Jeffrey Epstein is dead but the world is still reeling from his alleged transgressions.
The alleged child-sex trafficker who was found dead by apparent suicide in his prison cell on August 10 left many minds thwarted, as he didn’t even reach a trial or conviction. The Washington Post reports that he appeared to have tied a bedsheet to the top of a set of bunk beds, then knelt toward the floor with enough force that he broke several bones in his neck, as examined through autopsy.
But even in his death, officials still have their work cut out for them.
Twenty years ago, neighboring islands saw suspicious changes to Little St. James Island, a small part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cut says that plants were cleared, poles bearing American flags went up, and security guards lined the beaches.
According to Associate Press, these transformations happened when it was bought by Epstein himself, and has, over the years, gained a handful of sinister nicknames: “Orgy Island,” “Pedophile Island,” and “Island of Sin.”
Though much of what transpired on the island has remained to be rumors, more concrete details emerged when at least a dozen FBI agents raided Epstein’s Little St. James residence, a bureau spokesman told NBC News.
Here is what we know:
Jezebel reports that “Pedophile Island,” as locals called it, features a 24,000-square-foot private residence, two pools, a spa, and a mysterious blue and white building that spurred plenty of online speculation. One former employee who worked on Epstein’s island from 1999 to 2006 said he often saw young women there, and that the main residence housed countless photos of topless girls.
“There were photos of topless women everywhere,” contractor Steve Scully told ABC News. “On his desk, in his office, in his bedroom.”
The mysterious blue-striped temple with a gold dome was described by his workers as his music room, where he practiced playing the piano. It was suspicious, however, that the temple’s bolts were positioned outside the door, where it seemed like it was meant to keep people in. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the temple was either a secluded setting for Epstein’s abuse or that it concealed a hidden underground location for the same purpose.
“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,” said James Both, a contractor, to Insider.
It has also been said that Epstein had a dedicated team of workers on the island who trafficked girls as young as 12 to his clients, according to Fox News. To get there, Epstein would fly the underage girls into St. Thomas, and then he would ferry them over to his private island via a boat named Lady Ghislaine, one former employee told Bloomberg.
The underaged girls and women were coerced into sex and even held hostage once on the island. Sarah Ransome, who claims Epstein instructed her to have sex with lawyer Alan Dershowitz when she was in her 20s, said she tried to swim off the island, only to be found by a search party that included Epstein and his alleged madame Ghislaine Maxwell. She also said that they kept her passport so she couldn’t leave.
Contractor Steve Scully added that he frequently saw groups of girls who “couldn’t have been more than 15 or 16 years old” riding ATVs and bathing topless.
The island is now drawing tourists after the big FBI raid, but the fact still remains that Jeffrey Epstein built a whole island for his women trafficking agenda. He left this world without facing the consequences of his heinous crimes, and even his death cannot appease the minds of many.
Photo courtesy of Mazech Media’s Instagram account
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