary: "Island of the U.S. Virgin Islands holding the capital, Charlotte Amalie, and the harbor the United States sought from Denmark, where Jeffrey Epstein kept his companies, lawyers, hangar access and sex-offender registration."
|
||||
location: "U.S. Virgin Islands"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
St. Thomas is an island of the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] and the seat of the territory's government, which the [[Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands|Revised Organic Act]] places "at the city of [[Charlotte Amalie]], in the island of Saint Thomas." Its harbor was the principal object of American attempts to buy the Danish West Indies from 1867 until the cession of 1917. [[Jeffrey Epstein]] incorporated his money-management company on St. Thomas in 1998 and kept his territorial offices, bank, lawyers, foundation address and aircraft there, a short boat or helicopter ride from his islands of [[Little St. James]] and [[Great St. James]] off its southeastern coast.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Harbor and the Cession
|
||||
|
||||
The first American convention with [[Denmark]], signed at Copenhagen on October 24, 1867, covered St. Thomas and [[St. John]]; the islands' plebiscite was "overwhelmingly in favor of the cession," but the [[United States Senate]] let the treaty lapse in 1870. In transmitting the 1916 convention of cession to President [[Woodrow Wilson]], the Secretary of State wrote that "St. Thomas is the natural point of call for all European trade bound to the West Indies, [[Central America]], or northern [[South America]]," and that "there can be no question as to the value of St. Thomas harbor as a naval port, with its circular configuration, ample roadsteads, protection from prevailing winds and seas, and facilities for fortifications," near "the entrance of the [[Panama Canal]]." He described "the existing modern harbor works, floating docks, marine slip and wharves, provided with electric cranes, oil-reservoirs, coal-depots, fresh-water tanks, machine shops and warehouses" that made the harbor "a port of call and transshipment for ships in the Central and South American trades." The [[United States]] paid 25 million dollars in gold, and the islands were transferred on March 31, 1917.[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government on the Island
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice]] has its offices at 34-38 Kronprindsens Gade in the GERS Building on St. Thomas, and the Superior Court sits at the Alexander A. Farrelly Justice Center in Charlotte Amalie. Governor [[John de Jongh]] lived at his private house at Estate Mafolie, where public spending on security improvements led to his 2015 arrest on embezzlement charges by the administration of [[Kenneth Mapp]]. In March 2015 [[Cecile de Jongh]], de Jongh's wife and the office manager of Epstein's companies, told Epstein before a meeting at Government House that "there is a sign in book for visitors at the entrance. I have asked Celestino to arrange to have you not sign in and he said that he would take care of it," referring to the former senator [[Celestino White]].[^5][^6][^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Epstein's St. Thomas
|
||||
|
||||
The Articles of Incorporation of [[Financial Trust Company]] were filed on November 6, 1998, giving its principal office as 41-42 Kongens Gade, Charlotte Amalie. In 2009 Epstein's lawyers told Attorney General [[Vincent Frazer]] that "his place of employment was, and still is, Financial Trust Company, Inc., located at Red Hook Quarter in St. Thomas." [[Southern Trust Company]] kept its office at [[American Yacht Harbor]] in Red Hook, a marina of which Epstein owned half and which itself held territorial tax breaks in 2020. His lawyer [[Erika Kellerhals]] practiced at 9053 Estate Thomas, the address given for his foundation, [[Gratitude America]], in care of Kellerhals, and in September 2012 his bookkeeper [[Harry Beller]] wired the application fee for Southern Trust's tax-incentive certificate to Merchants Commercial Bank in St. Thomas for credit to her firm.[^3][^9][^10][^11][^12]
|
||||
|
||||
