Epstein Island: Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Where Epstein Island is: Little St. James, southeast of St. Thomas

Little St. James is a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It lies off the southeast coast of St. Thomas, belongs to that island's East End subdistrict and sits immediately southeast of its larger neighbor, Great St. James ^10,1,3. The shorthand Epstein Island has been used in news coverage since 2019 ².

How far it is from St. Thomas depends on the reference point, and reports differ: the Associated Press and The New York Times put it a little over one mile southeast, CBS News says approximately two miles off the coast ^3,7,1. Mapping sites place the island at roughly 18.300 degrees north, 64.825 degrees west, with a highest point of about 25 meters (82 feet); no official survey figure was found ¹¹.

Its size is reported with a similar spread: 70 acres (NBC News, NPR, Newsweek; about 28 hectares, as ABC Australia puts it), 71.5 acres (Virgin Islands Daily News, from DPNR and court files), 71.6 acres (the 2022 listing), 72 acres (CBS News, The Wall Street Journal) and roughly 75 acres (Associated Press) ^{4,13,14,5,1,3,15}. Great St. James is far larger at about 160 to 165 acres; the two 2016 deeds add up to 161.32 acres, and together the islands cover more than 230 acres ^1,4,16,17. Great St. James sits just across the bay from the East End; its western side holds Christmas Cove, a well-known anchorage for day-charter boats, and its waters form the St. James Marine Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary ^5,18,19.

Politically, the island is U.S. soil: the U.S. Virgin Islands are an unincorporated, organized territory of the United States, and the capital, Charlotte Amalie, is on St. Thomas ²⁰.

There is no runway; the island is reached only by boat or helicopter ^21,15. Epstein's jets landed at Cyril E. King Airport, the only airport on St. Thomas, and passengers continued by helicopter to the island's helipad, while a vessel marked LSJ ferried staff and supplies across ^21,4,15. On St. Thomas, the island lies near Red Hook and Cabrita Point on the East End ².

What stands on the island: main house, guest villas and the striped building

The 2022 listing and the 2023 sale coverage described Little St. James as improved with a main compound, four guest villas, a helipad, a private dock, a gas station, high-capacity water filtration, two pools, a gym, a tiki hut, maintenance and viewing structures and three beaches ^5,4,23. Fortune added a movie theater and a lagoon with flamingos, Newsweek identified tennis courts on 2023 satellite imagery, and Fox News documented a covered boat dock and stone pathways in 2019 ^24,13,25.

The size of the main residence depends on the document: DPNR permit records give the original house as 8,124 square feet with a 16,747-square-foot addition proposed in 2007, while NBC's reports on the August 2019 FBI search describe a 24,000-square-foot residence with two pools and a spa, which matches the two figures added together ^26,27,12. The Associated Press saw a stone mansion with cream-colored walls and a bright turquoise roof, surrounded by maids' quarters and other structures ²⁸.

The best-known structure is the blue-and-white striped building that reporters call the temple. DPNR permitted it in 2010 as a music pavilion; the drawings show an octagonal pavilion of 3,500 square feet with a grand piano ^12,25. The finished building is rectangular, windowless at the front and appears to rise at least 30 feet, and NBC News found no evidence that DPNR inspected or approved it as built ¹². A 2015 aerial video showed a large gold dome and gold-painted statues at the front ²⁸.

The dome was gone by 2019, and reports differ on why: the Associated Press wrote that it flew off during the 2017 hurricane season, NBC News quoted locals who blamed Hurricane Maria, and Fox News said only that it was damaged in a hurricane; the cause is not settled ^28,12,25. Other storm damage on the island is not documented.

The island has its own reverse-osmosis desalination plant and, since about 2005, a submarine power and fiber-optic cable from Cabrita Point ²⁹. Every documented structure is on the companion page map and buildings of Epstein Island.

Who has owned Little St. James: from L.S.J. LLC to SD Investments

In April 1998 the holding company L.S.J. LLC, whose sole member was Jeffrey Epstein according to property records, bought Little St. James for US$7.95 million ^5,12,28. In January 2016 he added Great St. James through Great St. Jim LLC, in two deeds totaling US$22.5 million, with his name absent from public ownership documents for years ^5,14,32,17.

Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, on a federal indictment in New York charging one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy; he pleaded not guilty ^33,34. He was found dead in his cell in Manhattan on August 10, 2019, and the New York City medical examiner ruled the death a suicide ^35,36. Two days later FBI agents searched the island ^27,30. His will, signed two days before his death, directed assets of more than US$577 million to a trust; the estate is being probated in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands ^37,38.

On January 15, 2020, the territory sued the estate in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, alleging that both islands had served as bases of a trafficking enterprise and seeking their forfeiture ^39,22,40. Under the settlement announced on November 30 and December 1, 2022, the estate and its co-defendants pay US$105 million in cash plus half the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James; the estate had to sell both islands to independent third parties, and the Little St. James sale proceeds are earmarked for a trust serving Virgin Islands residents who are victims of sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual misconduct and child sexual abuse ^22,41,42,40.

