Paradise Lost: Jeffrey Epstein’s Legacy Still Clouds the U.S. Virgin Islands

While Epstein was alive, Virgin Islands officials appear to have shielded him from scrutiny – customs agents at the airport, for example, reported seeing Epstein leave his plane with girls between the ages of 11 and 17, yet there is no record that anyone checked on their safety.

After his death in 2019, other officials who aided Epstein began profiting from continued secrecy and a string of legal settlements associated with his behavior that put hundreds of millions of dollars under the government’s control. No one appears to have benefited more than Albert Bryan Jr., the governor of the territory. Court records show that Bryan had previously overseen the agency that granted nearly $300 million in illicit tax credits to Epstein’s company, which fraudulently claimed to provide “biomedical and financial informatics” services. Bryan, after securing a gubernatorial victory in 2018 with the support of Epstein and his aides, would later push for a waiver for Epstein to avoid compliance with the island’s sex offender laws.

Bryan fired the attorney general who led the island’s cases against Epstein’s estate, and his appointed successor ended an explosive case over J.P. Morgan Chase’s ties to the former financier before a new round of discovery.

Over the last few months, legislative records show, Bryan has tapped the Epstein settlement funds to pay for a variety of his domestic political agenda items. The money was secured from Epstein’s estate and his associates, including the case with J.P. Morgan Chase and a close financial supporter, private billionaire Leon Black, who was also accused of abusing women. The settlements, which collectively account for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, were championed as a measure of accountability, and the proceeds were promised to assist victims of sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual misconduct, and child sexual abuse.

In late April, Bryan, at his weekly briefing at the Government House on St. Thomas, announced the allocation of $22 million in retroactive wages to government workers, a move his office touted as strengthening public trust. "This is real money – money in the bank," Bryan boasted. Left unmentioned was the source – the Epstein settlement money.

Earlier this year, Bryan applied the Epstein funds for vendor payments and sought to use the money for a variety of other earmarks, such as a $25 million makeover for the Justice Building on St. Croix. The lack of transparency around the funds has faced scrutiny from legislators and some Virgin Islands residents.

The total amount remaining in the Epstein settlement fund is not clear. Motley Rice, a private law firm that assisted the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Justice Department with the cases, is projected to receive about $23.35 million of the settlement as its share of the fees.

“We have a situation where some of the monies might have been spent, even though they were appropriated for specific purposes,” said USVI Senator Alma Francis Heyliger. “The legislature did not give approval for this.”

In a letter posted online last year, David Silverman, a retiree living in St. John, stated, “This money was promised to be used to protect vulnerable young women, among other things. But for reasons that nobody can explain, the money is nowhere to be found.”

The U.S. Department of Justice maintains oversight of the USVI, a jurisdiction that has been plagued by corruption. In recent years, FBI agents have raided territory agencies over the mismanagement of public money. In June 2024, several senior USVI officials were charged with defrauding $4 million in housing funds. The FBI declined to comment on whether it is investigating the USVI's use of Epstein settlement funds.

The Bryan administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Questions continue to swirl over the Epstein secrets still buried in government vaults. The much-hyped Trump administration release of files related to the Epstein case quickly turned to disappointment in February as the government distributed binders with no new information. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to criticism of the fizzled press event, has said she is still pushing for the release of more files held by the FBI and her department.

While attention still focuses on the 256,000 square-foot warehouse in Winchester, Virginia, where unreleased FBI records, including CDs, hard drives, and recordings from Epstein’s homes, are still held, the Virgin Islands side of the story remains unresolved. The tropical territory remains one of the last redoubts of intrigue related to the scandal.

The island territory was the nexus for Epstein’s alleged human trafficking operation. It was there that Epstein entertained his VIP rolodex of guests and is believed to have engaged in some of his worst sexual crimes.

The abrupt settlement with J.P. Morgan Chase prevented the release of more disclosures about the nature of Epstein’s network, including documents and depositions from key figures who aided and abetted the former financier.

The U.S. Virgin Islands government and JPMorgan Chase both denied claims of complicity in Epstein's abuses. In a previous statement to reporters, the bank claimed it “would never have continued to do business with him if we believed he was using our bank in any way to help commit heinous crimes.”

Nearly two years ago, Bryan shut off the valve of a smattering of unflattering documents released as part of the island territory’s lawsuit with J.P. Morgan. After initially seeking $190 million from the bank for its role in aiding Epstein’s operations, Bryan shocked observers by firing his own attorney general and reportedly pushed to end the lawsuit.

The initial 2022 lawsuit charged that J.P. Morgan had “turned a blind eye” to clear evidence that Epstein had used the bank to facilitate his sex trafficking operations. USVI claimed in court that it had uncovered evidence that J.P. Morgan officials had repeatedly raised red flags about Epstein, who maintained around 55 accounts and routinely referred his network to the bank’s wealth management services. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan executives joked over email about his interest in young girls.

But the bank hit back with a countersuit and filed hundreds of documents, exhibits, and emails alleging “a decades-long quid pro quo between Epstein and the USVI government.” The legal probe revealed the former financier’s extensive system of alleged bribes and influence payments to USVI officials – money, J.P. Morgan’s lawyers claimed, that “created a haven for Epstein’s criminal activity.”