Little St. James lies off the southeastern coast, in the East End subdistrict of St. Thomas. In April 2002 Epstein funded the St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium, a gathering on artificial intelligence organized with [[Marvin Minsky]], whose participants were taken by boat to a beach barbecue on the island. At his last sex-offender address verification, in July 2018, Epstein refused to let territorial investigators and [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] past the dock of Little St. James, calling it his "front door," and arranged to meet them at his office on St. Thomas.[^13][^14][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
A May 2019 travel notice to the territorial Department of Justice stated that Epstein would return from Paris by private aircraft, N212JE, a Gulfstream, landing at [[Cyril E. King Airport|Cyril E. King International Airport]] on St. Thomas at about 11 a.m. on June 20, 2019. On January 15, 2019 his pilot, [[Larry Visoski]], wrote that the new governor's deputy chief of staff, [[Kevin Rodriquez]], had arrived on a chartered Cessna in front of Epstein's hangar at the St. Thomas airport and "came over to introduce himself to me, and said he would Welcome the chance to Speak with you. He said he will be running St. Thomas, (not sure if he was kidding)." Cecile de Jongh replied to Epstein, "Be wary of Kevin and yes, he is the deputy chief of staff." Epstein sought approval to build a hangar at the airport, which the [[Virgin Islands Port Authority]] under [[Carlton Dowe]] rejected; a 2022 complaint to the St. Thomas office of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], released in 2026, alleged that Dowe was "paid off" by Epstein over a hangar, but the hangar it described belonged to a private aviation company, not to Epstein.[^16][^17][^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### Population
|
||||
|
||||
The 2020 census found that all three major islands of the territory had lost population since 2010. The Water Island subdistrict of the St. Thomas Island district, containing Water and Hassel Islands, fell by 18 people to 164.[^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: 48 U.S.C. section 1541(b), United States Code, 2023 edition. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title48/html/USCODE-2023-title48-chap12-subchapI-sec1541.htm
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Department of State, *Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917,* Supplement, File No. 711.5914/190a, the Secretary of State to the President, and Treaty Series No. 629. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917/d880 ; https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917/d881
|
||||
[^3]: Articles of Incorporation of Financial Trust Company, Inc., executed November 6, 1998, received by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of the Virgin Islands November 6, 1998; filed as Exhibit N to the Declaration of Bennet J. Moskowitz, Gerber v. The Financial Trust Company, No. 1:18-cv-07580-JPO (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 16-14 (September 14, 2018). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593/gov.uscourts.nysd.499593.16.14.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: "Transfer Day," Royal Danish Consulate, U.S. Virgin Islands. https://www.dkconsulateusvi.com/transfer/transfer.html
|
||||
[^5]: Singh, Sera-quinn. "Antiguan Judge appointed to US Superior Court." *Antigua Observer,* November 6, 2023. https://antiguaobserver.com/antiguan-judge-appointed-to-us-superior-court/ ; Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Exhibit 83, ECF No. 194-24 (filed June 20, 2023), p. 2 (Department of Justice, 34-38 Kronprindsens Gade). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011719/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/194-24.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: "Governor John P. de Jongh Arrested By DOJ Officials." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* August 18, 2015. https://viconsortium.com/vi-world/governor-john-p-de-jongh-arrested-being-processed-at-district-court (archived at https://wp.viconsortium.com/?p=27084).
|
||||
[^7]: "De Jongh Attorneys Slam Mapp And Walker; Call Case Against Former Governor Sham, Disgrace And Poltically-Driven." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* November 4, 2015. https://viconsortium.com/vi-government/de-jongh-attorneys-slam-mapp-administration-says-case-against-former-governor-is-sham-disgrace-and-poltically-driven (archived at https://wp.viconsortium.com/?p=30871).