The estate listed both islands on March 23, 2022, at US$125 million ^5,23,43,44. On May 3, 2023, SD Investments LLC, an investment firm led by Stephen Deckoff, announced that it had acquired both islands; the price, first reported by Forbes, was US$60 million, about 52 percent below asking ^45,6,7,46,47. Coverage stated that about US$30 million, half the proceeds, would go to the territory's victims' trust; how the price was split between the islands is not documented ^7,46. As of May 2026, title to Little St. James is held by LSJVI, LLC, a Delaware-registered holding company associated with the buyer ^9,53. The full chronology is in the Epstein Island timeline.

Epstein Island today: a resort on paper, buildings largely unchanged

The May 2023 announcement laid out plans for a five-star, 25-room luxury resort anticipated to open in 2025 ^45,6. That has not happened. In March 2026 a DPNR spokesperson said the department had received no plans for a resort on either island, in May 2026 a property spokesperson declined further comment on development, and on September 10, 2026, Newsweek reported that the resort has yet to be built; no resale, new listing or formal abandonment has been reported ^2,9,8,48,10. Also in May 2026, a spokesperson for the property said there was no sign of the resort or any momentum toward it, that the owner and his family had never met or associated with Epstein, and that the property works with the police and private security against trespassers ⁶⁴.

The only permit the new owner has sought, as of February 2026, is a Coastal Zone Management major permit filed in December 2025 for an 8,800-square-foot warehouse; CZM Director Marlon Hibbert said on February 5, 2026, that the application was incomplete because no environmental assessment had been submitted ^48,10. Its status after February 2026 is not documented.

The buyer's own court case in the territory concerns his personal taxes, not the islands: on July 7, 2026, Stephen Deckoff sued the USVI government in the District Court of the Virgin Islands for a refund of US$5,757,038 in 2021 income tax, after the IRS found in August 2024 that he was not a bona fide resident of the territory that year; the government's answer was due by October 19, 2026 ^62,63,8. He says he has lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands, on St. John, since 2011 or 2012: his 2023 release spoke of more than a decade, his July 2026 complaint of residency since 2012 ^45,47,62.

The buildings look much as they did in 2019. The Telegraph's August 2025 comparison of satellite imagery from 2019 to 2025 found the mansion, pools, guest villas and helipad unchanged, one small new structure on the beach, another extending toward the dock and a refilled freshwater reservoir; charter operators saw no construction, and the USVI government had received no planning applications ³¹. In March 2026 NBC News, reviewing videos filmed by trespassers, described the striped building as painted over and boarded up, with white statues scattered around the property ², and Newsweek noted active private security ¹³.

A set of government images of the estate became public on December 3, 2025, when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released photographs and short videos that the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands had taken in 2020 during its civil case: building exteriors, the pool area, the helipad, the striped building, the dock and a beach sign reading no trespassing, with no people in any image ^49,50,51.

Visiting the island: private property, visible only from the water

Little St. James is private property with no public dock, and caretakers and maintenance workers remain on it ^9,53. Charter and tour boats out of St. Thomas cruise past the island and anchor at Christmas Cove on Great St. James, so both islands can be seen from the water; landing is prohibited ^52,31.

The owner enforces this in court. After an arrest in late April 2026 and an alleged landing on April 28, 2026, by content creators who filmed themselves on the island, LSJVI, LLC filed a civil complaint in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands in early May 2026 for civil conspiracy, trespass and private nuisance, and a spokesperson said that going beyond the beach or entering any structure would be prosecuted without exception ^9,53. By August 2026 the company had sued nine people in all, in several suits covering both Little St. James and Great St. James, according to secondary reports of a Business Insider investigation ⁵⁶. By March 2026 NBC News had counted more than 15 YouTube videos of people reaching the island by rented jet ski or by swimming, or flying drones over it ².

Confrontations on the island have also reached the criminal courts. In April 2026 the island's long-time property manager was charged with kidnapping, assault and destruction of property over a confrontation on March 1, 2026, with two documentary filmmakers; the manager pleaded not guilty, and a jury trial was set for January 4, 2027 ⁵⁷. Assault charges against a Virgin Islands Police Department employee accused of striking an intruder on the island in April 2026 were dismissed on August 10, 2026 ⁵⁸.

Entering the land without the owner's consent is trespass under the Virgin Islands Code (14 V.I.C. § 1741, 2019 edition), punishable by a fine of up to US$50 or up to 30 days in jail, or both; entry by force or violence, or entering another person's dwelling without consent, is the separate offense of forcible and unlawful entry (§ 1747), with up to US$200 or up to one year, or both ^60,61. Under the territory's Open Shorelines Act (12 V.I.C. § 401 et seq.), the shoreline stays open to the public: the strip runs from the low-tide line 50 feet inland, to the seaward edge of continuous natural vegetation or to a natural barrier, whichever is shortest, so the beaches and Christmas Cove on Great St. James remain accessible, while everything beyond that strip is private land, as Epstein's 2017 permit application acknowledged ^59,23,16,54. Drone flights fall under federal FAA rules: the Virgin Islands Port Authority states that neither it nor the airport control towers can issue drone approvals, and commercial Part 107 operators need FAA airspace authorization ⁵⁵.