Jeffrey Epstein’s estate has agreed to pay the US Virgin Islands more than $105m (£86.8m) as part of a settlement in sex trafficking and child exploitation cases.
As part of the agreement, the estate will also pay the U.S. Territory half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James, Epstein’s private island, which Epstein purchased in 1998 and has allegedly been used for many of his sex crimes .
It will pay a further $450,000 (£372,000) to settle losses on a separate island owned by the disgraced financier – NBC quoted the US Department of Justice as saying he “had leveled hundreds of thousands of enslaved workers”. The remnants of the historic building to make his development space” there.
The settlement – which does not include an admission of any wrongdoing – includes the return of more than $80m ($66m) in economic development tax credits that Epstein and others “fraudulently obtained to fuel their criminal enterprises” .
“This settlement restores the confidence of the people of the Virgin Islands that their laws will be enforced without fear or favor, against those who violate them,” Virgin Islands Attorney General Dennis George said in a release.
“We are sending a clear message that the Virgin Islands will not be a safe haven for human trafficking.”
In a statement reported by NBC, Daniel Weiner, attorney for Epstein’s estate, said: “The co-executors have ultimately concluded that the settlement agreement is in the best interest of the estate, including its creditors and claimants, in order to avoid the time, expense and and protracted uncertainty. Litigation.
“The settlement agreement is consistent with the Co-Executors’ stated intent and practice since their appointment to these positions – to resolve claims related to any wrongdoing by Jeffrey Epstein in a victim-sensitive manner.”
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little st james island
Mr Weiner also said the estate intended to “conclude its remaining activities” on the islands “as soon as practicable” and had paid $121m (£100m) to 136 Epstein campaigners. ) compensation.
The Virgin Islands filed a civil lawsuit against Epstein’s estate in 2020, alleging he was behind a criminal enterprise through which he trafficked, raped, sexually assaulted and imprisoned young women and girls in Little St. James.
Epstein at age 66 Suicide in Manhattan prison in 2019a month after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
This comes more than a decade after his conviction for underage prostitution, for which he became a registered sex offender.
Last year, his ex-partner Ghislaine Maxwell Convicted of recruiting teenage girls to sexually abuse him Between 1994 and 2004.
she Sentenced to 20 years in prison.