The infamous islands owned by Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier accused of sex trafficking, could be turned into a world class resort under its new owner.
Great St James and Little St James have been purchased from the estate of the convicted sex offender by entrepreneur and investor Stephen Deckoff, under his firm SD Investments.
Deckoff snapped up the locations in the Virgin Islands for less than half of the sum they were originally on the market for.
The properties had been advertised with an asking price of $125 million in March 2022 but after a number of reductions finally sold for $60 million, according to Forbes.
Deckoff plans to purge the land of its grim past, developing the location into a "state-of-the-art, five-star, world-class luxury 25-room resort".
Whether or not luxury visitors will flock to the location dubbed "Paedophile Island" and "Orgy Island" by locals remains to be seen.
SD Investments did not respond to Fortune when approached for comment.
The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands will receive half the proceeds of the sale, as well as $105 million in cash, as agreed in a 2022 settlement with the Epstein estate.
The estate will also pay a further $450,000 to the Virgin Islands after it was discovered Epstein had destroyed the remains of centuries-old structures to make way for his development.
The Virgin Islands' former attorney general said the payout was to "restore the faith of the People of the Virgin Islands that its laws will be enforced, without fear or favor, against those who break them. We are sending a clear message that the Virgin Islands will not serve as a haven for human trafficking.”
Reputation rebrand
The sale announcement highlights that Deckoff "has built a successful career crafting and executing plans to turn distressed situations into successful enterprises".
The release further seeks to ensure Virgin Islands stakeholders, saying the investment will "help bolster tourism, create jobs, and spur economic development in the region, while respecting and preserving the important environment of the islands."
The founder of Black Diamond Capital Management, who has lived in the Virgin Islands for more than a decade, added: "I am tremendously pleased to be able to bring the area a world-class destination befitting its natural grace and beauty.
"There is simply no place in the world as special as the U.S. Virgin Islands and I am humbled by the opportunity to share its splendor with visitors in a manner that will provide economic benefits to the region while respecting its culture, history and natural beauty. I very much look forward to working with the U.S. Virgin Islands to make this dream a reality."
Deckoff—reportedly worth around $3 billion— hopes to open the resort by 2025, adding that architects and engineers have been retained to begin work on the project.
What's on the islands?
Little St James, around 70 acres, was where Epstein's main residence and guest houses were.
It is the location where lawyers allege Epstein took girls as young as 12 and held them captive in sexual servitude, assaulting them alongside his associates.
The Caribbean resort has now become a morbid tourist attraction following Epstein's apparent suicide in jail, the Associated Press reports. Previously, passers-by were put off by armed guards on the shore of the island.
Little St James has its own gas station, port, three private beaches, a lagoon home to flamingos, a helipad, a mysterious temple structure, a cinema, pools and a gym—as well as a life-sized Fresian cow statue and two giant depictions of cockatiels.
To the north of the island is the larger Great St James, which Virgin Islands lawyers claim Epstein bought to obscure the smaller island from surveillance.
The suit adds: "By acquiring ownership and control of Great St. James to the exclusion of others, the Epstein Enterprise created additional barriers to prevent those held involuntarily on Little St. James from escaping or obtaining help from others.”