These records show that Epstein placed the former first lady of the island, Cecile de Jongh, on his payroll. She suggested campaign donations and targeted gifts to universities, civic groups, and the families of powerful politicians. The gifts appear to have helped Epstein win special benefits, including visas to bring young girls to the island and $300 million in illicit tax exemptions for his fraudulently registered information technology company.

J.P. Morgan's attorney filed documents with the court charging that de Jongh suggested Epstein pay monthly retainers to local politicians, including former USVI Senator Celestino White, to gain “loyalty and access.” The records showed he also gave free Thanksgiving turkeys to 78 federal customs agents at the St. Thomas airport after dealing with one “difficult” officer.

The ties extended to the governor and the territory’s representative in Congress, the incumbent lawmaker Stacey Plaskett. In his previous role as head of the economic development office, Bryan signed off on a string of tax exemptions for Epstein’s Southern Trust business entity. At the time, Plaskett served as counsel to the tax office. 

Plaskett went on to work at Kellerhals Ferguson Kroblin PLLC, a USVI law firm Epstein retained for tax and legal issues. In 2014, as Plaskett geared up to run for Congress, de Jongh advised Epstein to support her bid against a popular local politician, Shawn-Michael Malone. “Shawn is the one who came after you in the senate hearing last week. He is nasty and needs to be defeated and we have a friend in Stacey,” de Jongh wrote in an email uncovered by J.P. Morgan’s attorneys.

During the election, Epstein’s closest aides and advisers, including Darren Indyke, Lesley Groff, and Erica Kellerhals, donated to Plaskett, helping her defeat Malone by just 737 votes in what local press called “one of the biggest upsets in Virgin Island politics.” De Jongh wrote to Epstein to confirm that a $13,000 corporate donation planned for the Democratic Party would be made “for the benefit of Stacey Plaskett.”

Epstein repeatedly donated to Plaskett’s campaign committees until his suicide in a New York City prison cell in 2019. In an email made public by the litigation, Plaskett wrote to Kellerhals and Lesley Groff, another Epstein aide who reportedly helped him recruit young women, to request the financier’s fundraising assistance. She also met with him at his New York City home in a bid to request larger donations to the DCCC, the House Democrats’ campaign arm.

Plaskett did not respond to a request for comment. In March, a federal judge in New York ruled that Plaskett will continue to serve as the sole defendant in a case brought by multiple victims of Epstein. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act case charges that USVI officials conspired with Epstein to sustain his sex-trafficking scheme.

The case relies on much of the evidence that the J.P. Morgan countersuit uncovered nearly two years ago. 

The Epstein network also helped to elect Bryan governor. Kellerhals, campaign finance disclosures exclusively obtained by RealClearInvestigations show, donated $1,000. Records from the J.P. Morgan litigation provide further evidence of support, including an email from de Jongh suggesting $25,000 to an inauguration party in Bryan’s honor and a reminder that Bryan had requested $30,000 in support for the USVI Little League.

Bryan, as governor, requested that the USVI Justice Department provide Epstein with a waiver for the territory’s sex offender registry. Epstein’s legal requests for special exemptions to the law, notably, were facilitated by Kellerhals.

“Not every sexual offender or any person, you know, are in the position to have the governor make the request to the attorney general … that by itself indicated to me that [Epstein] was flexing his political influence over or with the governor,” Denise George, a former USVI attorney general said in a deposition she gave as part of the JPMorgan lawsuit.

Bryan, in a deposition with J.P. Morgan’s attorneys, dismissed concerns about Epstein’s operations in the USVI. He said he was only aware that “he copped a plea to having sex with a hooker who was under age,” a reference to Epstein’s 2008 conviction over child prostitution.

On New Year’s Eve 2022, Bryan unexpectedly fired Denise George, the attorney general responsible for the J.P. Morgan lawsuit and the island’s landmark case against the Epstein estate. George had previously opposed Bryan’s requests for a waiver for Epstein to get around the island’s sex offender laws.

As the litigation continued to mount, J.P. Morgan’s attorneys threatened more discovery and depositions of USVI officials. In a filing to the court in September 2023, they argued that they planned greater investigations of a host of USVI’s elite, including Bryan and Plaskett.

A few weeks after the filing, USVI announced its settlement, agreeing to end its case in exchange for $75 million, an amount far below the initial amount sought by the lawsuit.

The sudden end to the case closed the rare window of disclosure into Epstein’s private power structure and the ways in which he carried out his political operation.

Some lawmakers and island residents believe secrets from the Epstein scandal are still hidden. The J.P. Morgan case proved too harmful for the USVI elite as it exposed embarrassing documents on all sides.

“Listen, as a community, I would rather these things come out so we can clean up our community instead of sticking our heads in the sand,” said Senator Francis Heyliger. “The more we clean up this territory, and more things are exposed, I think in the long run, it will be better for us and as a community and for the people.”

The senator was clear that President Trump should release new, unredacted Epstein files or pressure USVI officials to provide more clarity over the financier’s influence. “If this administration, on a national level, chooses to put out more information, I am never one that believes you should hide from the truth." she said.