|
||||
[^8]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Files reveal Epstein's efforts to influence V.I. officials; emails with Mapp." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/files-reveal-epstein-s-efforts-to-influence-v-i-officials-emails-with-mapp/article_2dd4fe69-4daf-4dc2-b3b8-37a929002bb6.html
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00727487, DataSet 9, letter from counsel for Jeffrey Epstein to Attorney General Vincent F. Frazer requesting transfer of Epstein's supervision, 2009. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00727487.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020. http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
|
||||
[^11]: Internal Revenue Service, Form 990-PF data for Gratitude America Ltd, EIN 66-0789697, and IRS Business Master File record (in care of Erika Kellerhals, 9053 Estate Thomas Suite 101, St. Thomas), as indexed by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/660789697
|
||||
[^12]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA01580553, DataSet 10, memorandum from Harry Beller to JPMorgan wire desk, September 21, 2012 (JPM-SDNY-00059908). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01580553.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, paragraphs 14, 22 to 25, and 133, filed as Exhibit 1 to Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1-1 (December 27, 2022). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/001-01.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: Minsky, Marvin; Singh, Push; Sloman, Aaron. "The St. Thomas Common Sense Symposium: Designing Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence." Symposium proceedings, April 2002. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2902676_The_St_Thomas_Common_Sense_Symposium_Designing_Architectures_for_Human-Level_Intelligence
|
||||
[^15]: "'Skeevy' Epstein gave us the creeps: AI experts recall bizarre island visit." *Raw Story,* 2026. https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/2673860453/
|
||||
[^16]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Exhibit 83, ECF No. 194-24 (filed June 20, 2023), pp. 54 to 55 (Epstein travel notice of May 2019). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011719/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/194-24.pdf
|
||||
[^17]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Files reveal Epstein's efforts to influence V.I. officials; emails with Mapp." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026 (Visoski email of January 15, 2019 and Cecile de Jongh reply). https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/files-reveal-epstein-s-efforts-to-influence-v-i-officials-emails-with-mapp/article_2dd4fe69-4daf-4dc2-b3b8-37a929002bb6.html
|
||||
[^18]: "Former Gov. Kenneth Mapp Visited Epstein's Island, Sought $50,000 for Final Election Push, DOJ Records Show." *The Virgin Islands Consortium,* January 31, 2026. https://viconsortium.com/vi-federal/virgin-islands-former-gov--kenneth-mapp-visited-epstein-s-island--sought--50-000-for--final-push---doj-records-show
|
||||
[^19]: U.S. Census Bureau, "First 2020 Census United States Island Areas Data Released Today," October 2021. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/10/first-2020-census-united-states-island-areas-data-released-today.html
|
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69
60 - PLACES/REGIONS/U.S. Virgin Islands.md
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69
60 - PLACES/REGIONS/U.S. Virgin Islands.md
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|
@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
|
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---
|
||||
category: "Region"
|
||||
tags:
|
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- Place
|
||||
- VirginIslands
|
||||
- Caribbean
|
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- UnincorporatedTerritory
|
||||
- TaxHaven
|
||||
- JeffreyEpstein
|
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- DanishWestIndies
|
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alias:
|
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- United States Virgin Islands
|
||||
- USVI
|
||||
- US Virgin Islands
|
||||
- U.S.V.I.
|
||||
- Virgin Islands of the United States
|
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- Danish West Indies
|
||||
summary: "Unincorporated U.S. territory in the Caribbean bought from Denmark in 1917, where Jeffrey Epstein kept his islands, companies, tax exemptions and sex-offender registration from 1998 until his death."
|
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start: 1917-03-31
|
||||
location: "Caribbean"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-25
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-25
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The U.S. Virgin Islands is an unincorporated territory of the [[United States]] in the [[Caribbean]], made up of [[St. Thomas]], [[St. Croix]], [[St. John]] and smaller islands and cays, with its capital at [[Charlotte Amalie]] on St. Thomas. [[Denmark]] ceded the islands, then the Danish West Indies, by a convention of 1916 for 25 million dollars in gold. The territory is governed under the [[Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands|Revised Organic Act]] of 1954 by an elected governor and a unicameral legislature, and federal law bars it from reducing income tax owed to the territory except on income from sources within the islands. [[Jeffrey Epstein]] bought [[Little St. James]] off St. Thomas in 1998, incorporated his money-management company there the same year, registered there as a sex offender, and received territorial tax benefits later put at about 300 million dollars. Its population in 2020 was 87,146.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cession by Denmark
|
||||
|
||||
A first convention for the cession of St. Thomas and St. John was signed at Copenhagen on October 24, 1867, in the administration of President [[Andrew Johnson]]. A plebiscite on the two islands was "overwhelmingly in favor of the cession" and the Danish parliament approved it, but the [[United States Senate]] Committee on Foreign Relations took no action until March 24, 1870, when Senator [[Charles Sumner]] reported it adversely. In the account the Secretary of State later gave President [[Woodrow Wilson]], the 1867 treaty grew out of "the need of a naval coaling, supply, and repair station in the Caribbean Sea" learned in the Civil War.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The convention of cession was signed in New York on August 4, 1916 by Secretary of State [[Robert Lansing]] and the Danish minister, [[Constantin Brun]], and ratifications were exchanged in Washington on January 17, 1917. Article 5 obliged the United States to pay "the sum of twenty-five million dollars in gold coin of the United States" within ninety days, and the United States declared that it would "not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland." The Secretary of State's transmittal described St. Thomas as "the natural point of call for all European trade bound to the West Indies, [[Central America]], or northern [[South America]]," the value of "St. Thomas harbor as a naval port, with its circular configuration, ample roadsteads, protection from prevailing winds and seas, and facilities for fortifications," and the importance of "a naval base off the entrance of the [[Panama Canal]]." The islands were transferred at a ceremony at 4 p.m. on March 31, 1917, while at the [[State Department]] a Treasury warrant for 25 million dollars was handed to Brun.[^1][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government
|
||||
|
||||
The Revised Organic Act of July 22, 1954 declares the islands "an unincorporated territory of the United States of America," fixes the capital at Charlotte Amalie, and since 1968 places the territory's relations with the federal government "under the general administrative supervision of the Secretary of the Interior." Executive power rests in a governor who, with the lieutenant governor, is elected on a single ballot by majority vote, with a runoff if no ticket wins a majority; the first election was held on November 3, 1970, and no governor elected for two full successive terms may serve again until a full term has passed. Legislative power rests in the unicameral [[Legislature of the Virgin Islands]], whose members are called senators; the act fixed their number at fifteen from 1966 until 2000, when the number was left to territorial law.[^2][^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The executive is the [[Government of the United States Virgin Islands]]. Its [[Virgin Islands Department of Justice]], headed by the Attorney General, keeps the sex-offender registry, and its [[Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority]] runs the tax-incentive program through the [[Economic Development Commission]].[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Taxation
|
||||
|
||||
Section 934 of the [[Internal Revenue Code]] provides that income tax owed to the Virgin Islands "shall not be reduced or remitted in any way, directly or indirectly, whether by grant, subsidy, or other similar payment, by any law enacted in the Virgin Islands," except as to "income derived from sources within the Virgin Islands or income effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the Virgin Islands." Companies certified by the Economic Development Commission receive exemptions of up to 90 percent of income tax and 100 percent of gross-receipts, excise and withholding taxes in exchange for local employment, residency and charitable commitments.[^3][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Epstein in the Territory
|
||||
|
||||
Epstein bought Little St. James on April 27, 1998 for 7.95 million dollars through L.S.J., LLC, and his [[Financial Trust Company]] was incorporated on St. Thomas on November 6, 1998. The Industrial Development Commission granted Financial Trust tax benefits from 1999, and the Economic Development Commission granted his [[Southern Trust Company]] a ten-year package from 2013. He registered in the territory as a sex offender in 2010 on the strength of his 2008 [[Florida]] conviction, and most of his territorial companies were formed in 2011 and 2012. In 2012 Attorney General [[Vincent Frazer]] allowed him to give 24 hours' notice of travel by email instead of 21 days. In January 2016 he bought [[Great St. James]], next to Little St. James. Three governors held office in those years: [[John de Jongh]], whose wife [[Cecile de Jongh]] managed Epstein's territorial office; [[Kenneth Mapp]], who in 2016 asked Epstein to lend the territory 275 million dollars; and [[Albert Bryan]], who as chairman had signed Southern Trust's certificate in 2014.[^4][^9][^11][^12][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
After Epstein's death in 2019 the territory sued his estate under its Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and sued [[JPMorgan Chase]], recovering about 180 million dollars in settlements after legal fees, including 62.5 million dollars from [[Leon Black]]. JPMorgan argued that "the entity that most directly failed to protect public safety and most actively facilitated and benefited from Epstein's continued criminal activity was the plaintiff in this case, the USVI government itself." A 2023 federal suit by six women against the territory and its former officials, alleging that they made the islands a "safe haven" for Epstein's trafficking, was dismissed in 2025 for lack of personal jurisdiction in New York as to all defendants except Delegate [[Stacey Plaskett]], and the claims against her were withdrawn with prejudice later that year.[^9][^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Population
|
||||
|
||||
The 2020 census counted 87,146 residents, 18.1 percent fewer than the 106,405 counted in 2010; housing units rose 2.4 percent over the same decade, to 57,257. All three major islands lost population.[^5][^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Department of State, *Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917,* Supplement, File No. 711.5914/190a, the Secretary of State to the President, and Treaty Series No. 629, Convention between the United States and Denmark for Cession of the Danish West Indies, signed August 4, 1916. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917/d880 ; https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1917/d881
|
||||
[^2]: 48 U.S.C. section 1541, "Organization and status," United States Code, 2023 edition (Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands, July 22, 1954, ch. 558, section 2, 68 Stat. 497, as amended by Pub. L. 90-496). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title48/html/USCODE-2023-title48-chap12-subchapI-sec1541.htm
|
||||
[^3]: 26 U.S.C. section 934, "Limitation on reduction in income tax liability incurred to the Virgin Islands," United States Code, 2023 edition. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title26/html/USCODE-2023-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapN-partIII-subpartD-sec934.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Docs confirm Bryan pressed for special treatment of sex offender." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/docs-confirm-bryan-pressed-for-special-treatment-of-sex-offender/article_5e9483c9-38d2-406c-8bb0-e5757ce287f2.html (300 million dollars in benefits; about 180 million dollars recovered).
