- An investment firm led by billionaire Stephen Dickov has bought two private islands in the US Virgin Islands that were previously owned by the late, notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- Dickov, founder of the private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, bought the two islands for $60 million.
- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is set to be fired in late May over lawsuits accusing the bank of profiting from sex trafficking by Epstein on his private island.
Little St. Island
Marco Bello | Reuters
Dickov confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday that an investment firm led by billionaire Stephen Dickov has purchased two private islands in the US Virgin Islands that were previously owned by the late notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
Forbes first reported that Dickov, founder of the private equity firm Black Diamond Capital Management, had bought the two islands for $60 million, less than half the initial asking price.
According to court filings, Epstein used one of the islands to sexually assault girls for years.
“Mr. Dickov plans to develop a luxurious, five-star, world-class 25-room resort that will help boost tourism, create jobs and stimulate economic development in the region, while respecting and preserving the islands’ important environment,” reads a press release about the sale.
SD Investments, which is led by Deckoff, announced the purchase.
“A significant portion of the proceeds from the sale is being paid to the US Virgin Islands government pursuant to a previously announced settlement agreement between the government and Mr. Epstein’s estate,” the statement read.
Epstein’s estate and related entities agreed in November to pay more than $105 million to the Virgin Islands government to settle sex trafficking and child exploitation claims. This deal required the property to pay the Virgin Islands half of the proceeds from the sale of the two islands, Little St. James and Great St. James, and another $450,000 to compensate for damages to Great St. James, where Epstein had destroyed hundreds of years’ worth of said remains to make way for development.
During a brief phone interview with CNBC, Dickov confirmed that he had bought the carrots.
When asked about his plans to do so, he said, “No comment.”
Then decove closed.
Covers Little St. James is over 70 acres, the size of Great St. James is more than twice the size of its neighbor.
The purchase was reported on the same day that CNBC revealed that Epstein’s accuser, the US Virgin Islands attorney, would remove JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon starting May 26.
The USVI and an unidentified woman have accused JPMorgan in federal civil lawsuits of profiting from Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women on his Virgin Islands property. Epstein was for years a client of JPMorgan Chase, and had millions of dollars in deposits there.
The bank denies the allegations in the lawsuits. But it kept Epstein as a client until 2013, five years after he pleaded guilty in a Florida state court to the charge of soliciting sex for money from an underage girl.
Several women said they were raped or sexually assaulted at Little St. James, where Epstein had a mansion. Among them is Virginia Giuffre, who has alleged that she was sexually abused there, and in other locations, by Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles of Great Britain.
Andrew denied her claim, but in February 2022 agreed to a confidential settlement with Giuffre to end a civil lawsuit against him in US District Court in Manhattan.
The lawsuit filed by USVI against JPMorgan states that Epstein “was a resident of the Virgin Islands and established a residence on Little St.
The islands were worth a combined $86 million after Epstein died in August 2019, when the former friend of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton committed suicide in a Manhattan jail a month after he was arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
The lawsuit reads: “In 1998, Epstein Enterprise acquired Little St.
The lawsuit noted that “Little St. James is a secluded private island, approximately two miles from St. Thomas and has no other residents.” “It can only be visited by private boat or helicopter… Epstein had easy access to Little St. James from the private airport in St. Thomas, only 10 minutes away by his private helicopter, but the trafficked women and children were abused, and held there.” and they could not leave without his permission and assistance, as it was too far and dangerous to swim to St. Thomas.”
The lawsuit goes on to say that in 2016, Epstein used a straw buyer to conceal Epstein’s identity and purchased Great St. James Island, which is closer to Little St. James.
“By that time, Epstein was a convicted sex offender,” the lawsuit says. “Epstein Enterprise bought the island for more than $20 million because its participants wanted to ensure that the island did not become a base from which their activities or visitors could be viewed by others.”
She adds: “By acquiring ownership of Great St.
Former Epstein clan Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced last June to 20 years in prison for allegedly recruiting and grooming teenage girls for sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein.