Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private islands have been sold to a billionaire investor who plans to turn the infamous Caribbean properties into a luxury resort.
Stephen Deckoff, founder of the private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, purchased the islands for $60 million, according to Forbes.
“I’ve been proud to call the U.S. Virgin Islands home for more than a decade and am tremendously pleased to be able to bring the area a world-class destination benefitting its natural grace and beauty,” Deckoff said. “I very much look forward to working with the U.S. Virgin Islands to make this dream a reality.”
Deckoff told Forbes that he did not know Epstein and that he never visited the island until Epstein died in 2019.
The billionaire’s investment first, SD Investments LLC, said in a press release that Deckoff “plans to develop a state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort that will help bolster tourism, create jobs, and spur economic development in the region, while respecting and preserving the important environment of the islands.”
The resort is expected to open in 2025, the release stated, and Deckoff is working to secure architects and engineers for the project.
The investment first noted that “a significant portion of the sale proceeds are being paid to the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands under a previously announced settlement agreement between the government and Mr. Epstein’s estate.”
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal revealed that an attorney in former-President Barack Obama’s administration, the president of a private New York college, a left-wing political activist and the current CIA director were among those scheduled to meet with Epstein before his mysterious death in 2019.
The Journal obtained Epstein’s private calendar, which revealed meetings with now-CIA Director William Burns, Bard College president Leon Botstein, Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and left-wing political activist Noam Chomsky.
