Jeffrey Epstein, the former Florida-based billionaire, lists the private U.S. Virgin Island of Little St. James which he owns as his primary residence with the state of Florida’s sex offender registry file as required by his 2008 sentencing after pleading guilty to child sex offenses.
The decade-old sex scandal, involving the owner of the islet between St. John and St. Thomas and underage girls has taken on an international air (and royal heir) with a third purported victim joining a civil suit against Epstein and questioning the leniency of Epstein’s plea deal on his 2008 sex crime conviction.
The latest alleged victim said she was forced to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew, a close friend of Epstein, in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein when she was under the age of 18, according to the Associated Press.
In the latest filing by two alleged victims seeking to join an existing civil lawsuit, the third complainant alleges her encounters with Prince Andrew took place around 1999 to 2002, according to the Associated Press. The two new complainants have asked the judge to allow them to join the existing lawsuit filed by a third woman.
Buckingham Palace responded to the news reports with a statement, according to the Associated Press: “This relates to longstanding and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party. As such, we would not comment on the detail.” Prince Andrew, 54, is the Duke of York.
“However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue,” the Buckingham Palace statement continued.
The three women have questioned a plea deal negotiated by federal prosecutors that allowed Epstein to avoid more serious federal charges and potentially more severe sentencing, according to the Associated Press.
No Charges in USVI
The billionaire was not charged with bringing the underage “masseuses” he was convicted of paying for sex in Florida to the U.S. Virgin Islands since he bought Little St. James in the late 1990s.
The Florida police detective who pursued the investigation of Epstein that resulted in the 2008 plea bargain, refused to discuss the case with St. John Tradewinds when contacted after the plea deal was announced. The detective also would not say whether he had ever followed Epstein to his private jet for flights from Florida to the USVI and witnessed whether Epstein had ever traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands with underage girls.
It was not clear from published information whether authorities had reviewed flight records at the private jet center on St. Thomas or if private jet flight manifests would have shown if underage girls had been brought into the territory.
Transforming Virgin Island
Epstein, has transformed Little St. James over the past decade with a line of slender coconut palms extending along the spine of the island connecting towering flag poles flying massive U.S. flags and a shoreline residential complex facing St. John to the north.
Epstein most visible latest the creation is a “gold” dome by a metal fabricator on St. John which now tops a small structure on the highest point of his private island which appears to be an ornately-tiled, windowless box.
de Jongh Connection
Epstein has employed former banking executive Cecile de Jongh, the wife of out-going V.I. Gov. John P. de Jongh, as an executive in his USVI Economic Development Commission (EDC) tax shelter for years – while he has turned his small private island south of St. John into a Shangri La compound renowned for its “parties” with young people from Love City.
As he enjoyed the 2014 elections from the sidelines, Gov. de Jongh told St. John Tradewinds in a September interview on the Loredon L. Boynes Dock that he was interested in pursuing a post-government-service career in the private finance sector.
