The estate of Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to pay the US Virgin Islands more than $105m (£86.8m) as part of a settlement in a child sex trafficking and exploitation case.
As part of the deal, the estate will also pay the US territory half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St James, Epstein’s private island he bought in 1998 and is believed to have used for many of his crimes. sexual.
He will pay a further $450,000 (£372,000) to repair damage on a separate island owned by the disgraced financier – NBC quoting the US Department of Justice saying he had “razed the remains of centuries-old historic structures of enslaved laborers to make room for its development” there.
The settlement — which includes no admission of wrongdoing — includes the return of more than $80 million ($66 million) in economic development tax benefits that Epstein and others had “fraudulently obtained to fund his criminal enterprise”.
Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George said in a press release, “This settlement restores the faith of the people of the Virgin Islands that their 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.”
In a statement reported by NBC, Epstein estate attorney Daniel Weiner said: “The co-executors have ultimately concluded that the settlement is in the best interests of the estate, including its creditors and claimants, to avoid the time, expense and uncertainties inherent in litigation.
“The settlement is consistent with the stated intent and practice of the co-executors since their appointment to these roles – to resolve claims relating to any wrongdoing by Jeffrey Epstein in a manner sensitive to those who have suffered harm. “
Read more:
Ghislaine Maxwell is being sued by a law firm claiming he owes her more than $878,000
Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre settlement: what do we know and what happens next?
Mr Weiner also said the estate intended to ‘reduce its remaining business’ in the islands ‘as soon as possible’ and that $121m (£100m) had been paid in compensation to 136 people for Epstein’s activities.
The Virgin Islands filed a civil suit against Epstein’s estate in 2020, alleging he was behind a criminal enterprise through which young women and girls were trafficked, raped, assaulted sexually and held captive at Little St James.
Epstein was 66 when he committed suicide in a Manhattan prison in 2019a month after his arrest for sex trafficking.
It came more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he became a registered sex offender.
Last year, his former partner Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of recruiting teenage girls to sexually abuse them between 1994 and 2004.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
