JEFFREY Epstein’s private Caribbean island has become the centre of a sex trafficking probe against him, amid claims underage girls were used as sex slaves and repeatedly abused inside a temple.
The billionaire bought the island of Little St James more than two decades ago – transforming it into a high-security private oasis, complete with a mansion and a bizarre blue and white gold-domed structure.
To date, the island has remained Epstein’s main residence, but has been shrouded in mystery.
It’s high security, secluded location and locally-known moniker as “Pedophile Island” has given rise to more sinister theories about its use.
Neighbouring islander Kevin Goodrich, who operates boat charters from nearby St Thomas, said: “Everybody called it ‘Paedophile Island’ … It’s our dark corner.”
Everybody called it ‘Pedophile Island’ … It’s our dark corner.”
Neighbouring islander Kevin Goodrich
Epstein set about building an enormous stone mansion with cream-coloured walls and a bright turquoise roof surrounded by a maids’ quarters.
Years later, and on the other southwest edge of the island, he built a square-shaped blue and white building resembling a religious temple, topped with a gold dome.
Many have speculated that the child sex abuse Epstein has been accused of may have occurred in this secluded space.
Workers claimed the structure was a music room, fitted with a grand piano and acoustic walls.
But Epstein – a classically-trained pianist – positioned the building far away from other structures on the island.
A medieval-style lock on the front of the temple became a curious point of conversation for those working on the site.
Chicago-based contractor James Both shared his professional thoughts on the building’s door with Business Insider.
“It’s styled like what you might see on a castle, with what appears to be a reinforcing lock bar across the face,” he said.
The locking bar appears to be placed on the outside … as if it were intended to lock people in.”
Contractor James Both
“What makes it peculiar is that if you wanted to keep people out, the bar would be placed inside the building, [but the] locking bar appears to be placed on the outside … as if it were intended to lock people in.”
The front of the building is flanked by statues painted in gold; one which appears to be Poseidon, Greek god of the sea, and another that looks like a pair of birds.
It is surrounded by a line of palm trees and a terrace with a labyrinth motif.
A small structure downhill from the building has led some to believe it serves as a second entrance and suggest that the space extends underground.
Both suggested: “It is absolutely possible to install a dwelling and elevator underneath the structure.
“If an elevator was built there, [there] would most likely be a record with the vendor who installed the elevator, as they typically require yearly maintenance and inspection.”
Other curious details about the building have since emerged.
It was constructed sometime between 2009 and 2013 – after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.
The billionaire financier maintained a low profile after he received a lenient plea deal over claims he paid girls for sexual massages.
Many began to believe his need for privacy appeared more sinister.
The palm-fringed paradise became the subject of lurid rumours.
Those who worked for Epstein in constructing the buildings said they signed non-disclosure agreements and refused to talk.
Security guards keep watch along the island’s shores.
Before Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea, he would visit the island archipelago about two or three times a month for stays of three or four days, according to the former staffer who spoke to SF Gate.
He described it as a Zen-like retreat where women would sometimes sunbathe topless or in the nude.
At least one alleged victim has since spoken out about an orgy on the island she had with Epstein and others, in a court affidavit obtained by the Associated Press.
The same victim said that she saw former President Bill Clinton on the island but never witnessed him having sex with anyone.
A Clinton spokesman issued a statement denying the claims, saying Clinton never travelled to the island.
Virginia Giuffre, previously Virginia Roberts, has recently alleged she was among a number of young girls who were abused by Epstein and others when she was a teenager.
In a 2015 lawsuit, Ms Giuffre claimed that she was a “sex slave” for Epstein, and that she was abused in his homes in New York, New Mexico, Florida, and the US Virgin Islands.
Giuffre, now 35, said she was allegedly forced into “an orgy with numerous other under-aged girls.”
She also made alarming claims involving the Duke of York, saying she “was forced to have sexual relations with [Prince Andrew] when she was a minor” at Epstein’s Little St James estate.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told Sun Online: “It is emphatically denied The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts.”
She renewed her claims from 2015 in an interview with the Miami Herald, saying she was 16 when she met Epstein, who she was introduced to by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell.
The mother-of-three said she was sent to Epstein’s private Caribbean island and groomed as a sex slave.
Back in 2005, police in Florida received reports Epstein had sexually abused underage girls in his mansion in Palm Beach.
According to an indictment, Epstein recruited victims to provide “massages,” which they would perform nude or partially nude.
Prosecutors said the encounters would become increasingly sexual, where Epstein would masturbate and ask victims to touch him while he did.
According to court documents in Florida, authorities say at least 40 underage girls were brought into Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion for what turned into sexual encounters.
Courtney Wild and Michelle Licata were part of a 2008 criminal case brought against Epstein in Florida
Wild was just 14 when she alleges Epstein forced her into performing sex acts on him, ABC News reported.
She said: “I was 14, I had braces on.
“Like, I remember standing in his kitchen … and he also had a lot of girls there all the time.”
Michelle Licata was aged 16 when she claims she was brought to the banker’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, where she was paid to give him a massage.
She said: “He said, god, you’re just so beautiful and sexy and gorgeous and it was making me feel really uncomfortable.
I was 14, I had braces on. Like, I remember standing in his kitchen … and he also had a lot of girls there all the time.”
Courtney Wild, alleged victim
“Then he wanted me to rub his back, and he kept asking me to go lower and he was kind of talking to me.”
Epstein was sentenced to only 13 months in jail.
Sarah Ransome, one of his alleged victims, filed a lawsuit against Epstein claiming that he coerced her into having sex while she was in her 20s.
Ransome she tried to swim off the island only to be found by a search party that included Epstein and his cohort Ghislaine Maxwell, FOX News reported.
Jennifer Araoz, now 32, claims she was approached by a female “recruiter” for the billionaire while standing outside her school in New York in 2001.
She has since accused Epstein of grooming her when she was just 14 before “forcefully raping” her without a condom.
The makeup artist told how she was persuaded to visit Epstein’s Manhattan mansion where she was allegedly paid to give him massages dressed only in her underwear.
The visits continued once or twice a week until she turned 15, when she claims Epstein told her to take off her knickers and climb on top of him.
“He raped me, forcefully raped me,” Ms Araoz told NBC’s Today show.
“I don’t want to say I was screaming, or anything of that nature. But I was terrified. And I was telling him to stop,” she said.
“He had no intentions of stopping. He knew exactly what he was doing.”
Epstein has a number of high-profile pals including the likes of Prince Andrew, the Clintons and Donald Trump.
In 2016, Epstein purchased the neighbouring larger island of Great St James Island for $18million, which is still under construction.
The plan for the complex includes an amphitheatre and an “underwater office and pool,” according to the Virgin Islands Daily News.
The billionaire hedge fund manager is accused of maintaining a “vast network of underage victims” – some as young as 14.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges in a New York court this month.
The legal indictment released on Monday July 8 details the charges against the financier.
It alleges that Epstein “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls” at his homes in various locations.
The document claims the 66-year-old would pay girls “hundreds of dollars” to perform sex acts with him and would also pay certain victims “to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused.”
At a press conference, Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman alleged the FBI found “perhaps thousands” of photos of nude and half-nude females at Epstein’s residence during their raid last week — including images of “at least one girl who, according to her counsel, was underage at the time the relevant photographs were taken.”
He faces 45 years in jail if found guilty on both counts of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors.
Epstein is being held in the Metropolitan Correction Center in Manhattan – the same jail as drug lord El Chapo – which has been called “tougher than Guantánamo Bay.”
