A billionaire investor with ties to the U.S. Virgin Islands paid $60 million to buy Jeffrey Epstein’s island residence off the coast of St. Thomas. trial for sex trafficking.
Investor Stephen Deckoff paid about 50% less than the price of Epstein’s two private island properties. Part of the proceeds from the sale will go toward his $105 million settlement that Epstein’s estate agreed to last year with the U.S. territorial government in the Caribbean.
Mr. Dekhu is the founder of Black Diamond Capital Management, a $9 billion investment firm with offices in Stamford, Connecticut, London, Mumbai and St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.he got the island Through an investment vehicle called SD Investments.
Dekhu said in a news release that he plans to build a 25-room resort on the island. News of the sale was first reported by Forbes. A lawyer for Epstein’s estate confirmed the sale but declined to comment further.
One of the islands, Little St. James Island, was stigmatized by allegations that it was where Epstein spent the better part of two decades and where he sexually abused teenage girls. No longer is his one island, Great St. James, much developed.
The release did not identify the island on which Deckoff planned to build a resort.
At the time of Epstein’s death, his fortune was valued at around $600 million. His assets were down to about $159 million when his estate reached a civil settlement with the Virgin Islands government. After his death, the estate paid out more than $160 million of his money to more than 125 victims of his sexual abuse over the decades. Many of Epstein’s victims were young girls.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl in Florida. Before and after he became a registered sex offender, the secretive financier was able to form close ties with a long list of wealthy men, politicians and celebrities.
Black Diamond affiliates Listed as a beneficiary of favorable tax incentives This is intended to spur economic development in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tax incentives have been granted to dozens of companies operating in the region.
Two of Epstein’s companies were beneficiaries of similar tax breaks from the Virgin Islands government during their operations.