|
||||
[^5]: U.S. Census Bureau, "2020 Census Population and Housing Unit Counts for the U.S. Virgin Islands," press release, October 28, 2021. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/2020-census-us-virgin-islands.html
|
||||
[^6]: "Transfer Day," Royal Danish Consulate, U.S. Virgin Islands. https://www.dkconsulateusvi.com/transfer/transfer.html
|
||||
[^7]: 48 U.S.C. section 1591, "Governor and Lieutenant Governor; election; eligibility," United States Code, 2023 edition. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title48/html/USCODE-2023-title48-chap12-subchapIV-sec1591.htm
|
||||
[^8]: 48 U.S.C. section 1571, "Legislature," United States Code, 2023 edition, with amendment notes for Pub. L. 89-548 (1966) and Pub. L. 106-364 (2000). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title48/html/USCODE-2023-title48-chap12-subchapIII-sec1571.htm
|
||||
[^9]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, paragraphs 6, 22 to 25, 132 to 140, 157 to 159, and 175, filed as Exhibit 1 to Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), ECF No. 1-1 (December 27, 2022). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/001-01.pdf ; "V.I. Officials Enabled Epstein to Act With Impunity, JPMorgan Alleges in Latest Salvo." *St. Thomas Source,* June 16, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20240721172424/https://stthomassource.com/content/2023/06/16/v-i-officials-enabled-epstein-to-act-with-impunity-jpmorgan-alleges-in-latest-salvo/
|
||||
[^10]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein, No. ST-20-CV-14 (V.I. Super. Ct.), Second Amended Complaint, paragraph 159 (terms of the Southern Trust certificate), ECF No. 1-1 in No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011558/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/001-01.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Epstein estate could be ordered to repay more than $144 million in tax breaks." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 13, 2020. http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/epstein-estate-could-be-ordered-to-repay-more-than-144-million-in-tax-breaks/article_b84d9710-14af-5e69-a890-bcf8265cf8f9.html
|
||||
[^12]: Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 1:22-cv-10904-JSR (S.D.N.Y.), Exhibit 83, ECF No. 194-24 (filed June 20, 2023), pp. 39 to 47 (Frazer letters of July 25 and August 14, 2012). https://web.archive.org/web/20260117011719/https://www.justice.gov/multimedia/Court%20Records/Government%20of%20the%20United%20States%20Virgin%20Islands%20v.%20JPMorgan%20Chase%20Bank,%20N.A.,%20No.%20122-cv-10904%20(S.D.N.Y.%202022)/194-24.pdf
|
||||
[^13]: Carlson, Suzanne. "Files reveal Epstein's efforts to influence V.I. officials; emails with Mapp." *Virgin Islands Daily News,* February 2, 2026. https://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/files-reveal-epstein-s-efforts-to-influence-v-i-officials-emails-with-mapp/article_2dd4fe69-4daf-4dc2-b3b8-37a929002bb6.html
|
||||
[^14]: Doe 1 v. Government of the United States Virgin Islands, No. 1:23-cv-10301-AS (S.D.N.Y.), Opinion and Order, ECF No. 202 (March 21, 2025), and Stipulation and Order of Dismissal, ECF No. 224 (September 23, 2025). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915/gov.uscourts.nysd.610915.202.0.pdf ; https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68031620/doe-1-v-government-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands/
|
||||
[^15]: U.S. Census Bureau, "First 2020 Census United States Island Areas Data Released Today," October 2021. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/10/first-2020-census-united-states-island-areas-data-released-today.html
|
||||
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