New Lawsuit States Jeffrey Epstein Trafficked Hundreds of Girls and Young Women to His Private Island
LatestA new lawsuit alleges that for decades and up until 2018, Jeffrey Epstein trafficked and sexually abused hundreds of girls and young women—including some as young as 11—on his private island in the Virgin Islands.
As reported by the New York Times, the lawsuit, which was filed by the attorney general of the Virgin Islands, also claims that Epstein “kept a computerized database to track the availability and movements of women and girls.”
More details, per the Times:
Mr. Epstein’s victims included aspiring models from South America, according to court documents.
Mr. Epstein used a ring of associates to rotate the women and girls in and out of sexual servitude, using fraudulent modeling visas to transport them across state lines and international borders, the lawsuit said. He tracked their availability and proximity using the database, court documents said.
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In one instance, according to the lawsuit, one young girl attempted to swim off Mr. Epstein’s island and escape after she was forced to engage in sex acts with one of his co-conspirators. The girl was found, and held hostage on Mr. Epstein’s island after he confiscated her passport.
In August of last year, the FBI raided Epstein’s private island, which some local residents called “Pedophile Island.” And last September, a cache of documents released by the U.S. Marshals Service, which had been conducting its own investigation, revealed that in 2018, Epstein had been seen in the Virgin Islands getting off his private plane with girls who looked to be 11 and 12 years old.
“Epstein clearly used the Virgin Islands and his residence in the U.S. Virgin Islands at Little Saint James as a way to be able to conceal and to be able to expand his activity here,” Denise M. George, the attorney general of the Virgin Island, told the Times. George also said that the government of the Virgin Islands is considering using any assets they potentially obtain from Epstein’s estate, which is reported to be worth about $500 million, to provide compensation to survivors of Epstein’s abuse.
According to the lawsuit, Epstein had long frustrated attempts by Virgin Islands law enforcement officials to even perform routine checks. Per the Times:
As recently as July 2018, Mr. Epstein refused to permit an investigator from the Virgin Island’s Department of Justice to enter Little Saint James, claiming the island’s dock was his “front door,” according to the lawsuit. The investigator was doing routine monitoring of Mr. Epstein because he was a registered sex offender.
“We will not remain complacent, and we will enforce our laws whatever way we can,” George said. “It doesn’t matter the social status of the person. It’s that the laws apply equally.”