ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands _ Among his many possessions, Jeffrey Epstein owned a secluded, 72-acre island in the Caribbean called Little St. James, a sumptuous tropical hideaway most anyone would envy. For him, it wasn't enough.
Epstein set his sights on the body of land across the channel, Great St. James Cay, deciding that it should be his as well. The only problem was, its owner was determined not to deal with Epstein, a registered sex offender who had narrowly wriggled out of a federal trafficking case in 2008.
The multimillionaire financial adviser was undeterred. According to records examined by the Miami Herald and McClatchy, and interviews, Epstein set up an opaque limited liability company, or LLC, making it appear in the negotiations that the true owner was one Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a wealthy Dubai businessman with connections to the royal family. A $22.5 million deal was worked out.
Only after the deal was consummated and work permits were pulled did it emerge that Epstein might be the actual owner. It wasn't until his July arrest, however, that he officially declared in an affidavit that he owned the second island.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem _ Sultan is his name, not his title _ confirmed through an aide that Epstein had asked to use his name in an unspecified business bid but was told no.
It appears Epstein used it anyway.
Seemingly legal on its face, the transaction, through a shell company that provided anonymity, is an example of the way Epstein conducted business _ with the same stealth and rule-bending guile that allowed him to rise from New York City schoolteacher to Bear Stearns partner to independent financial adviser to the super-wealthy.
Determining the source of and accounting for Epstein's vast wealth remains a mysterious paint-by-numbers exercise. It is taking on added importance, however, as victims of his sex abuse step forward and file lawsuits against his estate in the wake of his August suicide while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused underage girls.
A picture is slowly emerging _ of his businesses and his associates. Recent reporting shows that Epstein was at the forefront of structured finance, the packaging of mortgages and bonds into complex financial instruments that nearly brought down the global financial system more than a decade ago.
